Texas Workforce Commissioner Andres Alcantar signs a $1.7 million grant check for Austin Community College to provide training to EPIC Piping employees. Texas Workforce Commissioner Andres Alcantar signs a $1.7 million grant check for Austin Community College to provide training to EPIC Piping employees.[/caption]

EPIC Piping has hired more than 500 employees to work at its new manufacturing facility in San Marcos, and thanks to a $1.7 million grant from the Texas Workforce Commission, they will be able to train those workers in the skills necessary for the job.

Austin Community College’s Continuing Education Division will provide the training, which will instruct 554 EPIC employees in fabrication, pipefitting, welding, tacking and industrial painting.

“Skills grants deliver customized training solutions that help Texas employers and workers succeed in the marketplace,” TWC Chairman Andres Alcantar said in a news release. “This investment builds not only employee skills, but the capacity of Austin Community College to build partnerships that meet the needs of employers in the region. We are pleased to make this investment.”

Similar grants have created or upgraded about 300,000 jobs in Texas since 1996, according to the news release.

Adriana Cruz, president of the Greater San Marcos Partnership—the organization responsible for economic development inCaldwell and Hays counties—said the grant will lead to greater prosperity throughout the Greater San Marcos region.