Colorado Equitable Economic Mobility Initiative (CEEMI)

🚨 Stronger decisions start with stronger connections. The Career-Connected L/Earning Conference continues to expand its agenda with sessions exploring how collaboration, evidence, and innovative practice are helping Colorado build a more connected education and workforce ecosystem. New sessions include: 🔹 Making the Big Three Work: Why Essential Skills Are the Missing Link in an AI-Driven Workplace Featuring Cristy Biedron, Junior Achievement-Rocky Mountain, Inc. 🔹 Building and Scaling the ASAP Model Across Colorado Featuring Alison Pearl Grendahl and Crystal Annan, Colorado Department of Higher Education 🔹 Unlocking the Potential of Data: A Deep Dive into Colorado Data Connections' Newest Dashboard Featuring Michelle Kincaid, M.S., Colorado Data Connections Join leaders from across Colorado to explore practical strategies, data-informed solutions, and collaborative approaches that are shaping the future of education and workforce development. 📍 Colorado Springs 🗓️ Oct. 29–30 Explore the growing agenda and register today. Early registration pricing ends August 1.

CEEMI is at Jobs for the Future (JFF) Horizons conference this week, sharing experiences with leaders who are designing the future of education and workforce preparation across the country. With peer organizations, we’re talking about shared challenges and promising solutions for accessing data to understand which programs and supports lead to quality jobs and thriving careers. Today, we’ll hear from Lumina Foundation and Jess Kostelnik about Colorado’s experience using policy levers to expand student access to credentials of value. Tomorrow, CEEMI will join the Legislative Summit to speak with congressional leaders about the importance of policies that lead to good jobs and good wages. Are you in DC for Horizons? Find us in the conference app and let’s connect!

Building Colorado's workforce starts with creating more connected pathways between learning and employment. Apprenticeships are helping learners gain valuable experience, earn industry-recognized credentials, and enter high-demand careers with confidence. At the Career-Connected L/Earning Conference, explore how apprenticeship models are strengthening education, workforce, and employer partnerships across the state. Featured sessions include: 🦷 Cultivating the Next Generation of Dental Professionals with Alyssa Collado, The Human Strategy  & Daniel Sandoval, Aurora Public Schools  🔧 The Apprenticeship Effect: Future-Ready Pathways featuring Maddy Oaks & Debbie Shackelford, Apprenticeship Colorado  🍎 From Coursework to Workforce: Reimagining Teacher Preparation Through Career-Connected Learning with Courtney Anderson and Michelle Pacheco, Community College of Aurora Join educators, employers, policymakers, and workforce leaders as we share practical strategies for expanding opportunity through career-connected learning. 📍 Colorado Springs 🗓️ Oct. 29–30 Registration info in comments 👇

“I entered the profession thinking there must be a reason why some kids make it in this country and some kids don’t.” Inspiring words from Harlem Children's Zone founder Geoffrey Canada as he accepted the James Bryant Conant award yesterday at the Education Commission of the States National Forum on Education Policy. Canada challenged us all to deliver urgently for children and youth who are not achieving the educational outcomes needed to succeed at work and in life. We’re back at the forum today to share learnings from Colorado’s Wage Outcomes Results Coalition (WORC), a multisector initiative designed to align postsecondary training data with administrative wage records. #NationalForum

If we want better outcomes, we need better feedback loops. Data matters. Outcomes matter. But so do the lived experiences behind them. The Learner & Earner Experiences strand at the Career-Connected L/Earning Conference explores how learner voice can inform stronger programs, better pathway design, and more equitable systems. Featured sessions include: 🎓 Virtual Training – Real Opportunity 🎓 Listening to Learners These conversations will provide practical examples of how organizations are incorporating learner feedback to improve education and workforce experiences across Colorado. 📍 Colorado Springs 🗓️ October 29–30 We look forward to learning alongside partners from education, workforce, industry, and community organizations. Join us - registration link in comments 👇

Are you working to collect and act on verified post-training employment and wage data? Have we got an Education Commission of the States conference session for you! Join CEEMI and the University of Denver's Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab at the Education Commission of the States National Forum on Education Policy to learn about emerging evidence and policy lessons from Colorado’s Wage Outcomes Results Coalition (WORC), a multisector initiative designed to align postsecondary training data with administrative wage records. On July 9th at 3:30p in the Dirksen Room, Jessica Corvinus and Ernest Boffy-Ramirez, PhD will highlight key learnings, describe the methodological approach and its strengths and limitations, and explore how equity-centered reporting can inform state policy decisions. #NationalForum

What does it take to create real economic mobility?    This fall, we're excited to welcome Chris Gardner as a keynote speaker at the Career-Connected L/Earning Conference, made possible through the generous sponsorship of Transfr.    Chris's keynote, "Rebuilding the American Dream, One Good Job at a Time," will explore the barriers that continue to limit opportunity—and the actions leaders can take to expand access to quality careers.    As organizations across Colorado work to strengthen learner outcomes and economic mobility, this conversation couldn't be more timely.    Join leaders from education, workforce, government, philanthropy, and industry for two days of learning, collaboration, and action. 📍 Colorado Springs 🗓️ Oct. 29–30 Register today.

Systems change requires more than good intentions — it requires collaboration, evidence, and action. The Career-Connected L/Earning Conference brings together leaders from across Colorado and the Mountain West to explore how education, workforce, industry, government, and community organizations can work together to strengthen pathways to opportunity. This year's conference strands focus on: 🔹 Career Advising & Navigation 🔹 Data & Evidence Building 🔹 Employer-Led Innovations 🔹 Learner & Earner Experiences Each strand offers opportunities to explore emerging challenges, share innovative approaches, and learn from practitioners working across systems. 📍 Colorado Springs 🗓️ Oct. 29–30 Explore the agenda and join the conversation, link in comments 👇

📣Event alert: Colorado Workforce Impact Investing Landscape Scan We look forward to joining Colorado Workforce Development Council and Impact Finance Center on Friday, June 26 at 11a MTN for a review of current and promising workforce investment strategies for Colorado. As Colorado looks to make workforce education and training more investable, we need transparent, accurate, and accessible pre and post training wage data to calculate expected and actual return on investment. CEEMI supports data access via the Colorado Wage Outcomes Results Coalition (WORC) and we look forward to statewide developments via COData, our new state longitudinal data system launching a public facing dashboard this fall. Registration link in comments 👇

🎉Congratulations to CEEMI’s CEO and Founder Roger Low for his appointment to the Transition Advisory Committee (TAC), a key advisory body in Colorado’s effort to Reimagine Colorado’s Postsecondary Talent Development System. Roger and CEEMI’s Director of Development and Operations Amy Bernath joined stakeholders across Colorado in Pueblo this week for the Reimagine Postsecondary Talent Development System Summit. Big thanks to Speaker Julie McCluskie, Katherine Keegan, Jess Kostelnik, and many others who brought the Summit together. Roger is one of three nonprofit representatives on the 27-member committee. Between now and November 30, the TAC will hold stakeholder engagement and delibrations to deliver recommendations on the structure of an agency that includes higher education, federally funded workforce development programs, the state apprenticeship agency, adult education and family literacy, and other education and skill development programs. To stay engaged with the TAC and to join future stakeholder engagement sessions, check out the Reimagining Talent website (link in comments👇)