Texas faces a persistent healthcare workforce shortage, and the Skills Development Fund is one of the state's primary tools for addressing it. Healthcare employers — including hospitals, clinics, home health agencies, dental practices, and long-term care facilities — can use this Texas Workforce Commission grant program to train nurses, medical assistants, technicians, and other clinical and support staff at no cost.
How the Skills Development Fund Applies to Healthcare
The Skills Development Fund provides grants to community and technical colleges that partner with employers to deliver customized workforce training. For healthcare employers, this means a local college can design and deliver a training program tailored to your staffing needs — funded by the state.
The partnership model works like this: your healthcare organization identifies specific training needs and workforce gaps, partners with a community college or technical school, and the college applies for the grant. Training is designed collaboratively and delivered to your specifications.
Healthcare Training Commonly Funded
- Nursing (LVN and RN bridge): Licensed Vocational Nurse training and LVN-to-RN bridge programs for career advancement
- Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA): Entry-level nursing certification for hospital, clinic, and long-term care settings
- Medical assistant: Clinical and administrative skills for physician offices and outpatient clinics
- Phlebotomy: Venipuncture and specimen collection certification
- Surgical technology: Sterile processing, surgical instrument handling, and operating room procedures
- Pharmacy technician: Medication dispensing, pharmacy operations, and certification preparation
- Medical coding and billing: ICD-10, CPT coding, and revenue cycle management training
- EHR and health IT: Electronic health record system training and healthcare information technology skills
- Home health aide: In-home care skills and certification for home health agencies
- Dental assistant: Chairside assistance, radiology, and dental office operations
Who Can Participate
Any Texas healthcare employer can participate in the Skills Development Fund, including:
- Hospitals and health systems
- Physician group practices
- Outpatient clinics and urgent care centers
- Home health agencies
- Long-term care and skilled nursing facilities
- Dental practices and dental groups
- Behavioral health and substance abuse treatment providers
- Diagnostic laboratories
- Rehabilitation centers
Both large health systems and small independent practices can participate. Smaller employers often benefit from consortium applications where multiple healthcare employers in a region partner on a single grant.
The Consortium Advantage for Healthcare
Healthcare is one of the sectors where consortium grants are particularly effective. Multiple healthcare employers in a region face the same workforce shortages — nursing, medical assistants, certified nursing aides — and can benefit from the same training programs.
A consortium application allows a community college to design a single training program that serves multiple employers, spreading the administrative burden while increasing the grant's impact. This approach is especially effective in rural Texas where individual employers may not have enough training volume to justify a standalone application.
How to Get Started
- Assess your workforce needs: Identify which positions are hardest to fill, what certifications are required, and how many workers you need to train.
- Contact your local community college: Reach out to the health sciences or continuing education department. Many Texas community colleges have dedicated healthcare workforce development staff.
- Design the program together: Collaborate on a curriculum that maps to your clinical requirements and credential standards.
- The college applies to TWC: The community college submits the grant application to the Texas Workforce Commission. Your organization provides a letter of commitment and staffing projections.
- Training is delivered: Training can be delivered on-site at your facility, at the college, or in a blended format. Clinical rotations can be built into the program.
Complementary Programs for Healthcare Employers
- Self-Sufficiency Fund: TWC grant for training low-income workers entering the healthcare workforce
- Apprenticeship programs: Healthcare registered apprenticeships combine on-the-job training with classroom instruction and may include additional TWC funding
- WOTC: Federal tax credit for hiring workers from targeted groups, including TANF recipients and ex-felons — relevant for healthcare employers with high hiring volume
- HRSA programs: Federal Health Resources and Services Administration programs provide additional workforce development funding for underserved areas
- Skills for Small Business: For healthcare practices with fewer than 100 employees, this TWC program covers training through existing community college catalogs
Bottom Line
The Skills Development Fund is one of the most direct solutions to Texas's healthcare workforce shortage. If your healthcare organization is struggling to hire trained staff, this program can fund the training pipeline — at no cost to your organization. The key is engaging early with a community college partner and designing a program that directly maps to your staffing needs.
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