Category Archives: Economic Opportunity

Economic Opportunity refers to job creation and training, small and minority business development, economic incentives, improvement districts, economic development corporations, trade and commerce, minority and women owned business contracting policies, emerging technology, tourism, events, entertainment, live music, film and television production, sports, library, culture, art, and related matters.

Oped: How Austin can support 60,000 ‘middle-skill’ jobs by 2021

By Mayor Adler and Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt

When considering our community’s access to opportunity and prosperity, Austin and Travis County have much to celebrate — but also much work to do.

Though we learned with last week’s release of the Community Advancement Network’s annual Dashboard Report that unemployment in Travis County has declined by more than 50 percent since 2012, we also learned that 25 percent of black and Hispanic families in the county live in poverty, as compared to only 10 percent of other families. Continue reading →

JASON Learning Provides Austin-area Students Free Access to STEM Curriculum with Support from Dell

jason learningAustin, Texas – Beginning today, JASON Learning, with help from Dell, is providing immediate, free access to innovative science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) curricula to the Greater Austin area’s public schools. JASON Learning is a national non-profit that offers STEM education programs, online materials and interactions with real scientists through life changing discovery journeys.  All of these elements will be integrated into the Greater Austin area’s public schools effective immediately.  The majority of students and school districts served by this grant are from underserved areas of Austin. Continue reading →