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Alamo College Welding Program Giving Jobs Boost To Hill Country

San Antonio Colleges

The Texas Workforce Commission issued a $304,000 grant to train 135 new and current employees of Fox Tank, a manufacturer of steel-welded oil field tanks for the energy industry in Kerrville.

This is the latest grant-funded program by the Workforce Commission and the Alamo Colleges. Earlier this month the two set up a cloud computing program to help train Rackspace workers.

The Alamo Colleges has welding programs in San Antonio but none currently in Kerrville. With the grant, St. Philip’s College will be able to provide the training in the Hill Country town.

Jo B. Tucker, director of workforce administration for the Alamo Colleges, said the trainees will include welders, testers and painters.

Upon completion the students will earn a credential from the American Welding Society that will put their earning potential between $12/hour and $20/hour.

Like the cloud programming classes created in partnership with Rackspace earlier this month (see related story below), the program will be limited to Fox Tank workers at first but will then be open to the public.

Joey Palacios can be reached atJoey@TPR.org and on Twitter at @Joeycules