Beyond Access: Texas Southern University and Legacy Community Health Partnership Poised to Create Pathways for Students and Communities

Texas Southern University and Legacy Community Health have announced a partnership to open a clinic that will provide primary care and related services while offering students hands-on learning experiences tied directly to their academic programs. The initiative was first shared on Texas Southern News and is part of a broader effort to expand healthcare access and create career opportunities for Texas Southern students.

Recently, Texas Southern News had the opportunity to speak with Provost Dr. Charles Goodman about the significance of the project and how it aligns with his vision for connecting education, community service, and workforce development.

An Opportunity for Collective Impact

The partnership offers an opportunity for collective impact — where education, healthcare, and community resources align to create measurable benefits for students and residents. Unlike short-term projects, collective impact efforts are built for long-term results and are sustained through clear goals, shared measures, and ongoing coordination.

In the context of this clinic, collective impact means healthcare providers, educators, and workforce partners working in concert to improve both patient care and student career outcomes. This alignment ensures that the skills students develop match employer needs while addressing local health priorities.

The same principles can be applied far beyond healthcare. In education, technology, business, and public service, aligning academic programs with industry partners can create the same kind of “high-speed lanes” for students, shortening the path from classroom to career while meeting workforce demand.

The Texas Southern Network

Dr. Goodman describes the clinic as one piece of a larger vision he calls The Texas Southern Network — a connected web of alumni, faculty, and partners who actively help students progress from their first professional experiences to sustained, rewarding careers.

In this network, opportunities are not one-time events; they are stepping stones. A student might begin in an entry-level healthcare role, such as a phlebotomist or medical assistant at Legacy Community Health, while completing their degree at Texas Southern. That first job provides both income and an immediate connection to the professional world. From there, students can draw on the guidance of alumni who have walked similar paths — gaining insight into the next credential to pursue, how to navigate professional environments, and when to take strategic career leaps.

The network’s strength comes from its reach. Texas Southern alumni work in healthcare, education, business, law, and public service across the country. Dr. Goodman sees those alumni as a living resource — examples of what’s possible and mentors who can open doors. He believes their engagement can inspire students to envision bigger goals and provide the practical advice to help them reach them.

“The Texas Southern Network is more than access,” Dr. Goodman said. “It’s the example, the motivation, and the support to take not just the next step, but every step after that — all the way to becoming the local doctors, nurses, and healthcare leaders who serve their own communities.”

This approach reflects a long-standing commitment at Texas Southern to connect education with real-world opportunity. By intentionally linking academic programs to professional networks, the university helps ensure that students are not only well-prepared for their first job but also equipped to keep advancing throughout their careers.

A Clinic with Dual Purpose and Clear Workforce Crosswalks

Public statements from Texas Southern and Legacy Community Health describe the clinic as having a dual purpose: to expand access to healthcare in the surrounding community and to serve as a training site for students in healthcare-related programs.

This training goes beyond exposure to clinical settings. The partnership is intentionally designed to create what Dr. Goodman calls workforce crosswalks — clearly defined pathways that connect a student’s academic work to meaningful roles in the healthcare industry.

For example, a student might begin as a medical assistant at Legacy Community Health while completing coursework at Texas Southern. That role could meet practicum requirements, develop hands-on clinical skills, and lead to industry-recognized certifications. From there, the student could move into nursing, physician assistant programs, or other advanced degrees, supported by faculty mentorship and guidance from Texas Southern alumni already working in those fields.

Workforce crosswalks address a common challenge for many students: understanding the steps needed to move from entry-level employment into long-term, well-paying careers. By making these steps visible and attainable, the partnership creates a structure in which each professional milestone builds toward the next.

While the clinic focuses on healthcare, the crosswalk concept can apply to other fields, such as education, technology, and business — any discipline where students benefit from early work experience that complements their academic training. For employers, these pathways provide a consistent, job-ready talent pipeline; for students, they transform career aspirations into a sequence of achievable steps.

By integrating these crosswalks into the clinic’s purpose, Texas Southern and Legacy are ensuring the partnership produces lasting results for both students and the community it serves.

Why This Matters

The Texas Southern–Legacy Community Health partnership addresses challenges that are both local and far-reaching. In the Houston region, many neighborhoods face persistent gaps in access to primary care, long wait times, and limited availability of preventive services.

This clinic will bring needed healthcare directly into the community, reducing barriers for patients while providing Texas Southern students with hands-on learning in a real-world setting.

For students, the partnership offers more than training — it provides direct pathways into healthcare careers. Working alongside experienced professionals from a respected healthcare organization, students will gain the skills, credentials, and professional networks they need to advance. By linking academic preparation with on-the-job experience, the initiative shortens the timeline from classroom to career and strengthens graduates’ readiness to meet workforce demand.

The collaboration also benefits from the credibility and capacity of Legacy Community Health, a known leader in providing high-quality, accessible care across the region. This ensures the clinic will be connected to a robust system of healthcare resources, professional expertise, and community trust from day one.

Beyond the immediate impact on Houston-area communities and Texas Southern students, the partnership has the potential to serve as a model for other regions. The framework — aligning higher education with a proven healthcare provider to meet community needs and train the workforce — is adaptable to other industries and disciplines. Similar models could be developed for teacher preparation, technology, and public service programs, expanding the benefits well beyond healthcare.

In combining the strengths of an academic institution and a trusted healthcare leader, the Texas Southern-Legacy partnership demonstrates how strategic alliances can address urgent local needs while creating scalable solutions with national relevance.

Looking Ahead

While details about the clinic’s opening and specific services will be shared in future updates, the intent is clear: this is a project designed to improve lives by combining healthcare delivery with hands-on student learning. Dr. Goodman believes this model can strengthen communities and inspire students to see themselves as future leaders in healthcare.

A Broader Series

This article begins a Texas Southern News series exploring different aspects of the Texas Southern–Legacy partnership:

● Legacy’s Perspective – How the healthcare provider sees its role in community health and student development.

● Faculty Insight – How Texas Southern’s healthcare faculty plan to connect academic learning to the clinic’s operations.

● Student Pathways – Examples of how students will gain real-world experience through the partnership.

● Community Voice – Reactions from residents on the value of the clinic and its potential impact.