Introducing the Connectivity Platform

The Connectivity Platform is an AI-powered career navigation and workforce connection system. It helps individuals explore careers, access education and training pathways, connect with support services, and find jobs that lead to economic mobility—all in one place.

The platform is designed to serve:

• Students beginning career exploration in middle and high school
• Adults in transition seeking reskilling or new career paths
• Employers hiring or offering training and work-based learning
• Educators and institutions offering degrees, certifications, and career advising
• Nonprofits providing support services and program access

Most tools address only one piece of the journey—such as career interest surveys, job listings, or education databases. The Connectivity Platform is designed as an end-to-end solution, offering:

• Career discovery and pathway matching
• Education and credential alignment
• Support service integration
• Work-based learning and job opportunities
• AI-powered recommendations for individuals and employers

The platform leverages generative AI to:

• Provide personalized, real-time guidance
• Match users to relevant careers, programs, and support
• Offer employers candidate recommendations based on job needs
• Generate insights on workforce and pipeline trends

Led by the Greater Houston Partnership, the platform is being co-designed with employers, educators, and community organizations to ensure it meets real-world needs. We are partnering with an established platform provider—leveraging proven technology, tools, and expertise as a foundation—and tailoring it for the Houston region.

The development process includes:

• Stakeholder workshops
• Prototype testing
• Continuous input from pilot users and partners

The project is in its planning, design and stakeholder engagement phase in Fall 2025, with additional features and access points rolling out into 2026. Opportunities to participate in early co-design and pilot activities are now open.

There are several ways to engage:

• Sign up here to express interest
• Employers can join co-design workshops
• Funders can support platform development and scale
• Individuals can sign up for updates and future access
• Beginning in 2026, we will invite community service providers to enter program and service information into the platform, ensuring visibility to the audiences they most want to reach

The Connectivity Platform is a flagship initiative of the Partnership’s Talent and Economic Mobility strategic imperative under Houston Next: Advancing Opportunity. It reflects the organization’s role as a convener across business, education, and nonprofit sectors to build a more connected, inclusive, and opportunity-rich workforce system.

The initial focus will be on the entire Houston MSA, which includes Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller counties. However, we believe this tool addresses challenges that many other states and cities face and are designing it to scale nationally in the long term.

Career exploration, applicant job matching, and career planning will always be free for all Houston residents to ensure equitable access. Generous philanthropic sources will fund the platform during the development, pilot and ramp up phases, after which it will shift to a self-sustaining model. Companies and ISDs will have the option to purchase advanced features (e.g., candidate matching, partner management) and reporting tools (e.g., skills and pipeline tracking, CTE reporting).

Exact pricing and subscription models, as well as special discounts that members of the GHP will realize will be determined at a later date once we have achieved widespread adoption and business value.

• We are seeking volunteers interested in becoming pilot partners – sign up here
• A comprehensive implementation plan will be completed by the end of 2025, with conversations starting with selected Phase 1 partners in early 2026
• Multiple pilot phases will ensure smooth implementation and strong partner support
• Pilot groups will include ISDs, workforce solutions organizations, community support groups, higher education institutions, and employers who can commit to engagement, testing, and feedback

We believe that the Connectivity Platform will be an unprecedented tool for economic mobility as it will provide personalized recommendations that will enable each person to optimize career choices based on their unique strengths and interests without regard to race.

We acknowledge the importance of ensuring the racial and other demographic bias does not negatively impact the results and recommendations. Therefore, bias testing and mitigation will be a critical part of the development process.

The platform will capture work experiences in ways that promote equity, such as providing typical role tasks for individuals to validate, then generating associated skills. Users will be able to flag results they feel are inaccurate, providing feedback that informs ongoing model refinement.

We are in active conversations with multiple ISDs and charter schools to understand their processes, challenges and needs. These discussions will guide pilot programs and the eventual scaling of the tool for middle and high school students. We are also in discussions with major nonprofit organizations in the Houston area that are interested in leveraging the platform to improve the delivery of their services, and student outcomes.

The platform is not intended to replace CRMs or ATSs, but rather to serve as a candidate funnel into existing hiring systems. We will explore API options to allow companies to integrate and exchange information with their platforms.

Absolutely. Leveraging generative AI, the platform will provide niche, targeted, and personalized recommendations across a broad spectrum of careers according to each person’s unique skills, interests, credentials and experiences, all align with career pathways that lead to family-sustaining incomes.

• The platform will help individuals explore career paths they may not have considered
• It will include successful pathways to careers that do not require a four-year degree, such as skilled trades

The platform will identify where a user’s skills align with a desired career and highlight existing gaps. It will also provide clear recommendations for upskilling or educational opportunities to close those gaps.

This is not a moonshot—it is a feasible and achievable vision.

Each component of the platform has already been validated through existing technology or prototypes and testing. What is novel is bringing these elements together into one integrated, end-to-end experience. While the work is ambitious, it is both practical and achievable. In addition, the work is guided and informed by an active steering committee made up of over 100 leaders representing business, education, and the nonprofit sectors.