Most workforce programs measure growth in campuses opened or students enrolled. WorkTexas measures it differently, and the Opportunity Center is the clearest example of why. The building itself makes the point: a former juvenile detention facility, repurposed rather than replaced, sitting alongside a converted furniture showroom that houses the rest of the operation.

Inside Mike Feinberg’s Opportunity Center

The center pairs GED preparation with hands-on training in auto technology, construction, digital communications and entrepreneurship. It draws 65 students from 22 school districts across 42 Harris County zip codes, and reports a 93% attendance rate among kids who struggled to show up anywhere else. Students also earn money through Project Remix Ventures, a micro-business arm that lets them sell products they made during training before they enter a traditional job.

Vanessa Ramirez, who leads the juvenile justice side of the operation, says traditional programs often just relocate the problem. “Kids don’t know how to de-escalate,” she says. “We put them in a classroom staring at a wall. We’re not developing that self-awareness. We’re not developing communication skills.” Many of the students she works with have moved through both the juvenile justice system and Child Protective Services, which shapes how much trust they bring into a classroom.

Why Mike Feinberg Wants to Walk Before WorkTexas Runs

Beyond the Opportunity Center, WorkTexas leans on a network of partners rather than building everything itself: food assistance through the Houston Food Bank, behavioral health services through Journey Through Life, financial literacy through the Wesley Community Center, and daytime childcare for more than 60 children of participants and community members, funded through a mix of federal, local and private dollars.

Growth follows the same logic. Premier High School already runs 50 campuses statewide and wants to bring the Gallery Furniture model to more of them, while Harris County officials are exploring similar juvenile-justice partnerships elsewhere. Feinberg isn’t in a hurry to franchise any of it. “We’re trying to make sure we walk before we run,” he said. Updates on that expansion, along with the rest of Feinberg’s public work, show up periodically on his LinkedIn and his Facebook page.