001Welcome to today's webinar on the Texas Regional Pathways Network Cohort 6. Thank you all for joining as we discuss this exciting opportunity and explore the details of the cohort 6 grant application process. I appreciate your interest in this grant opportunity which supports the development of highquality career pathways throughout Texas. The chat feature for this webinar has been disabled, but if you have questions you would like answered, you may add them to the Q&A feature, which I will address at the end. My name is Brina Peshock and I am here as the statewide coordinator for the Texas Regional Pathways Network, part of Texas Education AY's College, Career, and Military Preparation Division. Throughout today's session, I'll provide insights into the objectives, timelines, and grant requirements of the cohort 6 grant. My role is to guide and support
002applicants through the grant process and to help ensure all grantees succeed in building robust pathways aligned with Texas's workforce needs. Today's agenda is comprehensive and aims to answer most of the questions you might have about the program and the application process. We'll cover an overview of the Texas Regional Pathways Network, details about the cohort 6 grant, including the timelines and important concepts, roles, and responsibilities, and a breakdown of how the application is structured. We'll also go over terms, support asurances, performance measures, and finally the regional partnership agreement. We'll wrap up with a Q&A session to ensure that you leave fully informed and ready to apply. We'll begin with an overview of the Texas Regional Pathways Network or TRPN. The TRPN was established to build robust talent pipelines that support both the economic growth of Texas
003and career readiness for students. TRPN achieves this by connecting leaders across education, workforce, business, government, and nonprofits to develop career pathways aligned with high demand, highwage jobs in Texas. This program provides a unique opportunity to impact our communities by ensuring that Texas Texans acquire skills and credentials essential for today's workforce. The Texas Regional Pathways Network or TRPN was established through the governor's tri- agency workforce initiative which launched in 2016. This initiative unites the Texas Education Agency, Texas Workforce Commission, and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to strengthen connections between education and industry. Its core mission is to boost Texas economic prosperity by ensuring that education pathways align closely with workforce needs. The TRPN approach is to create pathways that are rigorous and directly linked to regional labor market needs. It ensures tech students not only have
004career and college readiness but also concrete paths to employment in high demand fields. The network emphasizes both academic and practical skill development so students are career ready upon graduation. Regional pathways offer several benefits. First, shared learning helps streamline resources as partner organizations can pull knowledge, tools, and practices, preventing the need to reinvent solutions. Economies of scale allow us to share staff and equipment across districts, reducing individual workloads. Lastly, shared data metrics and analysis improve our ability to assess collective progress and meet grant objectives effectively. High quality pathways under the TRPN are guided by seven components. These are cross- sector partnerships, labor market alignment, industry valued credentials, applied academics, work-based learning, effective advising, and post-secondary transitions. Each component contributes to a pathway that supports students not only in academics, but also in real world job skills
005and opportunities. Together they form a well-rounded approach to career preparation that aligns with industry demands. Grantees were will center their work around these seven components. This graphic gives you a snapshot of how the Texas Regional Pathways Network is structured and how your work fits into the bigger picture. At the top you'll see that TRPN is guided by our tri- agency partners TEA, THECB and TWWC who provides statewide oversight and alignment. Each region is anchored by a regional convenor that could be an institute of higher education, an ESC, a workboard, or a nonprofit like a chamber. Their role is to coordinate the work across partners and keep the system moving forward. As potential grantees, you'll be a part of a regional team that includes K12 districts, colleges, employers, workforce boards, and ESC's. Together, you'll be designing
006and implementing career pathways that are aligned to regional labor market needs. At the bottom of the slide, you'll notice that these pathways are organized by industry or occupation and span multiple school districts. That intentionality allow allows for greater scale and impact across the workforce development area. Cohort 6 is the latest group of regional teams invited to apply for the TRPN grant. Each cohort helps expand the TRPN's reach and deepen the impact of these pathways in communities across Texas. Cohort 6 is especially focused on aligning pathways with Texas's high demand highwage industries, making this a pivotal moment for applicants ready to build impactful programs. This slide shows the key dates for the grant process. You'll note that the application opened on September 8th with a final submission deadline on November 7th. Award announcements are expected around
007January 16, 2026, and the grant period will run from March 31st, 2026 to August 31st, 2027. Be sure to mark these dates as they provide a framework for your planning and submission process. The purpose of this grant is to form a pathways team that will develop career and education pathways aligned with regional labor market demands. Eligible applicants include LEAs and ESC's each applying for one industry specific pathway with a total of 2.5 million in funds available. Six to 10 grants will be awarded with each grantee receiving between $250,000 and $400,000. Let's discuss who's eligible to apply for cohort 6 funding. At a high level, eligible applicants include LEAs and ESC's. If awarded, the applicant will serve as the grant administrator and fiscal agent, working closely with their selected pathways team facilitator throughout the project. Now,
008there are a few important eligibility notes specific to this cohort. First, if your LEA has participated in more than one previous TRPN cohort, whether as a lead or a partner, you're not eligible to apply this round. However, if your LEA has only participated in one prior cohort and meets all other requirements, you can apply. ESC's are eligible, too, but only if they're proposing to work with a new group of LEA partners, specifically LEAs that haven't been part of more than one previous cohort. It's critical that every LEA listed in your application meets this eligibility rule. Even if one doesn't, the entire application will be disqualified. To help with that, we've provided a list of previously participating LEAs and their cohort history. So, please be sure to review that carefully before submitting. You'll also note that
009a uh an ERA was posted uh on Friday. Uh please take note of that there is an updated list uh of of participating eleas. The pathways team is central to this initiative and must include a pathways facilitator, a grant administrator, two employers from the target industry, three LEAs, one institution of higher education, one workforce development board, one education service center. Each member plays a specific role in developing a pathway that meets both educational and workforce needs. The Pathways team relies on two key leaders. The Pathways team facilitator and the grant administrator lead. The facilitator coordinates activities and assures all stakeholders are aligned while the grant administrator manages the fiscal aspects and collaborates closely with the facilitator. Each role requires experience in collaboration, planning, and datainformed decision-making to guide students towards high quality career opportunities. The
010grant administrator lead must be an employee of the LEA or ESC grantee, while the pathways team facilitator is not required to be an employee of the LEA or ESC. The pathways team facilitator must be experienced and qualified for the position, but does not have to be employed by a district or ESC. Let's walk through how to identify a targeted industry for your grant proposal. There are two key steps and both are outlined in the spreadsheet labeled attach three target industries programs of study. First, you'll want to go to open that spreadsheet and go to sheet one as it provides these directions. Then on sheet two, you will start by filtering the first column to find the SOC occupation that best matches your research. That decision should be grounded in your regional labor market data. So,
011think about wages, projected job growth, and annual job openings. This helps ensure you're focusing on an industry that's in demand in your area. Once you've selected an occupation, the spreadsheet will show you the related program of study. From there, choose the one that best supports your proposed pathway and aligns with your overall grant goals. This process is designed to help you build a pathway that's both responsive to workforce needs and meaningful for students. This slide gives you a concrete example of what the process looks like once you filtered by a specific occupation. In this case, mechanical engineer. After selecting the that occupation in the spreadsheet, you'll see a list of possible programs of study that align with it. For mechanical engineer, those include engineering foundations, mechanical and aerospace engineering, manufacturing technology, and robotics and automation
012technology. The table shows you how these programs connect to specific SOC and ONET codes, career clusters, and pathway title. This also helps ensure that your selected program is aligned with both labor market demand and TEA's approved programs of study. This kind of alignment is exactly what we're looking for in your grant proposal. Clear connections between workforce needs and the pathways you're building for students. This example illustrates a regional pathways team in robotics and automation technology. It showcases a typical structure involvement of stakeholders and representatives from each and a regional convenor. Note how various entities come together in this model to support students academic and career development from secondary education through post-secary and into the workforce. This slide provides a sample structure for a pathway in robotics and automation technology. Dual credit options, work-based learning experiences,
013credentials of value, and a clear progression of courses from high school through post-secary are all included. This example illustrates the kinds of collaborations and commitments needed for successful pathway development. Once funded, grantees will join the Texas Regional Pathways Network, a statewide network of regional conveners and previous grantees working on similar initiatives. A coach will assist with pathway best practices, troubleshooting challenges, and ensuring grant deliverables are met. This built-in support system is a great asset as you develop and scale your program. Program asurances require that the grant administrator and pathways team facilitator meet monthly with their coach and engage the team in planning workbased learning, advising, and post-secondary opportunities. These steps are required within the first three months and help set the stage for a successful program launch. funds from this grant can cover costs for
014staffing, supplies, travel, and equipment relevant to the pathways program. Eligible uses include student transportation, industry standard equipment, and dual credit options. Be mindful that equipment costs are capped at 25% of the budget and must align with industry standards. Grantees will be responsible for tracking and reporting several performance measures, including data aligned to each of the seven components of high-quality pathways. While some data sets will be provided to support this process, others will require grantees to collect and self-report data throughout the grant period. The application includes two parts. Part one is a 9-page PDF with general information, asurances, and narrative questions. Please make sure to review the specific guidance on pages 10 to 12 of the program guidelines for what to include in your responses for the narrative questions. Part two of the application is a
015budget workbook. This Excel spreadsheet requires you to detail your expected expenses by category. You'll also need to submit a regional partnership agreement. The regional partnership agreement formalizes the commitment of each partner to the program. This agreement defines roles, responsibilities, and expectations for the pathways team facilitator, grant administrator, industry employers, LEAs, IICHE, workforce board, and ESC. A comprehensive agreement is crucial to ensure accountability and collaboration. Getting all required signatures on one document can sometimes be challenging. If needed, you may submit multiple signature pages within one PDF as long as each partner's commitment is clearly documented. A regional convenor is not a required partner because not all workforce development areas currently have one. However, if your area does have a convenor, they will collaborate with you and your team to support pathway planning and implementation, bringing valuable
016insights and technical assistance. Before I open the floor for questions, I will address a few questions I have received via email. Can an education service center serve as the grant administrator or does the grant administrator have to be a local education agency? Yes, an ESC can serve as the grant administrator. Who can serve in the role of a pathways team facilitator? The pathways team facilitator may be a member of an LEA, ESC, workforce board, employer, or other entity, but must have experience working with and convening key stakeholders, planning and executing regional initiatives, using data to inform decisions, and understanding labor market analysis, employer needs, educational needs, and quality work-based learning. Why is the regional convenor not included in the partnership agreement? The regional convenor role is not included in the partnership agreement because only 22
017out of 28 workforce development areas currently have a regional convenor. However, if an applicant's WDA has an existing regional convenor, they will be notified if the applicant is awarded a grant. In such cases, the regional convenor will provide additional technical assistance to the grantee collaborating to plan and implement highquality pathways using the seven key components. Uh when I looked at some of the award applications from the last cycle, it looks like smaller font sizes were used providing more space for detailed responses. Is it allowed for this grant application to provide a more in-depth answer than what currently fits in the length restricted boxes? Yes, applicants may adjust the font size in the narrative response boxes provided the text fits entirely within the designated space and remains reasonably legible without magnification. The TRPN program guidelines do
018not specify a required font size for narrative responses, so applicants have flexibility in formatting. However, it is important to ensure that responses are clear and easy to read for reviewers. Is the cohort 6 district participation list an all-inclusive list of eligible school districts statewide? No, the cohort 6 district participation list is not an all-inclusive list of eligible districts. It only includes districts that have participated in previous TRPN cohorts. If a district has participated in just one prior cohort, a yes appears next to its name. If it has participated in more than one cohort, a no is listed. Districts that have never participated in TRPN are not included on the list, but they are still eligible to apply. Can a faculty member at a public institution of higher education serve as the principal investigator or lead
019applicant for the TRPN cohort 6 grant? No. Faculty members at public institutions of higher education or IES are not eligible to serve as the principal investigator or lead applicant for the TRPN cohort 6 grant. According to the program guidelines, only local education agencies or LEAs and educational service centers or ESC's may apply as the grant administrator and fiscal agent. A faculty member may serve as the pathways team facilitator. Can new TRPN teams be formed or are teams already designated? Yes, new TRPN teams can be formed. The program does not preassign or designate teams. Eligibility is based on meeting the requirements outlined in the program guidelines, which includes forming partnerships with key institutions such as school districts, institutes of higher education, and regional workforce entities. Applica applicants who have built or are building these partnerships may
020pursue this grant opportunity by submitting a competitive application that meets all program criteria. Under the allowable expenses, it states grantees are required to budget the equivalent of10 FTE for each partner engaged in the grant program. In the budget narrative, it says we need to detail the minimum 0.10 FTE dedicated as pass through to each district partner involved in the grant project. Are we required to pay for a10 FTE for the school districts or all partners? Each LEA or school district partner must receive funds covering at least 0.1 FTE or 10% of a full-time role as pass through to support the grant. This allocation should cover specific costs like staff time or resources dedicated to grant activities. In your budget narrative, clearly outline these pass through amounts, showing that each district receives at least 0.1 FTE,
021and specifying the role or purpose, such as personnel, support, or grant implementation. This requirement applies only to district partners, LEAs, and not all project partners, and ensures each LEA has the resources to meaningfully contribute to the grants goals. This approach meets program guidelines and enhances each district's capacity to support grant success on the TRPN regional partnership agreement. Can we split the signature request into separate agreement forms for each of the partners? Yes, TEA recognizes that obtaining all signatures on a single page may be challenging within a limited time frame. You are welcome to submit separate signature pages for each partner provided that all pages are compiled into a single comprehensive PDF document for submission. I will now look at questions uh on the Q&A. Will we receive this presentation or have access to it somehow?
022Yes, this presentation and the recording of the webinar will be uploaded to the grants page under the cohort 6 grant. Are there any other questions to be added to the webinar? Okay. For additional questions after this webinar, you can email them to bratina.peshockdea.t texas.gov. Remember that questions must be submitted by October 6th, 2025 to be included in the FAQ, which will be posted on October 13, 2025. I thank you for joining us and look forward to seeing your applications. Thank you for joining us today. The recording of this webinar and PDF of the slides will be posted to the grant page as soon as possible. Have a great day.