A Quick Summary…
In 2021, in response to post-pandemic challenges and historic federal investments, Colorado formed the Student Success and Workforce Revitalization Task Force (HB21-1330). The Task Force included stakeholders from education, industry, and advocacy groups, working together to address workforce development by integrating education and workforce systems.
They advocated for bold new legislation to:
1. ENHANCE TRANSPARENCY
2. CREATE SEAMLESS PATHS FROM EDUCATION TO WORKFORCE
3. EXPAND CONNECTIONS BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EDUCATION
4. BUILD AND SCALE EVIDENCE-BASED PROGRAMS THAT MEET REGIONAL NEEDS
These policies have allowed Colorado to significantly improve its ability to measure outcomes, increase employer participation in work-based learning, and expand access to industry-aligned credentials in high-demand fields.
This work exemplifies how targeted investments and cross-sector partnerships can build a resilient, adaptive, and inclusive talent pipeline for the future.
The Problem/Opportunity:
Crafting a Shared Vision for Higher Education & Workforce Development in Colorado
In 2021, states grappled with workforce development and post-pandemic economic challenges. At the same time, the federal government was making historic investments in states to help them address these challenges. Colorado and other states took this unique opportunity to invest in long-term education and workforce initiatives that transform the system to address modern-day workforce and economic development needs.
Colorado Succeeds and its partners worked with the governor and general assembly members to seize the unique opportunity and create the Student Success and Workforce Revitalization Task Force.
More than 90% of Colorado’s top jobs require some form of postsecondary credential or training, but fewer than 34% of Colorado High School graduates achieve one within six years.
The Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE) convened the Task Force. It included 67 individuals representing various stakeholders, including Commission members, public higher education governing boards, private colleges, K-12 schools, student organizations, business leaders, and advocacy groups.
The task force was charged with:
Addressing the skilled worker shortage by aligning education with industry demands to prepare students for high-demand careers.
Working to reduce disparities in credential access for underserved populations impacted by the pandemic.
Finding efficient ways to use ARPA funds, ultimately leading to a recommendation of allocating $95 million in ARPA funds to support education, re-engage students, and revitalize the workforce.
Redesigning education pathways to be more flexible, efficient, and aligned with evolving economic needs.
The task force submitted its final recommendations to the Colorado legislature in December 2021, emphasizing the importance of industry-education collaboration, efficient credentialing, and targeted use of public funds to address workforce gaps.
We need to reimagine our approach to higher education and workforce development to foster an environment where our homegrown talent can thrive
JARED POLIS | GOVERNOR OF COLORADO
What Happened Next:
A New Vision for Colorado’s Education and Workforce Ecosystem
Learner-Centered
Integrate education, workforce programs, and employer partnerships to prepare diverse students for future careers. Prioritize equity, flexible learning models, and recognition of diverse experiences to ensure lifelong success.
Better Results from Targeted Investments
Education investments should prioritize flexible, career-ready skills, economic mobility, and job creation. Collaboration with industry is key to expanding pathways and building a strong postsecondary system that attracts talent. A data-driven approach ensures alignment with needs, impact measurement, and resource efficiency.
A Flexible and Adaptive Talent Development System
Create more mechanisms to blur the lines between education and work, leveraging partnerships to meet regional needs. Ensure Coloradans access postsecondary pathways that build industry-specific and cross-domain skills, supporting seamless transitions between education, work, and further education.
- Innovation and Scaling Partnership Grants: Leverage federal, state, local, private, and philanthropic dollars to create statewide and regional grants that spark innovation and scale-proven approaches.
- Enhance Transparency of Postsecondary and Workforce Data: Invest in a Statewide Student Success Data Interface to give higher education leaders and policymakers easy access to actionable student success metrics.
- Develop New Statewide Success Measures: Create measures that align with the 90% of students pursuing postsecondary education to improve career opportunities.
- Develop Stackable Credential/Work-Based Learning Pathways: Work with education and business leaders to develop credential pathways in high-need, high-value fields.
- Eliminate Equity Gaps: Require postsecondary institutions to submit multi-year plans and budgets to close racial, regional, and socio-economic equity gaps in credential attainment and other success metrics.
- Create a Strategic Talent Finance Plan: Task higher education and industry leaders with identifying options for additional, sustainable funding for postsecondary education.
Catalyzing Partners on a Shared Vision
The adoption and implementation of the recommendations matter most. If done right, Colorado businesses could save on expensive recruiters and in-house training and invest instead in the state’s future economic prosperity.
Colorado Succeeds’ leadership in convening the coalition allowed the community to come together to help legislators formulate legislation to address the task force’s recommendations.
Those recommendations included bills that laid the groundwork for:
Legislation passed in 2022 (HB22-1349) invested in a statewide student success data system that students can use to understand how different educational and career decisions could affect their future earnings and employment prospects. This bill also lays the groundwork for envisioning a long-term solution to making data across all education and training systems more accessible so that schools, colleges, and workforce training providers can improve their programs.
HB22-1215 created a state task force focused on early college high schools, with representation from businesses, students, teachers, and principals. The task force’s charge was reimagining the connections between high school, postsecondary success, and career preparation. This task force was particularly relevant for Colorado Succeeds because part of its charge was to build on and improve past policy achievements in the career-connected learning space.
SB22-192 required the state Department of Higher Education to identify at least three high-growth industries and create “stackable” options for students to develop skills that meet their demand for talent. Students would be able to earn workforce credentials that build toward associate and bachelor’s degrees, and the initiative would expand to support more high-growth industries in later years. Notably, the bill required employer engagement in the process.
HB22-1350 established a $91 million grant program that allowed the state to invest in new and proven programs that seed transformative change. The partnerships required intentional alignment between secondary, postsecondary, and workforce learning providers and employers to meet regional workforce and lead to jobs.
SB22-140 created an incentive program in the Department of Labor to reward employers who participate in or develop new work-based learning opportunities. The bill focused on partnerships with local intermediaries as trusted employer partners.
HB24-1364 invested in a Statewide Longitudinal Data System to track student outcomes across education and workforce programs. This system provides students with transparent information about how different education and career choices impact their future earnings and employment prospects. It also helps schools, colleges, and workforce training providers improve programs based on real-time data.
SB24-104 and SB24-143 established tools to align high school apprenticeship programs with Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways, ensuring students can earn industry credentials that translate into college credit. These bills also created a framework to assess the value of non-degree credentials, helping students and employers better understand the benefits of different training programs.
The coalition supported the development of this policy, coordinated a support letter signed by many in the business and advocacy community, and advocated for it within their various constituencies. This broad buy-in laid the foundation for significant engagement and continued momentum in implementation.
Outcomes & Impact:
Building Momentum: Transformative Progress Since 2022
The policy package passed in 2022 catalyzed transformation in Colorado’s education and workforce system, resulting in the following outcomes:
HB24-1364, Education-Based Workforce Readiness, addressed the roadmap’s recommendations by creating a system in a neutral state agency, focusing on data use, privacy, and increasing efficiency, and creating a robust governance structure with public input to ensure long-term sustainability.
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Colorado Succeeds is proud to be a part of the Better Data for Better Decisions Coalition, which is focused on ensuring the implementation of a user-centered, cross-sector data system that delivers actionable insights for Colorado’s learners, educators, and employers.
The Postsecondary Student Success Data workgroup (HB22-1349) developed a “minimum value threshold.
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The Colorado Commission on Higher Education anchored its Strategic Plan: Building Skills for an Evolving Economy on this new measure and set a goal of increasing the number of students getting a positive economic benefit from their postsecondary education and training.
The Secondary, Postsecondary, and Work-based Learning Integration Task Force (HB22-1215) released a final report that put forward a set of recommendations.
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The Task Force’s recommendations focused on program modernization, access, awareness, value, sustainable funding, and partnership.
Work continues using the Quality and In-demand Non-degree Credentials Framework (HB22-145) to clarify the skills and competencies different credentials offer for employers and education providers.
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The Colorado Department of Higher Education convened education leaders, faculty, counselors, and business leaders to define pathways in several key pathways; The 2023 and 2024 reports include essential insight into the process and maps for each pathway.
Colorado’s Opportunity Now Program (HB22-1350) administered by The Colorado Office of Economic and International Trade has invested in supporting partnerships between industry and education across all 64 counties to either seed innovation or scale evidence-based practices.
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Colorado Succeeds was proud to support two partnerships: Project SCALE and the Colorado Rural Talent Network.
The Work-Based Learning Incentive Program (SB22-140) provided employers with a one-time payment of up to $10,000 to offset costs associated with work-based learning.
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Colorado Succeeds supported the administration of funds to employers, alongside fellow intermediaries the Arvada Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce, the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce, and the Colorado Restaurant Association.
Statewide Impact:
$2.6M
Resource Disbursed
270
Businesses Impacted
5
Intermediaries engaged
6K+
Students Impacted
Colorado Succeeds Impact:
$400K
Resource Disbursed
50
Rural Businesses Impacted
25
Rural Communities Impacted
Conclusion:
Colorado’s concerted efforts to integrate education and workforce systems through collaborative policymaking and targeted investments have laid the foundation for a dynamic and inclusive talent development ecosystem.
The implementation of the Student Success and Workforce Revitalization Task Force’s recommendations has already produced tangible benefits, including expanded access to postsecondary pathways, robust employer engagement, and measurable impacts on students and communities across the state. These efforts underscore the power of collective action to build a resilient economy and ensure every learner can achieve their full potential.g and sharing learnings that can be replicated in other industries and across other work in Colorado.
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