Promise to Paycheck launches May 15 with conversations at the intersection of education, workforce, and economic opportunity. Each episode features leaders who are building and improving the systems that connect students to real careers and living-wage outcomes. Host Eric Ban, Founder and Executive Director of the Economic Mobility Center, brings together the voices shaping these systems across Dallas County and beyond.
“We really want to understand how students move through and then get into those exciting career spaces, where they’re earning a living wage, in a career trajectory that they’re excited about,” Eric says. “That’s the work that we just really need to push ourselves into to understand.”
The debut episode features two of the region’s most prominent leaders in this space: Todd Williams, CEO of Commit Partnership, and Dr. Justin Lonon, Chancellor of Dallas College. Together, they make the case for why this work is urgent and why it’s working.
“We’ve grown living wage attainment in this region from 22 to 32%,” Todd said. “We’ve almost cut young adult poverty in half.” But he’s clear that the work isn’t finished. “I want to see that American dream filled out for every kid in Dallas County.”
Dr. Lonon puts the stakes plainly: “The only thing that’s at risk is the economy in North Texas If we don’t get this right. That’s what’s at stake.” He points to a partnership with American Airlines as proof of what’s possible when institutions align around student outcomes. Students who graduated from DISD, earned an associate’s degree from Dallas College with zero debt, and were hired by a major employer had a starting salary more than double the average household income they came from. “That’s the power of what we’re doing,” Dr. Lonon says, “The power of partnerships coming together to do things like impact generational poverty.”
The podcast doesn’t just speak to system leaders. A preview episode features Brooklyn, a former Promise scholar and first-generation college graduate who now helps students navigate the same process she once faced alone. “Being a first-gen student, I didn’t know how to pay for college,” she says. “Now that I do know what I’m doing, I’m able to equip students, help them get scholarships, help them understand what FAFSA is, and help them have a better understanding of how to pay for college.”
Brooklyn’s message to the leaders, chancellors, and executives who will be listening: “Remember that one student who really needs the support. Without you guys, they don’t have any support.”
That’s the through line of Promise to Paycheck. Every conversation, whether with a chancellor or an advisor, comes back to that one student trying to find a path forward.
The hope is that “every student knows that there is a path of opportunity,” Dr. Lonon says. “I can have not just a job, but a career that changes the trajectory of my family.”
Promise to Paycheck launches May 15 on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and the Economic Mobility Center website.