Credentials, Careers, Community | The Rise Report | Issue 10

April is Community College Month — this year proclaimed jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor — and across the Boundless Opportunity Scholarship (BOS) portfolio, three Colorado community colleges are demonstrating why these institutions remain essential to the state's talent development infrastructure.

The Community College of Aurora, Colorado Mountain College, and Red Rocks Community College together represent $130,000 in BOS investment — supporting 48 scholars currently enrolled across a wide range of high-demand credential programs. These programs span construction management, diesel mechanics, emergency medical services, paralegal studies, nursing, fire science, law enforcement, dental hygiene, and early childhood education.

Community College of Aurora (CCA) was approved for 16 scholarships and has leveraged resources to instead allocate 22 awards — scholars who are enrolled in programs including construction management, diesel power mechanics, EMT and paramedic training, and paralegal studies. CCA has a partnership with BuildStrong Academy, another BOS grantee. BuildStrong runs a pre-apprenticeship program where graduates earn HBI PACT certification, OSHA-10, and foundational construction trade skills — credentials designed to articulate directly into CCA's construction management and CTE degree programs. It's a stackable pathway model that connects short-term industry training to longer-term credentials through competency-based education.

Next week, we'll go deeper on CCA's partnership with BuildStrong Academy — the first BuildStrong chapter in the country to build a formal higher education partnership, now housed inside CCA's new Center for Applied Science and Technology.

Colorado Mountain College is supporting 16 scholars pursuing credentials in nursing, paramedic training, law enforcement, fire science, and dental hygiene — fields chosen for their alignment with critical staffing shortages across Colorado's mountain communities. CMC was recently highlighted in Washington Monthly as an institution actively designing program offerings around regional labor market outcomes. Earlier this year, President Matt Gianneschi announced the creation of a new Department of Work-Based Learning to expand apprenticeship and earn-and-learn models across CMC's eight-county service area, citing student demand that is outpacing the college's current capacity.

In a coming issue, we'll explore how CMC is training the healthcare and public safety workforce in communities where Colorado's projected 15% nursing shortfall will be felt most acutely — and what the college's new Department of Work-Based Learning means for the future of earn-and-learn models in the mountain west.

Red Rocks Community College is supporting 10 scholars in its early childhood education (ECE) program, with plans to award additional scholarships this spring. The program is NAEYC-accredited — the national gold standard — and is directly tied to a regional workforce need: 80% of childcare centers in Jefferson County are experiencing staffing shortages, according to the Arvada Chamber of Commerce's B.O.L.D. 2026 initiative. The shortage isn't just an education problem — it's a workforce constraint, since parents across the region can't work if they can't find childcare. Red Rocks has been working to boost ECE completion rates through innovations like an auto-award system that eliminates the need for students to apply for graduation — removing an administrative barrier that was quietly suppressing credential attainment.

We'll also profile Red Rocks' ECE program in a future edition — including how the college's on-campus Children's Center means some BOS scholars are training to become early childhood professionals while their children are cared for steps away.

These three institutions are training students in programs that Colorado employers urgently need filled — first responders, construction managers, diesel mechanics, nurses, dental hygienists, paralegals, and early childhood educators. Completion and employment data will follow later in the grant period, and when it does, it could provide clear evidence of what community college workforce programs deliver for students, employers, and Colorado's economy.

That evidence arrives at a critical moment. When Workforce Pell opens federal financial aid to short-term, employer-aligned credential programs for the first time — community colleges will be on the front lines of implementation. Community colleges have long been called the backbone of workforce development. Over the next three weeks, we'll show you what that looks like in practice — one Colorado community college at a time.

Education Cuts Avoided: Colorado's proposed 2026-27 Long Bill — released last week amid a $1.2 billion shortfall — largely holds the line on higher education, with early childhood and higher education funding set to mostly remain the same while major cuts are directed at Medicaid and health programs. Institutions would be allowed a 3.5 percent tuition increase for in-state undergraduates — with community colleges and select programs allowed to go as high as 5 percent — to help cover the gap between state support and actual costs.

But "mostly flat" obscures real movement at the margins. The JBC figure-setting documents show CTE and Apprenticeship Alignment programs being annualized out, generating a net reduction of $2.9 million in general fund spending — and the Colorado Rural Healthcare Workforce Initiative proposed for elimination, though JBC staff has recommended the program be preserved. For a state that has invested heavily in earn-and-learn pathways, those line items are worth watching closely.

The bigger story may be what's being built alongside the cuts. SB25-315 kicks in during 2026-27, creating a new postsecondary and workforce readiness funding model that reimburses local education providers for students who complete credentials and work-based learning requirements. Whether that new architecture can hold — and grow — in a constrained budget environment is the question worth watching as the session heads toward its May 13 deadline.

Accreditation Overhaul: The U.S. Department of Education’s AIM — Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization — negotiated rulemaking committee convenes this week for its first session, meeting April 13–17 in Washington, with a second session planned for May 18–22.

The proposals would tie colleges' federal funding more directly to White House priorities, including requiring accreditors to consider post-graduate earnings when certifying degree programs. That's the workforce angle worth watching: for years, advocates have argued that accreditation is too focused on inputs — faculty credentials, library holdings, governance structures — and not enough on whether graduates actually get jobs and earn living wages. The AIM rulemaking is, in part, an attempt to move that needle, even if the politics surrounding it are complicated.

Accreditors serve as gatekeepers for billions in federal student aid, and without their approval, institutions cannot participate in Title IV programs like Pell Grants and federal student loans. Changes to how accreditors assess quality — particularly a shift toward earnings outcomes — would ripple through every institution in the country. To Watch: The earliest any new rules could take effect is July 1, 2027.

WIOA Reauthorization: the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) is the primary federal law funding the nation's workforce development system. Enacted in 2014, it was designed to better connect workers with opportunities in the labor market, including those facing barriers to employment. It has been overdue for reauthorization since 2020. A bipartisan version passed the House in 2024 but stalled in the Senate, and it has been limping along on extensions ever since.

This week, House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg introduced a new version — A Stronger Workforce for America Act of 2026 — with some notable provisions. The bill would dedicate funding toward individual training accounts, on-the-job learning, and incumbent worker upskilling, and would strengthen accountability for states and local workforce boards. The most consequential structural move: relocating adult education from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor, explicitly to better connect adult learners to apprenticeships, sector partnerships, and employer-led training.

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.

Two Colorado institutions — CU Denver and Adams State University — are among just 16 colleges and universities nationwide selected to participate in Lumina Foundation's From Campus to Career initiative. Grant funds will support the expansion of career-connected, high-impact practices that strengthen the link between academic learning and workforce preparation. Out of nearly 200 applicants, both institutions were recognized for the meaningful groundwork already underway on their campuses. Congratulations!

This week’s Office Hours podcast from the Colorado Chamber features House Speaker Julie McCluskie and Shannon Nicholas, SVP at Colorado Succeeds. They break down HB 1317 — the bill that would consolidate the state's fragmented workforce and higher education programs under one agency with a single front door for students and employers. The Speaker makes the case for why consolidation is essential to helping learners navigate career pathways, while Shannon speaks to the employer side: the persistent skills mismatch and what a well-implemented 1317 could actually change. Listen here.

Aspen Ideas: Economy comes to Tulsa, Oklahoma this October 13–15, framing its 2026 program around a timely double anniversary: 250 years since the Declaration of Independence, and 250 years since Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. The animating questions — who benefits from commerce, what institutions allow prosperity to spread or concentrate, are inherited frameworks still adequate — are exactly the ones driving workforce and postsecondary debates right now. Tulsa itself is part of the story: a city wrestling with the legacy of the 1921 Race Massacre while reinventing itself as an energy tech hub, with tribal enterprise, remote worker programs, and public-private partnerships all in the mix. Register here.

Riipen — the platform connecting 193,000+ students at 590+ institutions to applied learning experiences with real employers — is hiring a Head of Partnerships, US.

​​The ASU+GSV Summit is just days away — April 12–15 in San Diego — and Scott Laband and I will both be there. If you're attending, we'd love to connect in person about FutureRise and Colorado's work. Message me to set up a time to connect!

And if you happen to catch a session or two: I'll be on the Fusion Breakfast panel Tuesday talking about building a new American talent system for an AI-disrupted world, and moderating a session about wiring the infrastructure for short-term credentials through Workforce Pell on Wednesday. Hope to see some familiar faces!

Until next week,

Alison