Harris County Department of Education hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday to celebrate the opening of its new Adult Education Learning Center in north Houston.

“When people come in this building, I want them to be inspired,” Superintendent James Colbert Jr. said. “We want to show them the world is not flat and that regardless of all the negativity and life circumstances, it doesn’t matter. When our students come inside, they should feel like anything is possible.”

The $19 million capital improvement project faces Irvington Boulevard and is a 51,000-square-foot, four-story building that features more than 20 classrooms and labs for local adult learners, a multi-purpose room, and a community outreach room designed to serve as a hub for the surrounding neighborhood and the greater Houston area. The facility also houses the administrative offices for HCDE’s Adult Education program.

Colbert commissioned two murals for the new building from artist Sebastien Boileau to inspire strength in disheartened Adult Education students ready to quit on their dreams. The concept for the mural, “Goddess of Grit,” was inspired by Colbert’s sister and niece, who both dropped out of high school.

The 30-foot-tall mural, which is painted behind the main staircase, features the back of a woman with Spanish and English words of encouragement flowing around her skirt. The second mural is an abstract wall treatment in the lobby with "HCDE” woven into the paint slashes.

As a member of the Houston-Galveston Area Council, the largest Adult Education Literacy consortium in Texas, HCDE’s Adult Education division serves more than 6,000 students annually who enroll in programs such as English as a Second Language (ESL), High School Equivalency (HSE, formerly known as GED), and vocational certifications like phlebotomy.

HCDE’s Adult Education division will begin offering classes at the new Learning Center in August 2023.