9 foster youth graduate from ‘Texas Works Paths to Success' program
The graduation took place at 10:30 a.m. on May 5 at the El Paso Community College (EPCC) Administrative Boardroom.
The celebration marks the first group of DFPS Preparation for Adult Living (PAL) teens in Texas to complete the five-week training, which is a collaboration with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the department said.
DFPS said the training ends with each graduate being hired in a local HHSC eligibility office.
The graduates will now launch into careers in state service, connecting Texans to medical, nutritional and cash assistance benefits, DFPS said.
'The training program is an example of DFPS efforts to promote economic self-reliance, housing stability and educational advancement for youth making the transition from foster care to adulthood,' read the news release.
'It's amazing for these young people,' El Paso area PAL Coordinator Molly Wegner said. 'They're going to become full-time state employees with benefits and a pension, things these kids have likely never thought about having before.'
For more on the Texas Works Paths to Success, visit here.
For more on the DFPS Preparation for Adult Living, click here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Yahoo
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The Texas floods washed away their possessions. Volunteers are helping reunite them.
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Armies of Texas volunteers dig out, clean up, after fatal floods
COMFORT, Texas -- It began with a stranger asking 'Do you need help?' 'Yes,' Paul Welch told the man in a pickup truck, 'I desperately need some help." A day later, dozens of people pulled up outside the modest cabin where Welch and his partner lived overlooking the Guadalupe River until Texas' July 4 floods. The devastated property looked like a construction site Saturday after operators started clearing debris with mini-excavators and skid steers. An Army unit from Fort Hood scraped mud out of the cabin while other people tore down drywall. A Bible study group from San Antonio hand-washed tools from Welch's barn. His niece carefully wiped old negatives, hoping to preserve some of the couple's memories. Texans are leading flood recovery even as more flooding hits and the search for the missing continues. Mass cleanup across Kerr County — about 1.5 hours northwest of San Antonio — came Saturday before heavy rain pelted the region again on Sunday. 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That money is rarely enough to cover all the costs of replacing, remediating and rebuilding and only 116 FEMA applications were approved as of Sunday. Many of those working together didn't know each other before the disaster — they've connected over social media, in public spaces or just by driving around looking for places to help. 'There's thousands of volunteers out here, more than needed, honestly. It's wild, and everyone is just lending a hand,' said Dave Isaacs, who came from San Antonio with his wife and daughter to help. Three people arrived at Daniel Olivas' home in Guadalupe Street in Kerrville last week with a skid steer and an excavator to clear debris. Water from the Guadalupe River overtook his house on July 4, leaving fish and crawdads floating in the bedrooms. Soon after, "33 angels descended' onto the property, said Olivas, removing furniture, scrubbing floors, and tearing out drywall. 'It's just amazing because I didn't ask for it,' said Olivas. 'They just showed up.' Some even insisted on leaving him cash, stuffing it into his pocket when he resisted. The help has come from businesses, too. The RV seller Camping World donated a pre-owned RV for Welch and Hastings to sleep in as long as they need. A plumbing company installed a new water treatment system for their neighbor for free. 'We're all heartbroken, and everyone's just pitching in,' said Monica Watson, a hopsice worker helping Olivas' neighbor, an older man who depended on a wheelchair. 'He was just waiting for help,' she said. She said she had no connection to her collaborators other than a shared desire to contribute. 'One guy just said 'I'm Ben, I have a Bobcat (tractor),' and that was it,'' she said. A woman drove by asking if they needed another trailer to haul away trash, and returned with one minutes later. Volunteering can help people cope with trauma, said Dr. Adrienne Heinz, a clinical research psychologist at Stanford University and an expert in post-traumatic stress. 'When something awful happens, a powerful human response can occur called 'purposing,'' said Heinz. 'This is when we rise to meet moments of sorrow and adversity with action that is meaningful and values-aligned.' Purposing 'offers a buffer against hopelessness and despair and can set the stage for post-traumatic growth and transformational resilience,' said Heinz. For those impacted, seeing the care flow in from all over the world is also healing. 'I cannot express how much I appreciate everything that they have done for us,' said Colleen Lucas of Ingram, as staff with the international charity Operation Blessing helped her husband, Dave, repair one of their cars that had been submerged in water. The staff members from Mexico, Honduras and Chile, along with 42 members of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, hauled out Lucas' destroyed belongings and packed and stored their salvageable items. She is unsure whether her home will need to be demolished, or how and when they will rebuild. But she's already thinking about how to pay forward the help they got. 'We lost a lot but we're going to be donating when we're up and going,' she said. —— Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit .
