County-funded reengagement center reports 192 participants, asks commissioners to pursue more collaboration and grants

Bert Quintanilla, policy and development director for Education to Employment Partners, updated the court Aug. 6 on Elevate 361, a young-adult reengagement center that the court provided seed funding for in 2023. Quintanilla defined "opportunity youth" as ages 16 to 24 who are not in school or not working and said there are roughly 400,500 such youth statewide; his group estimated over 6,000 in Nueces County (about 15% of that cohort locally). "We have now served over 192 participants," he told the court, and he cited studies that estimate a roughly $51,000 per-person annual societal cost for an opportunity youth who remains disengaged; Quintanilla used that figure to illustrate the programs potential economic benefit. Quintanilla described the Elevate centers partnerships and MOUs with the county detention center and a family drug-treatment court and said the center offers GED instruction, workforce services and certificates. He asked commissioners to consider further collaboration and to support pursuit of federal and state grants to expand the model into rural areas, saying state funding and interest in the initiative make expansion feasible. Commissioners who had toured the facility praised the transformation of a former nightclub into a bright training center and said they supported efforts to secure outside funding and collaborations. No formal action or additional county funding was requested or approved at the Aug. 6 meeting; Quintanilla said he would return with grant proposals and further requests if appropriate.