Governor Polis Signs HB26-1317, Launching Work to Unify Colorado's Postsecondary and Workforce Systems
Today, Governor Polis signed HB26-1317, the Unified Postsecondary Talent Development System, beginning a multi-year process to integrate oversight of higher education and workforce development programs in Colorado. The bipartisan bill was sponsored by Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie, Representative Rick Taggart, Senator Jeff Bridges, and Senator Lisa Frizell, and passed the House 51-12 before clearing the Senate on the consent calendar.
The law responds to a long-standing critique: Coloradans seeking job training, higher education, and work opportunities have had to navigate what the Governor described as "a complicated web of seven state departments, more than 20 divisions, and 110 workforce initiatives."
HB26-1317 itself does not consolidate those programs. Instead, it creates the Postsecondary Talent Development System Transition Advisory Committee, which must begin meeting by July 1, 2026 and deliver a transition plan to the Joint Budget Committee and four legislative committees by November 30, 2026. The committee's plan will include recommendations on the future structure of the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE), a recommendation on renaming the department, and recommendations on how various offices, agencies, programs, and functions should transition to CDHE or other state agencies.
Photo Credit: The Office of Governor Jared Polis
The bill names specific programs and functions that the committee must address in its recommendations, including the Division of Employment and Training within the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, the state's responsibilities under Titles I, II, and III of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, adult education and literacy programs currently administered through the Department of Education, the Regional Talent Development Initiative grants commonly known as Opportunity Now Colorado, the Colorado Office of New Americans, and the Colorado Disability Opportunity Office. The plan must also address how CDHE will coordinate with the Department of Education on registered apprenticeships for youth, pre-apprenticeship, work-based learning, out-of-school-time programs, and postsecondary credentials.
The committee is also required to actively seek input from employees of affected state departments, employers, workforce center participants, community-based workforce organizations, registered apprentices, faculty and staff at public institutions of higher education, labor organizations representing public higher education workers, and students enrolled in postsecondary programs. That mandated engagement creates a clear entry point for the field over the coming months.
The bill's significance is in what it sets in motion. The Transition Advisory Committee's recommendations will shape the design of Colorado's future combined agency, and sustained engagement from the field, institutional leaders, and funders will help determine how the new system aligns higher education and workforce development for the decade ahead.
Introducing the FutureRise Economic Mobility Fellowship
We're proud to launch the FutureRise Economic Mobility Fellowship, a new opportunity for emerging leaders to contribute to high-impact work shaping the future of education, workforce development, and economic opportunity. Fellows will work directly with senior leadership, employers, philanthropy, and public-sector partners on initiatives that strengthen pathways into high-demand careers.
The role centers on research, strategy, and systems innovation — conducting analysis on credential outcomes and scalable workforce models, supporting outcomes tracking across the FutureRise grantee portfolio, and leading an anchor research project with a defined deliverable. Fellows will also have opportunities to contribute to communications and narrative work, including The Rise Report and funder briefing materials.
We're seeking curious, entrepreneurial emerging leaders with strong writing and analytical skills and a genuine passion for expanding access to economic opportunity. The fellowship requires a minimum of 20 hours per week, with flexible timing, and offers a competitive monthly stipend.
Know someone who'd be a great fit? We're reviewing applications on a rolling basis and would love to hear from emerging leaders who see themselves in this work.
Interested candidates should send a resume and brief cover letter to [email protected] with "Economic Mobility Fellow" in the subject line. Learn more.
Prosperity Denver Fund Awards $630K to Expand College, Credential, and Apprenticeship Access
Prosperity Denver Fund — one of the only voter-approved, locally-financed postsecondary investment vehicles in the country — announced that it will distribute approximately $630,000 to 21 Denver nonprofits in its spring funding cycle, supporting 192 students pursuing college, credentials, apprenticeships, and career-connected learning. The most notable signal in the announcement: funding for credentials and apprenticeship programs reached $477,413, up 78% from $267,711 in spring 2025. One-third of the funded organizations are new awardees this cycle, reflecting both growing demand and a broadening field of providers.
“Prosperity Denver Fund was created to reward organizations for their success with students through scholarships and career training programs,” said Rebecca Arno, CEO of Prosperity Denver Fund. “Every dollar we award is linked to evidence that Denver students are building strong futures through these pathways.”
From left to right: Polica Houston, board co-chair of Prosperity Denver Fund; Theresa Peña, board chair; Drew Jackson, field director for African American Trade Association; Melissa Chavez, a scholar with Latinas First; and Rebecca Arno, CEO of Prosperity Denver Fund, gather in support of Prosperity Denver’s work to advance educational pathways for Denver students and strengthen the local economy.
The 78% jump offers a real-time read on where Denver students and nonprofits are actually moving — toward faster, more affordable pathways into high-demand fields like healthcare, IT, construction, and skilled trades. Spring grantees on the credentials side include Emily Griffith Foundation, Servicios de La Raza, Colorado Sheet Metal Workers Training Fund, Denver Health Foundation, Housed Working & Healthy, City Year, Mile High Early Learning, Join FreeWorld, Social Finance, and Fortified Academy. Collegiate grantees include American Indian College Fund (a first-time recipient), Latin American Educational Foundation, Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, Pinnacol Foundation, Save Our Youth, among many others.
The fund's mechanics are themselves worth attention. Prosperity Denver is supported by a voter-approved 0.08% Denver sales tax — less than a penny on a $10 purchase — and operates on a pay-for-success model, reimbursing nonprofits only when students achieve postsecondary milestones. Since 2018, the fund has supported nearly 64,000 students and reimbursed more than $65 million to Denver nonprofits.
VOICES IN THE FIELD
Firefighters and Architects for Higher Ed: On Futuro Health's WorkforceRx podcast, Dr. Zakiya Smith Ellis offers a sharp take on the moment: the biggest AI threat to postsecondary education isn't cheating on essays — it's the disappearance of entry-level jobs that have long served as the on-ramp to careers.
Her response is to stop treating experiential learning as a nice-to-have and build it into every program, the way nursing, medicine, and teacher prep already do. Her framing for this moment: postsecondary education needs both firefighters to put out the fire and architects to design what comes next — because the house wasn't serving everyone well before it caught fire. Listen here.
For more of Zakiya’s thinking on AI, the future of work, equity, and accreditation reform, follow her Substack, A Girl Is No One.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING
Federal Negotiators Reach Consensus on Accreditation Overhaul: The U.S. Department of Education announced this week that negotiators reached consensus on a proposed regulatory framework emerging from the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization (AIM) negotiated rulemaking session. The package advances priorities laid out in President Trump's April 2025 Executive Order on accreditation reform.Key provisions of the agreed-upon language include:
Transfer of credit: Accreditors would be required to ensure institutions maintain policies presuming undergraduate credit will transfer between accredited institutions when content and learning outcomes are comparable.
Lowering barriers for new accreditors: The current requirement that emerging accreditors conduct activities for at least two years before applying for federal recognition would be eliminated, replaced with a standard requiring accreditation of at least one institution or program.
Conflict of interest controls: Accreditors would be prohibited from sharing personnel, services, equipment, facilities, or IT with affiliated trade or professional organizations, and required to publicly disclose those relationships.
Student outcomes focus: Accreditors would be directed to evaluate institutions on standardized assessment performance, licensure and certification results, retention, completion, and post-completion economic returns rather than input-based metrics.
Cost burden reduction: The Department signaled its intent to ensure accreditation activities avoid unnecessary financial, compliance, and administrative burdens on institutions.
Academic freedom and intellectual diversity: Accreditors would be required to evaluate whether institutions protect academic freedom across faculty, maintain research integrity policies, and prioritize intellectual diversity and the free exchange of ideas.
The consensus language now moves toward a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, with a public comment period to follow before final regulations are issued.
The Burning Glass Institute released Breaking the Bottleneck: Expanding Work-Based Learning in Colorado at last week's Colorado Business Roundtable (COBRT) Future of Work Summit. Produced in partnership with the Colorado Business Roundtable, the report draws on hundreds of millions of job postings, the career histories of 65 million American workers, and focus groups with Colorado employers to examine why Colorado's ambitious work-based learning goals are running into a supply problem.
Nearly 70 percent of high school students say they want work-based learning, and Colorado has set the most ambitious target in the country — by 2029, every high school graduate is meant to earn an industry credential, complete 12 college credits, or finish a high-quality work-based learning experience.
Yet between 2018 and 2024, Colorado's internship market produced just one high school-accessible posting for every 27 graduates.
The report identifies four paths Colorado and other states will need to pursue in parallel: expanding existing models into sectors, occupations, and regions the current system has bypassed; enriching the value employers derive from participation so growth becomes self-sustaining; building new, lower-lift models that work around the constraints of the high school day; and recognizing the learning potential of the work that 45,000 Colorado high schoolers are already doing in part-time jobs. Read the report.
FROM THE FIELD
The Rise Report welcomes updates from our colleagues across Colorado. Think of this as your one-stop-shop for conference updates, new research + reports, job postings, and career moves.
The Colorado Department of Higher Education announced the five institutions selected for the inaugural Colorado Work-Integrated Learning (CO-WIL) Consortium, a three-year pilot program and backed by more than $5.6 million in philanthropic funding from Ascendium Education Group and Strada Education Foundation. The model embeds industry-sponsored, project-based learning directly into higher education coursework, with small groups of students working with a single employer rather than the traditional one-to-one internship model. Students receive a minimum $250 stipend, and faculty receive stipends for training and implementation. The pilot uses the Riipen experiential learning platform to match faculty and students with employer projects aligned to course curricula.
The five participating institutions are: Adams State University, Colorado Mountain College, Colorado Northwestern Community College, Fort Lewis College, and Lamar Community College. The program runs through June 2029. Learn more.
Apprenticeship Colorado has opened its 2026 application for recognition as a Qualified Apprenticeship Intermediary, the third consecutive year the state has formally recognized intermediaries to expand its Registered Apprenticeship system. In 2025, 43 organizations were recognized; 2024 awardees must reapply as recognition covers a two-year period. Applications close June 19, 2026, with a Q&A webinar on June 4. Learn more and apply.
The Colorado Community College System institutions have a number of new presidential appointments: Dr. Dustin Eicke has been named the next president of Trinidad State College, effective June 15, 2026. He joins from Laramie County Community College in Wyoming, where he served as vice president of performance and planning and accreditation liaison officer. Dr. Bishane Whitmore, a Colorado native and U.S. Air Force Colonel currently serving as Deputy Commander of the 319th Reconnaissance Wing, will become president of the Community College of Denver on October 1, 2026. Congratulations and welcome Dustin and Bishane!
ED–DOL Announce Strengthening Institutions Program Investment: The U.S. Departments of Education and Labor announced a one-time FY 2026 investment in the Strengthening Institutions Program competition, focused on workforce readiness, responsible use of artificial intelligence, and high-quality short-term programs ahead of Workforce Pell implementation. Under the partnership, DOL will manage grant funds, provide technical assistance, and integrate ED's postsecondary programs with DOL's workforce programs. Details on the grant competition are available here.
WE WANT YOUR INPUT!
Voices in the Field is a new feature, and I'd love your help building it.
Who would you like to hear from or read about in a future edition of The Rise Report?
Send me the thinker, practitioner, or good-troublemaker whose work you find yourself returning to — Substack, podcast, op-ed, book, or stage. You can drop me a note here, or simply reply to the newsletter.
I'll feature reader picks in a future edition.
Until next week,
Alison