Vanessa Ramirez sat in Mike Feinberg’s first KIPP classroom on Houston’s north side as a kid. Today she runs the part of his second act aimed at kids the system has already given up on.
Ramirez co-founded WorkTexas with Feinberg and leads Project Remix Ventures, its arm for youth moving through the juvenile justice system. Her diagnosis of what most programs get wrong is blunt. “Kids don’t know how to de-escalate,” she says. “We put them in a classroom staring at a wall. We’re not developing that self-awareness. We’re not developing communication skills.”
Mike Feinberg’s Former Student Builds Her Own Model
The Opportunity Center, housed in a former juvenile detention facility, pairs GED work with hands-on training and behavioral health support. “It’s an and, and, and,” Ramirez says of the approach. “We also have behavioral health programs. We have a sensory room.” Students earn money through Project Remix’s micro-business arm, selling products they make during training before landing a traditional job. More background on the program sits alongside Feinberg’s own history on his WorkTexas biography.
Why Trust Comes Before Any Trade
Much of Ramirez’s work starts before any instruction begins. “The adults in their lives have taught them not to trust because it makes you vulnerable,” she says of the youth she serves, many of whom have also moved through Child Protective Services. She calls the structure Project Remix provides a set of guardrails, not a curriculum. Feinberg has pointed to Ramirez’s path, from KIPP student to co-founder, as proof the model reaches further than adult retraining alone. More on that history is on his TXSVF page and his LinkedIn.