Community colleges have played a vital and specific role in America’s education landscape. For generations they’ve provided programs that train individuals with skills for relevant and desirable jobs while assisting them in a smooth transition from the classroom to the workforce. When Hurricane Harvey struck Houston in August, Houston Community College stepped up its efforts by providing emergency training and much-needed support in Houston’s disaster recovery. 
As the floods brought by Harvey receded, Houston Community College’s (HCC) leadership met to discuss their recovery efforts. In a move to help the greater Houston community meet its recovery needs, leadership accelerated the school’s workforce training programs by creating the Accelerated Workforce Training Task Force. The task force immediately began developing relevant, short-term workforce training programs to get Houston’s residents back to work. 
Task force members represented cross-functional expertise leadership in divisions like curriculum and instruction (both academic and continuing education); employer outreach; small business development and corporate college; communications; government and external affairs; student services; and financial aid and grants.
Eager to meet the immediate workforce demand felt by the city, the task force established short-term, two-week training modules for entry-level employment. “The modules are designed to be followed by additional eight to fourteen-week training and subsequently up skilling in semesters following the initial training. In this regard, students would enter the job market in short order and receive additional training later to build a career on,” said Michael Webster, associate vice chancellor, HCC.
The task force developed modules in residential electric wiring and residential plumbing. “In cooperation with the Texas Workforce Commission, HCC seeks to train cohorts of 200 for each of (these) programs, thus a total of 1,000 students will receive training,” Webster said. 

Helping the Neediest Students

Low-income students often have a difficult time making ends meet while pursuing an education. Many juggle the responsibilities of raising a family and holding down a full-time job while attending classes. Throw in a natural disaster that causes homelessness and loss of property and getting educated becomes near impossible for the low-income student. 
Thirty-five percent of HCC’s students received financial aid, and 31 percent received Pell Grants in 2015-16. Harvey affected 40 percent of HCC’s 85,000 students, thirty-seven percent of which are Hispanic. To many HCC students loosing their homes or apartments meant losing their chance at an education. 
But the community and businesses stepped up to help HCC’s neediest students by raising $571,765. In total, donations from individuals, businesses and the federal government helped 719 HCC students - an average of $795 per student - get back to school. 
The HCC Foundation awarded the school a $100,000 grant to ensure HCC students can stay in school. “We know that many students at HCC need help due to the horrific, unprecedented damage done by Hurricane Harvey,” said HCC Foundation Board vice president David Regenbaum in a press release back in September. “Our hope is that this gift of $100,000 can help meet immediate and urgent need requests for those students trying to get back on their feet and back to class.” 
In addition, HCC Swoop funds totaling $249,573 were offered to students; Barnes and Noble donated $25,000 that helped 61 students replace damaged textbooks; and 166 HCC students were awarded a total of $197,192 from Federal Emergency Funds. 
Like the students of HCC, its faculty and employees were hard-hit by Harvey. Two-hundred and eighty HCC employees received a total of $124,750, an average of $445 per employee, from private donations from the HCC Foundation and HCC auxiliary funds. 

Supporting Houston’s Minority Business Owner

While HCC was accelerating its workforce training programs and fundraising efforts were helping HCC’s neediest students and its faculty members, the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) was doing its part for Harvey disaster relief. The agency awarded HCC $500,000 to enable the school to assist small minority-owned businesses pursue contracts specifically focusing on rebuilding hurricane-ravaged areas. “It’s all about making connections to opportunities and being prepared to seize them,” said Maya Durnovo, HCC chief entrepreneurial officer. “We will help small businesses connect with contracts to rebuild the city and assist businesses to become primary contractors as they grow.”
Emergency funding enabled HCC to hire additional staff that worked specifically on disaster recovery. “We anticipate that the recovery can be accelerated through understanding of where contracts are being dispersed and how they are being assigned,” Durnovo said. “It’s crucial that minority owned businesses participate in the re-building of our city.”
HCC has scheduled monthly events at various HCC campuses to link local minority-owned businesses with contracting opportunities. 
Looking to the future the MBDA team developed a Disaster Recovery Guide to help all businesses develop a plan in case of future disasters, which will be available this summer. Many strategies can be implemented to ensure personnel, data and records are secured in the event of future disasters. 
Hurricane Harvey will probably be remembered as the tragedy that sparked the desire in many people to make a difference, said Claudia Deschamps, director of public relations, HCC. “Whether it was Hispanic, Caucasian, African-American, Asian or people of other ethnicities, the HCC community joined forces. Employees who had not actively participated in volunteering did so with great commitment in the firm belief that their efforts were making a difference in people’s lives,” Deschamps said.
Following the disaster Deschamps kept hearing a common refrain around town. “‘How can I help?’ was one of the most common questions we heard during the days and weeks after the storm hit. This showed that our HCC family, including our faculty, staff and students, shared a great desire to help those impacted by Harvey. It also provided us with a deep understanding of the vital role HCC plays in the lives of our students,” she said. “We were and continue to be amazed at the disposition and quick action displayed by our leadership team in creating a special Harvey Task Force to assist any member from the HCC family affected by the storm,” Deschamps said. •