Training Floors, Not Tuition | The Rise Report | Issue 25

This week, Colorado’s boldest bet on workforce infrastructure comes into focus — a tax credit that builds training floors instead of covering tuition — and we keep the drumbeat going on Workforce Pell as the application window narrows. We’ve also got fresh thinking on what makes a postsecondary program worth its name, a compelling case for staffing agencies as apprenticeship engines, and a personal note as I get ready to move my oldest into a college dorm.

Colorado is trying something most states haven’t: using the tax code to build the places where training happens, not just to subsidize the seats inside them. In my latest Forbes column, I dig into the state’s Opportunity Now Tax Credit, which covers up to 50% of the cost of land, buildings, and equipment for training facilities in priority industries like advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, and clean energy. The wager is that physical training infrastructure outlasts any single subsidy — you can’t relocate a training floor the way a company can move a headquarters.

The latest application window has since closed, but the model is worth watching regardless. As reported in The Sum and Substance, the credit made $7.5 million available for the 2027 tax year with credits usable through 2033. It’s a genuinely innovative program, and following a brief conversation with colleagues at the National Conference of State Legislatures, it is one model I expect other states to study closely.

For the human side of the same story, the latest Apprenticeship 2.0 episode features Eve Lieberman, executive director of Colorado's Office of Economic Development and International Trade, alongside Andrew Sutliff, an 18-year-old apprentice at CoorsTek who came up through the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus. The Opportunity Now thread runs straight through the conversation, and Sutliff is the reminder that learners need real options, and that when they have them, some know exactly which one fits. He's training hands-on with CNC and advanced-manufacturing equipment rather than heading to a four-year campus, and he's clear about why. As he told the National Association of Manufacturers: "I would much rather do this than sit in a classroom for another four years."

As of July 1, federal Pell Grants reach short-term workforce training for the first time. Workforce Pell covers programs that run 8 to 15 weeks (150 to 599 clock hours) and prepare students for high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand jobs — but only if they clear a real quality bar: a 70% completion rate, a 70% job-placement rate, and earnings that leave graduates measurably better off. Eligibility isn't automatic, either. Governors and state workforce boards approve programs before institutions can take them to the U.S. Department of Education, which puts the action at the state level right now, in the middle of the application window — and in Colorado, applications close August 15.

This week, we hosted a webinar that went deep on the mechanics: state staff walked through the application process step by step, CareerTeam demoed its new platform and its Workforce Pell components, and we closed with a question-and-answer session. Missed it? The recording is here (passcode: GU1krhr+). You can also revisit the first session’s recording (passcode: D07$cPDD), and message me to join the distribution list for future webinars.

Colorado providers — ETPL changes. Colorado's new Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL) web platform launched July 1 and is now the system of record for Workforce Pell program eligibility — a real step toward a more streamlined experience for short-term credential providers. The Colorado Workforce Development Council (CWDC) is managing the data migration and reaching out to providers about the steps required to keep programs on the list. The updated Policy Guidance Letter spells out what's now required — including outcomes data for all programs and participants regardless of funding source, plus Social Security numbers, completion status, credential achievement, and program dates. Learn what actions are needed, catch the July 8 overview (slides and recording on CWDC's ETPL webpage), or register for a provider reporting webinar on July 28.

Two pieces this week circle the same question: what actually makes a postsecondary program worth it?

There is a growing movement among community colleges to judge programs by where students end up — living-wage jobs and successful transfer, not raw enrollment. Through the Aspen Institute and the Community College Research Center’s “Unlocking Opportunity” initiative, ten pilot colleges moved more than 20,000 students into higher-value programs between 2022 and 2025, with a 27% jump in high-value enrollment and outsized gains for students of color and lower-income students.

Closer to home, an op-ed by Rebecca Arno, CEO of the Prosperity Denver Fund and Christine Heitz, CEO of Colorado Thrives argues that House Bill 1317 — which moves to consolidate more than 20 divisions across state agencies into a single postsecondary talent system — should be used to redesign around students and employers, not merely to reshuffle the organizational chart.

Same throughline: structure is only worth changing if it changes outcomes.

The Progressive Policy Institute is out with a new report from Rachel Canter and Bruno Manno examining six leading career-education programs that have made work-based learning central to the high school experience. Their argument: with the right employer partnerships and infrastructure, work-based learning can prepare students for both college and career while making high school itself more relevant and engaging.

Apprenticeships for America (AFA) released a new field briefing on an underexplored lever for scaling Registered Apprenticeship: the staffing industry. AFA sees mature intermediaries as essential to growth, and staffing agencies — a $200 billion industry — already hold much of the capacity and expertise the work requires. The eye-opening figure: if staffing agencies deployed just 2.3% of their contract workers as apprentices, that would add roughly 220,000 new apprentices a year. The briefing maps the fit, spotlights agencies already running apprenticeships today, names the barriers to expansion, and lays out recommendations for policymakers.

A new bipartisan U.S. House bill would push federal hiring toward skills over degrees. The Federal Jobs for STARs Act would require federal agencies to weigh alternatives to a four-year degree — apprenticeships, military service, community college credentials — when evaluating candidates for many federal roles, and would stand up a dedicated USAJobs pathway for jobs that don't require a bachelor's. The framing comes straight from Opportunity@Work, whose "Tear the Paper Ceiling" campaign has long championed the more than 70 million Americans who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs) — and the organization is behind this bill. "More than 70 million Americans are Skilled Through Alternative Routes," says Opportunity@Work Senior Vice President Blair Corcoran de Castillo, "having developed valuable skills through military service, apprenticeships, and years of experience."

More from Washington: there were reports that the Trump administration has been weighing a new, private-sector-backed student loan program run through the Small Business Administration — a notable potential shift in where, and how, federal education financing gets administered.

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 Community College of Aurora is one of four colleges — alongside Hudson County (NJ), East Arkansas, and Roxbury (MA) — selected for Education Design Lab’s new AI + Durable Skills Work-Based Learning Design Challenge, supported by Google.org and delivered with Riipen. Each college receives a $10,000 implementation grant to co-design employer-backed, AI-focused work-based learning, with pilots running January through August 2027 and open-access resources to follow. Congratulations to our colleagues at the Community College of Aurora!

Credential Engine has added Nick Moore to its Board of Directors. Moore, the Adult Education State Director at the Alabama Community College System, has been a longtime champion of credential transparency in Alabama — one of Credential Engine's longstanding state partners — and helped build the Alabama Talent Triad. Many colleagues know Nick from his most recent role with the U.S. Department of Education.

Job Alert: Zero Homes, a Denver-based startup working to electrify residential housing, is hiring a Chief of Staff to partner closely with its CEO on strategy and operations. Salary range of $150-185K, with equity.

Mark Your Calendar: The National Youth Apprenticeship Summit will convene practitioners, policymakers, employers, educators, funders, and other partners from November 17-19 in Denver. Hosted by CareerWise and New America, the sessions will focus on the systems, partnerships, policies, and implementation strategies needed to expand high-quality youth apprenticeship pathways. Registration details to follow.

The Colorado Department of Higher Education, through the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative, has opened its 2026–2027 Career Launch Request for Application — up to $1.5 million in grants for Colorado nonprofits. The program supports students with financial need who are pursuing certificates, associate degrees, and bachelor's degrees in high-demand fields. Learn more about the grant funds.

In three weeks, I'll be moving my oldest son into a college dorm. The room is the size of a shoebox; the packing list is the size of a novel.

So I’m crowdsourcing: other than an ample supply of tissues to wipe my tears, what’s the one thing on the move-in list that actually mattered? The small thing that made a strange new room feel like home? Hit reply and tell me and I’ll share the best of the bunch (the practical, the sentimental, and the gloriously unnecessary) in a coming issue.

Consider it your first assignment of the semester.

Until next week,
Alison