Goodwill Houston and CompuCycle announcedTech Recycle, a workforce training program that turns school districts’ retired electronics into paid vocational training for transition-age students with disabilities. Goodwill Houston operates the program and pays every student. CompuCycle, a Houston-based electronics recycler, provides certified data destruction and recycling for the districts’ devices.
Tech Recycle is a 12-week paid work-based learning program that helps students on the autism spectrum build skills and prepare for future employment, at no cost to them. Tech Recycle grew out of TechCycle, a program CompuCycle launched with Pearland ISD, supported by seed funding from Texas A&M and covered by ABC13. Goodwill Houston now runs it as Tech Recycle. “Goodwill Houston saw what it could be across the region and built the training around it. Our job is to keep the recycling secure, certified, and done right here in Houston,” said Kelly Adels Hess, CEO of CompuCycle.
“We have run into so many students who have a passion for telling you how things work and taking them apart. But we did not have a pathway set aside for them. The greatest part about this program is we’re paying these students. They now have certified training and a resume builder,” said Vernee Sampson, Senior Manager of Vocational Rehabilitation Programs at Goodwill Houston.
“Most arrive assuming that they can’t do this or this isn’t for them, but we want them to walk away believing that they can do it,” said Alicia Franklin, Career Coach and instructor for Tech Recycle.
School districts that want to train their students through Tech Recycle can contact Goodwill Houston. Organizations with retired electronics can send them through CompuCycle. “Community impact is the point of Tech Recycle. A district retires its devices, we recycle them securely, and Goodwill Houston turns that into paid training for students. When a听recycler, a nonprofit, and a school district work together, the whole community benefits,” Hess said.