Who We Are
Mission
To provide a gateway for individuals to transform their lives through rigorous skills-based training and education.
Vision
(l-r) Skillpoint Executive Director Kevin Brackmeyer, former Austin mayor and Skillpoint founder Bruce Todd, and Skillpoint board member Catherine Morse at Skillpoint’s 25th anniversary celebration in 2019
Skillpoint Alliance is a 501(c)3 workforce development organization that provides in-demand workforce training to vulnerable members of the Central Texas community. It is in connection with local industry partners that Skillpoint is able to offer these unique professional training and educational opportunities.
Skillpoint Alliance was founded in April of 1994 when, then Mayor Bruce Todd called upon the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce Task Force on Apprenticeships and Career Pathways for Austin to create a solution to the lack of apprenticeship and craft training in the City of Austin. A task force was created to focus on the establishment of a non-profit, industry-led, self-governing organization to promote and guide the development of skilled trade training efforts in Austin. And thus, the Capital Area Training Foundation was chartered.
That Foundation grew into Skillpoint Alliance and has since become the premier provider of rapid workforce training in the Greater Austin area. Skillpoint has been featured in economic reference books such as Economic Development in American Cities: the Pursuit of an Equity Agenda and Inequity in the Technopolis: Race, Class, Gender, and the Digital Divide in Austin, and has been named one of the top ten job training programs in the country by Jobs for the Future and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Skillpoint is continuously adapting and expanding its program offerings based on workforce needs in the region. In 2018, Skillpoint launched a redesigned and customized Pre-Apprentice Electrical class, followed by a Pre-Apprentice Plumbing program in 2019. Skilllpoint also currently offers HVAC Tech, Certified Production Technician, and various other short-term and customizable training options.
Skillpoint Alliance gives life-changing opportunities to local residents while helping to meet industry need for qualified employees, stimulating the local economy while providing pathways out of poverty for Central Texans. Skillpoint works continuously to build strong partnerships with local businesses, foundations, community-based organizations, and government agencies in order to grow and support its mission of connecting low-income individuals with career pathways in growing local industries.