Maldonado on HCC agreement with City of Houston: 'Every employee trained is one more skilled first responder able to help our community'

Houston Community College (HCC) has inked a three-year agreement with the City of Houston to give firefighters emergency medical services (EMS) training, according to a press release. 

A ceremony was held at the institution’s Northeast College where HCC Chancellor Dr. Cesar Maldonado and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner formally signed the agreement, the release said.

Maldonado touted the partnership as another way to prepare “a more resilient workforce,” per HCC. 

“Every employee trained is one more skilled first responder able to help our community mitigate the impact of an event that threatens our citizens or property,” the chancellor said in the release. “We are proud of this partnership, proud of the work we are doing together and proud of those who complete this training and go on to serve the public good.”

According to the school, it has partnered with the city before on other initiatives, but following Hurricane Harvey half a decade ago, the focus shifted to resiliency training. 

HCC was among the many entities to respond to Turner’s call for residents to acquire skills to help save lives and property in the face of manmade or natural disasters. 

“Our inaugural resilience courses are beginning,” Maldonado said, per the release. “Now is the time to examine what we offer and see how these courses can benefit your operations and the communities where we live.”

The chancellor added that HCC intends to offer training at the Northeast College’s HCC Center of Excellence in Resilience Operations and other campuses throughout the system. 

“We are also excited to share that we are developing pathways to convert resiliency training courses to college credit, leading to advanced certificates and Associate of Applied Science degrees,” he said in the release.