Texas Regional Pathways Network (TRPN)

What is the Texas Regional Pathways Network?

The Texas Regional Pathways Network (TRPN) builds regional talent pipelines that spur economic growth across the state and ensure that all Texans have the skills and credentials needed for economic advancement. The TRPN brings together state and regional leaders to build strong educational and career pathways that prepare Texans for careers in high-wage, in-demand industries. Leaders engaged in the TRPN represent multiple sectors, including K-12 education, postsecondary education, workforce and economic development, business and industry, government, and nonprofit and community-based organizations.

The Texas Regional Pathways Network (TRPN) was launched in 2019 to support Governor Abbott’s Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative, through which the Texas Education Agency, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and Texas Workforce Commission are working collaboratively to increase economic prosperity in Texas by linking education and industry. 

With a vision that all Texans are prepared to contribute to an inclusive and competitive Texas economy, the mission of the TRPN is to build regional talent pipelines that spur economic growth across the state and ensure that all Texans have the skills and credentials needed for economic advancement. 

The TRPN is a growing community of regions across the state working to develop, refine, and scale high-quality career and education pathways.  Through the network, grantees can share knowledge and best practices, make strategic connections, and build intentional partnerships across regions in service of their goals. 

What does the TRPN do?

The TRPN supports cross-sector teams of regional stakeholders who are buildings regional education and career pathways that align with labor market demand. It facilitates peer learning, strategic planning, and sharing of best practices, challenges, and lessons learned in pathways development. The TRPN convenes annually, and members also have access to an array of Tri-Agency and other state resources, including funding and technical assistance opportunities.

Regional conveners are important leaders in the network. Tri-Agency Regional Conveners are assess in four leadership domains: regional alignment, regional work-based learning, regional data infrastructure, and regional communications.

Who leads the TRPN?

The Texas Regional Pathways Network is a shared project of the Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative, a collaboration among the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), and the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC). The TRPN is led by a Steering Committee composed of high-level, strategic state leaders who represent industry, K-12 and postsecondary education, and workforce development. Together, they advance the work of the Tri-Agency Initiative and guide the development of regional efforts that promote our state's economic growth.

For more information, please visit the Tri-Agency Workforce Initiative external website.

What are the Key Components of the TRPN?

Education and career pathways seamlessly link K-12 education, postsecondary education, and careers in high-wage, in-demand industries.

The high-quality pathways of the TRPN incorporate seven key components: 

1. Cross-sector partnerships;
2. Alignment with labor market demand;
3. Links between secondary and postsecondary education;
4. Credentials value in the labor market;
5. Integration of rigorous academics and career-focused learning;
6. Effective advising; and
7. Continuum of work-based learning experiences

What are the TRPN Grant Programs?  

TRPN members are supported by the TRPN Grant Program. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) invests Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act federal reserve dollars to expand opportunities for every student to complete career and education pathways that lead to credentials with value in the labor market.  The TRPN Grant Program has been designed to build such pathways by supporting collaboration through cross-sector teams to implement high-quality career and education pathways at the regional level. 

2025-2026 Texas Regional Pathways Network (TRPN) Cohort 5 CTE Perkins Reserve Grant

The purpose of this project is to provide multiple districts within a geographic region an opportunity to leverage resources and streamline efforts to implement high-quality career and education pathways aligned to a targeted industry that meets labor market demand. The specific purpose of this grant project is to convene a team, led by a pathways team facilitator, to implement high-quality career and education pathways aligned with regional labor market demand. The regional team will work together throughout the grant project to implement grant-funded activities and interventions that meet employers' needs within the targeted industry and provide the support students need to navigate pathways into the targeted industry.

Grant activities and interventions include, but are not limited to, supporting well-aligned and seamless transitions between secondary and postsecondary education and into the workforce, integrating career-focused learning into academic curriculum, providing students with opportunities to earn credentials and dual credit, planning, and executing quality work-based learning experiences, and providing students with effective advising to support individual career and academic planning. All grantees in this project will become members of the Texas Regional Pathways Network (TRPN), a growing network of regions across the state working to develop, refine, and scale high-quality career and education pathways.

2025-2026 Tri-Agency Grant for Regional Conveners

The purpose of this grant project is to identify, invest in, and designate a regional convener in each of Texas’s 28 workforce development areas (WDA) who will serve as the WDAs tri-agency regional convener. The role of a tri-agency regional convener is to oversee the development, implementation, and monitoring of the regional strategy for high-quality career and education pathways into targeted industries across an entire workforce development area.

The regional convener will use resources like The Tri-Agency Strategic Framework for Work-Based Learning as a model for developing work-based learning (WBL) initiatives in the region.

The responsibilities of a regional convener can be grouped into the following leadership domains:

• Regional Alignment
• Regional Work-Based Learning
• Regional Data
• Regional Communications

This grant program will be open to organizations who were grantees of the 2023-2024 Tri-Agency Grant for Regional Conveners as well as organizations new to the work. The program will have two focus areas: Focus Area 1 Regional Conveners are organizations who did not participate in and receive funding through the 2023-2024 Tri-Agency Grant for Regional Conveners. Focus Area 1 regional conveners will work across partners throughout the grant project to lead strategic planning and complete grant activities that demonstrate their proficiency in the roles and responsibilities of a regional convener. Focus Area 2 Regional Conveners are organizations who did participate in and were funded through the 2023-2024 Tri-Agency Grant for Regional Conveners. Focus Area 2 regional conveners will work across partners throughout the grant project to implement their strategic plans and continue to build a sustainable regional pathways infrastructure. After successful completion of all training and grant requirements, all regional conveners will become eligible to achieve a Tri-Agency Regional Convener designation, signaling their expertise and capacity to provide ongoing leadership and coordination to advance tri-agency priorities across their WDA, and will become a member of the TRPN, which is a growing community of regions in the state working to develop, refine, and scale high-quality career and education pathways. Designated regional conveners will be expected to engage with future TRPN career and technical education (CTE) Perkins Reserve grantees and carry out their roles as a designated regional convener beyond the grant period.

Who are the TRPN partners?

Technical Assistance Partners

• Jobs for the Future (JFF)

Tri-Agency

• Texas Education Agency
• Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
• Texas Workforce Commission