CEO, BlackRock
Gov. Greg Abbott & Larry Fink Announce $30M Investment to Train Texas Electricians
Texas is facing a massive demand for skilled workers — especially electricians — and now a major investment is coming to help fill the gap.
During a visit to Texas State Technical College in Waco, Governor Greg Abbott joined BlackRock
CEO Larry Fink to announce a $30 million investment aimed at training the next generation of Texas electricians and skilled trade workers.
The funding is part of BlackRock’s new “Future Builders” initiative, a nationwide effort to train 500,000 Americans in skilled trades over the next five years.
Abbott says Texas currently needs thousands of electricians, w...
About Larry Fink
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a July 2026 interview that he is "very bullish on the markets over the next 12 months." He argued that financing infrastructure for technology, such as data centers and chip purchases, would be "the next revolution in finance" driven by the strength of U.S. capital markets. Fink said his main worry is not a bubble but whether the U.S. can "build fast enough" to keep up with demand for AI compute, adding that the country must be "power agnostic" about energy sources. He noted that BlackRock's headcount is unchanged while assets have grown by a trillion dollars, attributing this to using technology to "do more with less." In a separate 2025 interview, Fink discussed a "convergence of private and public" markets driven by technology and predicted that investors would soon be able to pivot across a spectrum of public and private assets, including in 401(k) plans. He also said he has told the administration that without 3% economic growth, deficits will "overwhelm this country." Fink described his 2017 statement that Bitcoin was "the currency for money launderers and thieves" as something he said while piling on with Jamie Dimon, but said he changed his view during the COVID-19 pandemic after speaking with a woman from Afghanistan who used Bitcoin to pay female workers.
Transcript (67 segments)
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Mike Reeser0:04
Good afternoon. My name is Mike Reeser, and I have the honor of serving as Chancellor and CEO of the Texas State Technical College System. I'll be doing our welcome today. I actually wrote my remarks out, which is quite odd, but I had to do that in order to keep it in my 3-minute time limit. Otherwise, you'd hear me yammer forever about TSTC and how wonderful it is. And those folks behind you that work here, they would confirm that for you. So, welcome.
Humans, by their nature, are builders. Indeed, throughout our history, mankind has fashioned objects in our physical world to create environments that benefit ourselves and others alike. We build things. We build structures to protect us. We build machines to help us. We build all manner of objects that enable greater productivity. We build roads to carry us, data systems to hold our knowledge and communicate it. We build vehicles that carry us across the land, through the air, and even into space. The benefit of humans as builders is not merely convenience. Building creates economic prosperity. Indeed, our extraordinary economy in Texas is based in large part on the fact that we're really good at building things.
Within all disciplines of building, there is an ideal that goes beyond mere competence. That ideal is captured in the concept of craftsmanship. Craftsmanship is building for durability. It's building for utility, for steadfast quality. Craftsmanship is professional pride in worthy outcomes. Most of all, craftsmanship is building with integrity. At TSTC, we train craftsmen. Our unique characteristics help us fulfill this mission. TSTC is the only statewide college with 11 campus locations across Texas. We don't strive to be all things to all people. We specialize. As a state agency, TSTC is the only institution that focuses 100% of our efforts on the infrastructure that is critical to that enduring prosperity we commonly call the Texas miracle.
In particular, TSTC creates craftsmen in these critical strategic sectors: construction and building trades, electrical power, pipe fitting, water infrastructures, data center technologies and other IT capabilities, advanced manufacturing, industrial control systems, robotics, and welding, land transportation, and aerospace. All of these are the foundation of that Texas miracle. They also rely on builders who practice their trade in a craftsman-like manner. And in most of these sectors, TSTC enjoys the largest market share in producing graduate craftsmen for the Texas economy.
So, on behalf of those student craftsmen aspirations and the employees here who teach them and prepare them for a lucrative career in the Texas economy, I welcome everyone to this event. A celebration of craftsmanship and the prosperity it brings to us all and to our state. Welcome and thank you.
Again, as a state agency, TSTC works for the Texas Legislature who works for the taxpayers of Texas. And so, we serve the public with them as our advocates and also our caretakers. We have some of those elected officials with us today and I would love the opportunity to share with you who we have. If you would just stand and let folks acknowledge you. Senator Tan Parker is here.
Representative Angela Orr. Representative Keith Bell. Representative Pat Curry. Representative Hillary Hicklenton. Representative David Hook Cook.
Now, many may not know today is National Skills Trades Day. What an appropriate time for us to have this celebration. And for that reason, I'd like to offer a special shout-out to Chairman Keith Bell who is not only a steadfast advocate for the trades consistently everywhere, but is also a master electrician.
So, I have a Regents here today. Let's see. Ron Widdup is here, our chairman of the board. Ron. And our soon-to-be Regent Frank Denton, who we expect to take the oath of office last week. Ron is a distinguished grad of TSTC and has a career that is second to none and it all started right here on the Waco campus in electrical power and control systems. And Frank is the immediate past chairman of the plumbing board and will bring again a more trades experience to our governance and make us stronger still in an area we already lead the state in. So, thank you both for being here.
Now the good part. You know, you got me out of the way. The VIP section starting now. And so, if I could, I would like to invite Chairman Esparza up to the stage. Joe Esparza is here to moderate our fireside chat. Joe works at the intersection of economic development, growth, and readiness in representing Texas employers at the Workforce Commission. His role as chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission helped shape workforce development, labor market strategy, and the systems that support a growing economy. Join me in welcoming to the stage Chairman Esparza.
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Joe Esparza9:23
Thank you, Chancellor. Big thanks to Chancellor Reasler. Thank you. Chancellor, thank you so much for everything you do. I'm very excited to host this conversation and very excited about what we can bring to you on how we can support Texas' growth. We've all heard inspiration is there, it just has to find you working. Well, folks, Texas is working. We're hard at it. And it is my pleasure to introduce two leaders who are committed to this state. I'd like to welcome the 48th governor of Texas, honorable Governor Greg Abbott, and also chairman and CEO of BlackRock, Mr. Larry Fink.
Gentlemen, thank you all for being here. To start this conversation, we want to preface this by saying last month BlackRock announced Future Builders. It's a $100 million philanthropic initiative to train 500,000 Americans in the skilled trades over the next 5 years. That's monumental. And today BlackRock announced that $30 million of that will be put to work right here in the state of Texas.
Larry, you've said that capital alone is not enough. People are central to building our nation's future. Governor, through your leadership, Texas is exactly the kind of state where that vision has come to life. Governor, first question to you is, Texas is already leading the country in job creation and economic growth. How do you view the future of skilled trades and economic development in the state of Texas?
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Greg Abbott11:16
So, the two that you mentioned are connected. However, before I answer that, let me say two things. One is my gratitude and how much I applaud what TSTC is doing. It's truly transforming our state, transforming our country, providing the skilled workers that we need. And I must add, I am an honorary degree holder from TSTC myself. So, what happened is I kept making a comment on my original campaign trail that if the governor thing doesn't work out for me, I'm going to go to TSTC and get a degree in welding because welders get paid so much. And they wanted to make sure I got a running start on that in case that I ever did need that. So, I got the outfit, I got the degree, now I just need the paycheck and I'll be in good shape.
Second, I want to thank Larry Fink and BlackRock for what they're doing. It's a tremendous investment. It's also an acknowledgement about how important the workforce and training the workforce is to our country and to our state. And then that in a way connects with answering your question. So, you talked about two things. One is economic development and two is training the workforce. And in Texas they go hand in glove, so to speak. Texas ranks number one for economic development. Number one for the most new jobs. Number one for the creation of the need for the workforce training to train the workforce to fill all of these jobs. Texas added more jobs than any state over the past year since COVID and since the past decade. There is more demand for skilled workforce in the state of Texas because of all the jobs that are coming here.
This morning before I left Austin, Texas, I visited with two CEOs of two large companies that are in the Fortune 50. Both of whom are working to bring projects and jobs here. In the Texas Economic Development Office, we have more than 400 projects in our pipeline that will be coming here, growing here, adding more jobs here. So, we have the formula in place far better than any other state in America to be able to attract and land jobs and land businesses and grow our economy faster and better than any other state.
Core to being able to achieve that mission going forward is going to be cultivating and educating the skilled workforce that we need. We took a tour around here earlier and got a feel for the training that goes into place for electricians. Electricians alone, I hear we need something like 10,000 of them in the state of Texas as we speak right now, even more in the future. I learned that the number one skilled demand for TSTC is for welders. And there's a long list, whether they be pipe fitters going to everything to people training in cybersecurity. It almost does not matter what the skill set is, there is extraordinary demand for it. And so, I'm just very grateful that we have organizations and education platforms like TSTC as well as other education platforms we have in the state of Texas to ensure that Texas is doing more than just leading in job creation and attracting businesses, but leading as it concerns educating those students.
Know this, with the leadership of these legislators who are sitting here today, over the past two sessions, Texas led America in investing more than $8 billion to fund career and technical education in the state of Texas. We put our money where our needs are to make sure the state is doing everything we can to fully educate the workforce of tomorrow. So, thank you to the legislature for your leadership in getting that across the finish line.
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Joe Esparza15:31
Mr. Fink, Larry. First of all, thank you. We're here to talk about Future Builders. Tell us what drove it and also how you see Texas as a place where this kind of investment in people can have the greatest impact.
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Larry Fink15:45
Well, thanks, Joe. Governor, it's great to be with you today. I just wanted to say before I answer the question, what I heard from the governor is music to my ears. We need more political leadership who could drive economic prosperity. And the only way we could make capitalism work is making capitalism working for more people to broaden our economy. And you know, we manage more money than any firm in the world. And our job is making sure that we are building prosperity and dignity for more Americans and more people in the world. And we need more political leadership who are focusing ahead on building economic prosperity. So, Governor, thank you for those words. They inspire me. So, let me just start there.
It was a very easy thing for our foundation to think about how can we help out? As one of the largest investors, we're actually the largest infrastructure investor in America. We own airports and ports. We are one of the largest infrastructure investors in Texas. Let me also speak on a major statistic that most people don't know. We manage $155 billion for Texans. Your hard money, we manage $155 billion. For institutions, for individuals. And it is my pledge to all of you we are doing every day understanding the responsibility we have to making sure we're doing the job on behalf of all of you.
But two, probably the most important thing that is I hope it's music to the governor's ears. So, we manage $155 billion of Texan money. We actually are importing to Texas $500 billion. So, you know, so we are managing 155, but we're bringing $500 billion of investments back into Texas. Whether that's investing in your great public companies, investing in your municipality debt, investing in infrastructure. And we are, as I said, in pipelines, in working alongside great companies who are part of Texas. And so, that is And I would say there's no other state that we have that big of investment in any state. And that's just a reflection on the economic prosperity of the state of Texas.
So, as the largest investor in infrastructure, we hear in every project, we don't have enough workers. We can't find the workers. We're challenged. We're going to have delays. When you have delays in your projects, that means it costs more money. And so, as a mechanism to think about how to make these investments work over the long run, and also how to think about these investments. How do we broaden economic prosperity? How do we make sure that more people are benefiting for these projects? And it was very clear to us that we needed to think about not just investing in projects. Investing in projects is something we do pretty well. But we now we had to think and rethink how we think. We now needed to find ways to investing in people in their own personal growth.
And what's so exciting about future builders, when we're investing in young people, we're investing in young people who are just thinking about where should they go? Should they even go to a four-year university or not? What is the pros and cons on that? And as the governor was talking about in welders and the shortage and electricians, I hear that in every state. And then on top of that, we looked at okay, where and who can we give our foundation money to to work this out? And TSTC was a clear leader in this and it was a pretty easy decision by our foundation board to say this is where the first allocation of this capital will be.
I will also tell you and one of the great things that hasn't been announced yet, I actually believe many more companies are going to join BlackRock in building out future builders. So, we don't hear about we're going to have delays in our projects because we don't have enough workers. We're going to make sure we have a number of workers. We're going to make sure that we're building more prosperity. We're broadening economic success for more Americans. And by broadening economic success for more Americans, we're going to build greater dignity and hope for more people in this country.
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Joe Esparza20:34
Thank you, Larry. All right, good. Governor, let's take that resource and put it to work. Texas leads the nation in job creation and early this year you released your bigger, better Texas strategic plan, which outlines your view on economic development across the state. What is most important to Texas's growth and how do you plan to keep the momentum going?
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Greg Abbott20:55
Talk about momentum. Well, there's several ways to keep the momentum going and to keep Texas being a magnet that will attract businesses as well as workers to our state. Number one among them, while I have members of the legislature here, is one way we can make Texas the most affordable state in the United States is to implement my plan to slash your property taxes in half and allow you to be able to afford to live in your own home and never be taxed out of your own home.
Second is we want to make sure that we are attracting the best and brightest to participate in all of our programs and we find ways to match skills with employers as well as those who want to be employees. That's why I created the Jobs Council Advisory Council earlier this year and we've taken that show on the road around the state. This is a unique combination that really has never occurred before in the history of Texas and that is we bring together business leaders across the state, those who are employers, and we also match them with labor leaders, those who are providing the employees, especially the skilled workforce. This needed desperately as we are building out a more diversified economy that we have in the state.
And one thing that I know that the legislature has and I have and that is the commitment to make the investments and to take the legislative action that's needed to advance that workforce. What we don't have expertise in, per se, is precisely how do we train those employees with the exact skill set that employers are looking for. And there really is no better place to look at than two places. One is with the labor leaders in our state who provide their own training and who are providing that training for what the employers are hiring for and then obviously with the employers themselves. And this works extraordinarily well and what the Jobs Council is going to be doing is listing getting all the details from all the employers and all the labor leaders in the state and then hammering out exactly what we need to pass in the next session to ensure Texas truly will be the leader in the United States for workforce.
One thing I know that some labor organizations in the state of Texas already do quite well is to have apprenticeship programs. So in the state we'll have programs like TSTC. We'll have two-year college programs and four-year college programs. But separate from that and in addition to it we have apprenticeship programs. Apprenticeship programs that the state funds. And one example about how this works so incredibly well I went out to a work site for SMB Constructors and Engineers in the Baytown area. And I got to meet the leader of that apprenticeship program. She was an African-American woman who was telling me all the elements about the program and then she showed me who the apprenticeship learners were.
I was kind of surprised to be honest that most of the apprenticeship learners in the program were women. And most of them were doing welding. And I got to talk to more of the woman I was talking to and she explained that for herself it had changed her life because four years before that she said she was homeless. And now she owns her own home. So I said, 'So you went from being homeless to owning your own home, working your way up to this apprenticeship program. How much are you making?' And she told me and I said, 'So you were homeless four years ago. Today you're making more than the governor of Texas.' But it shows how transformational these programs can be whether it be an apprenticeship program or a TSTC whatever.
It's transformative for the worker being able to take home a six-figure paycheck and transformative for the employer able to add the workers they desperately need to build their projects and transformative for the state of Texas keeping us the economic engine of the United States of America. So we're looking to bring harmony to all three of those elements that keep Texas first and foremost.
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Joe Esparza25:29
Right. So much of the discussion has been on investment and what we've talked about today centers around investment in infrastructure and we've mentioned this. Both in terms of our roads, bridges, as well as investing in people and that's what Future Builders is. Governor, you've positioned Texas as a leader in energy, in AI and manufacturing. When you both look at the scale and the magnitude of what needs to be built, where does Texas fit into that picture and why should Texans be optimistic?
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Greg Abbott25:58
Right. So we're optimistic because Texas is situated unlike some other states. We're optimistic because we're growing faster than other states. There are other states who've enacted policies that are causing people to leave those states. You know them in your head. You got California, New York, Illinois and there are others. I'll tell you something what a lot of people don't know. A lot of people know that Texas is the state that more people move to than any other state. A lot of people will guess correctly the number one state that people are moving from which is California. Unless you happen to stumble upon this factor or hear me talk before, you wouldn't know what the number two state it is because most people would think the number two state people are coming from when they come to Texas is New York or Illinois, both of which would be good guesses, but surprisingly the number two state that people are coming from is from the state of Florida. The point is very simply this, it doesn't matter where in the country you are, people are coming here, and so the opportunity we have is vast because Texas is growing.
That said, at the same time that opportunity presents challenges to us for what we must do going forward with regard to infrastructure. I'll tell you four areas we have to concentrate on. One is power, you can call it electricity, whatever words you want to put to it. We need more power. I'm assuming most people here are from Texas. You remember Winter Storm Uri, things like that. Let me tell you something that most people do not know. And that is since Winter Storm Uri, which was 5 years ago, Texas has added far more power than any other state in the United States of America. We've added 61,000 megawatts of new power. That may mean nothing to anybody here. Let me tell you what it did. We increased by more than half the amount of power that we had in 2021 to where we are now. And we're adding more power daily than any other state. Today, Texas now generates more electricity than the second and third states combined. So, once again, Texas is a leader, but still, once again, we're not where we need to be for the years going forward. So, bottom line, we have to add more power.
Second, because of the people coming here, because of the growth that we have, because of the businesses here, we have a great need to access more water. Again, the legislature delivered, the people delivered it at the voting booth when they approved a $20 billion investment to ensure that we will have the water infrastructure needed for generations to come. Half of that $20 billion is to identify and bring online what are categorized as new sources of water. The other half is to help repair broken and leaking pipes. In the city of Houston alone, they lose about 30 billion gallons of water a year. Just fixing Houston pipes alone would almost be like a huge new source of water. So, we must address our water demand and ensure that we have the supply that matches it.
Next is transportation infrastructure. There are more vehicles on the road, more needs for the roadways, things like that. Listen, the Texas road fund, which operates on a 10-year basis. We have more money in just our road building fund than most states have as their entire budget. We have $147 billion just in a transportation fund to build new roads and transportation, highways and byways going forward. No state can match that. And then the fourth thing that we desperately need and that we're working on is more housing. The good news is this. Once again, Texas ranks number one for building more housing than any other state. But at the same time, we know that we are still in need of having even more housing built in order to meet the demands of our residents here in the state of Texas. So, we're working on all of those four elements, but I cannot emphasize enough none of that's done by getting up here and giving a speech. What gets it done are these members of the Texas Legislature who share that commitment, who share the understanding of the challenges that we face, and they knew last session, and they delivered, and they know as we're going into this next session, the high bar that we must meet if we're going to be able to continue to deliver for the people of our state. I know they will once again get that job done this next session.
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Joe Esparza30:47
It's great. Larry, let's talk globally. You've said the world will need as much as 68 trillion dollars in new infrastructure investment by 2040. That's trillion with a T now. Where do you see the biggest need for infrastructure investment when it comes to around the world?
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Larry Fink31:07
Let me just highlight the United States. In the next 10 years, the US alone needs over 10 trillion dollars of investing in infrastructure. And the key is how is that going to be Where does the money going to be coming from? And the key is and the beauty of the United States and the vitality of the United States, more foreigners want to bring their money to the United States and that is a real indication of the US exceptionalism versus so many other places. So, we still remain to be a great destination.
But I believe much of this money is going to come from average savings accounts and investment accounts. It is important that we build more and more confidence with more and more of our population to grow with the United States. Keeping money in just a bank account, you're not growing with your economy. You're not growing with the United States. So, we need to instill more confidence why investing over the long run, investing in the long run in Texas or throughout the United States, you will do far better as an investment vehicle than you would be in keeping your money in a savings account at a bank. Yes, that's safety and all that and we all have I'm not trying to say we don't have to have rainy day funds and all that. But if we could get more and more Americans to think about growing with the United States, we will have far than enough money to invest in this infrastructure.
But as the governor was talking about the need for electrons is growing every day. Some of these you know, if we're going to be the leader in technology, which we are, if we are going to be the leader in AI, which we presently are, it's just going to require trillions of dollars of investments. And if we don't invest in it China will be the global leader in this. And so to me it's not whether this is a must. And if you think about how that translates, it translates into a more dynamic economy. We need the United States economy to grow at over 2%. We need the US economy to grow at 3%. Especially with the growing deficits the federal government has. And so much of this money, not just the private is going to be coming from the private sector. From savings accounts, from pension accounts, from insurance companies on and on and on.
The whole world is in need of improving the infrastructure. You know, the governor talked about power in Texas and the doubling of power here in Texas. But when you think about the United States, we have not invested in our power grids in the country as much as it needs. And what I worry about that we're not investing fast enough. And in some states we have too many restrictions, too many permitting problems. And one of the biggest reason why Texas remains to be one of the great destinations, the capital. The ease of putting that money to work. And then on top of that, now investing in the people of Texas, it's a happy environment. I can't say that about a lot of places in the United States or all the places in the United States. And so the trillions of dollars going to be needed to create the vitalities that our children and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren will have the same opportunities that we have had or we will have.
And to me, it's going to come from the private sector. We can't just rely on the federal government, the state governments to finance it. And I do believe what we're going to see more and more public-private investing together, cooperating together with state and local governments to build out this infrastructure. When you think about housing, as the governor talked about housing, actually in the United States today, we have the oldest housing stock of houses in the United States and we've had in 50 years. We are not investing enough in housing. And that is why housing prices have gone up faster than inflation, why affordability housing remains to be one of the central themes in the United States today. But I do believe we're going to be able to solve these problems because we talk about these problems and if we direct we talk about these problems, we can direct more capital to help more of these needed areas to build America's future vitality.
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Joe Esparza35:58
Thank you both. Just a single statement to answer this question, what does success look like in 5 years, Governor?
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Greg Abbott36:08
Texas being number one for the most jobs, number one for the best economy. And by definition, that would mean number one for the best workforce in the United States.
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Joe Esparza36:22
That's great. Mr. Fink.
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Larry Fink36:24
Well, I'm an avowed capitalist. We need to make capitalism work for more people. We need to make capitalism and I'm worried about some of the younger generations where they're questioning that. I mean, in so many surveys that is a big question. Those are frightening things for me. I mean, the alternative from my perspective is not the right outcome by any means. We have government, state, and local governments that believe that socialism is and some form of that is a better outcome. So, as an avowed capitalist, I need to commit to myself over the next 5 years, we are going to make sure that we're making capitalism work for more Americans, period.
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Joe Esparza37:03
It's great. Everybody, let's give them a round of applause. Mr. Fink, Governor, thank you all so much. This has been an absolute privilege and honor to be here on stage with you both. We thank you guys. Now, we're going to welcome our next panel. Lauren Willis is going to come up and we're going to invite Chancellor Reese to come on and land this plane, so we can go here. Lauren, come on up. Thank you, gentlemen.
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Lauren Willis38:00
Good afternoon. My name is Lauren Willis and I lead state and local communications for BlackRock. I am a native Texan. I live just up the road in Austin, so personally, I'm very excited to be here with you all today. To have the governor of this incredible state and Larry Fink on stage talking about this level of investment in my home state is truly remarkable. So, I'm honored to be here with our program participants to learn more about how they're going to bring this investment to life and get us started. So, and help improve the lives of so many Texans. So, I'd like for everybody to introduce themselves first. Erin, why don't you take go first?
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Erin Stewart38:38
Absolutely. Good afternoon. I'm Erin Stewart, the executive director and CEO of IEC Dallas.
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Todd Stafford38:44
Good afternoon. I'm Todd Stafford. I'm executive director of the Electrical Training Alliance.
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Mike Reeser38:49
Mike Reeser, Chancellor CEO at Texas State Technical College System. Welcome, y'all. Thank you so much for being here today.
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Lauren Willis38:56
All right, well, we just heard Larry and the governor paint a powerful picture of the opportunity that lays ahead for Texas. So, I'd like to bring that conversation down to the ground level to you guys who are responsible for building this workforce each day. Between the three of you, you're at the center of our $30 million investment. So, I'd like to start with a real simple question for each of you. From where you sit, what does the demand for electricians in Texas currently look like? And how does this moment differ from others you may have experienced? Chancellor Reeser, let's start with you today as our host.
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Mike Reeser39:27
I think the short answer is the demand is extraordinary and it's going to continue to grow. And I think the solutions that we field are going to have to come from all the various channels that we have today and also expanding those existing channels. We won't meet this growing need by doing what we have always done before. It's going to take some real innovation and it's going to take some new players to stand up and help make all this happen. Otherwise, we risk running to the end of our chain, if you will, and throttling ourselves and it's a problem that we could have addressed ourselves. So, that's what I would offer.
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Todd Stafford40:22
Go right ahead. Thank you, Julia. I agree with the Chancellor. I see a unique demand and an opportunity and a challenge all at one time. From the seat we're looking at apprenticeship growth and the numbers we have to increase apprenticeship from we're doubling and tripling the numbers. This is from an appreciation side of it, recognizing who apprenticeship is and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, National Electrical Contractors have already committed $500 million in supporting private training in our industry already. That's every year. But now we're expected to use those dollars to grow numbers we don't have capacity for, which is why the Future Builders model comes in and helps us in a lot of ways. But we have to figure out how we can streamline our model of apprenticeship without reducing quality and increasing efficiency at the same time. There's a lot of unique challenges and opportunities, but also equal demand.
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Erin Stewart41:08
Thank you. Absolutely. In North Texas, we are seeing demand in real time. Even in Dallas, I see Dallas has grown from 500 apprentices in 1 year to over 1,700 in 3 years and tripling our locations, quadrupling our locations to four locations. And that growth is really being driven by the contractors. Today we have nearly 700 first-year apprentices that are entering the pipeline in a single year and even with that, the demand continues to outpace the supply. The scale of construction across Texas from the data centers to the advanced manufacturing, healthcare, infrastructure is creating sustained long-term demand. And these are high-power, high-density projects that require more electricians per square foot than we've traditionally seen.
At the same time, we're facing a generational workforce shift and a significant portion of the skilled workforce is nearing retirement. We don't have enough people entering the trade fast enough to replace them. That's what makes this moment different. This isn't a short-term spike, it's a structural gap between supply and demand, and the industry isn't willing to wait years to achieve it. That's exactly where programs like Safe Start come in, creating a faster, more effective entry point into the trade. Because at the end of the day, it isn't just about filling the jobs, it's about building workforce that can keep up with the future of Texas.
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Lauren Willis42:40
Thank you. So, what I'm hearing is the demand is here, the jobs are here, the real challenge is just getting enough folks trained quick enough to take advantage of all this opportunity.
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Mike Reeser42:49
And we would add, all of us agree on this one thing. All of that rapid, fast to work must not compromise quality. All of us agree with that.
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Lauren Willis43:01
Absolutely. Well, this is where Future Builders comes in, right? So, I'd like to now move to how you're going to really put this investment to work programmatically. Erin, let's start with you. You lead IEC Dallas, which means that you represent independent electrical contractors in one of the fastest growing construction markets in the country. With support from the foundation, you guys have created, as you mentioned, BlackRock Safe Start, which is an 80-hour pre-apprenticeship program designed to get folks trained quickly. So, I'd love to hear more about that. Also want to talk about the work you're doing with some of your more experienced workers to prepare them for their licensure exams. And lastly, I want to know what does it mean for the electrical contractors to have people showed up prepared in this way, and what does it mean for the folks entering the workforce and how quickly they can excel?
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Erin Stewart43:45
Absolutely. You know, what Safe Start does, it removes the biggest barriers that both contractors and individuals face as they're entering the trade. From contractors' perspective, hiring someone new always comes with risk. Safety risk, productivity risk, cost, and Safe Start changes all of that. When someone walks into a job site after completing the program, they've already been trained with safety tools, materials, and the basic electrical fundamentals to make them feel successful. They've earned multiple safety certifications and credentials, and they understand what the job site expectations truly are. That immediately reduces the risk and increases the confidence for the contractor.
For the individual's perspective, it opens a door a little wider. We're seeing people enter the trade who may not have considered it before. Now, there's a clear path, a very clear supported path, and they're not starting from zero. And we're seeing results, actually. Every single Safe Start student and every single graduate of the Safe Start program already is either already employed or they're actively interviewing. So, even among these that are still in class, we have a number that are securing employment to the minute.
At the same time, on the journeyman side, we have a lack of journeymen in Texas. So, the demand has exceeded our expectations on the journeyman need. So, more individuals are ready to advance, and they're looking for accessible, high-quality preparations for the licensures. So, that tells us that the industry isn't just growing, it's actually maturing. People are entering faster and moving through the career path faster, and together these programs are compressing the timeline from entry to productivity advancement, and that's exactly what contractors are feeling right now.
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Lauren Willis45:40
That is so great. It's such a testament to the role of the employer contractor and how the partnerships with you guys can really shape these training pathways. And what you're describing isn't unique to just North Texas, as we've all discussed. The demand is coming from all over the state. So, the question is, how do we scale the training to meet the demand? And there's no better place to discuss that than right here at TSTC. So, Chancellor Reeser, we're sitting here in this beautiful new lab. Clearly, you guys are leading the way in workforce preparedness, but one thing we found really unique at BlackRock is your funding model. My understanding is your state-level funding is tied to the amount of money your graduates make when they leave here, which is a powerful incentive for you guys to help them find really great jobs. So, we'd love to hear more about one, how that funding model is helping us meet this moment today in Texas, and two, how additional support from the BlackRock Foundation is going to help you get even more folks into these programs.
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Mike Reeser46:34
So, the financial incentive created by the employment-based metrics used to fund TSTC with public funds is a strong financial incentive. And it shapes the way we do things in a lot of ways. The first is in the program mix. It ensures that we stay ever focused on providing to the student various pathways through technology that will with certainty lead to a great paying job in the Texas economy. And it's also a financial incentive to stop doing programs that no longer do that in the Texas economy. And so, there's an incentive for us to always be outstanding stewards of that taxpayer money.
The second part regarding the trades in general and electricians in particular and other electrical professions, too. We are strong in everything from generation, distribution, and transmission all the way down to end user. All of those are well-paying jobs. And so, that coming together with the BlackRock capital that would be provided through this project will allow us many things. Opportunities to inform more students of these great paying jobs that are out there. The ability to provide them the tools they may need or other possibility tools that we need in these labs. If you've walked through this building and seen the various levels of gear required here, that's important to do all of this. So, these kind of public private partnerships are going to be essential to meeting that exponential demand that we're going to see in Texas in the time ahead.
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Lauren Willis48:37
That's great. You guys are clearly building the capacity here that we need, but another challenge that we're facing is there's strong demand as we mentioned before coming from all across the state, right? So, we need to figure out a way to match these eligible candidates with the openings that we're seeing.