Something exciting is happening in Colorado.
When FutureRise launched the Boundless Opportunity Scholarship, we were testing a theory: that this state has organizations doing the hard work — moving non-traditional learners through credentials and into careers — and what they needed most was capital, connection, and someone paying attention.
We got our answer last Friday.
Thirty organizations applied. They requested a total of $4.8 million. What struck me wasn't just the volume. It was what showing up means: we asked applicants to demonstrate a commitment to outcomes — completion, employment, earnings — and to co-invest alongside us. These are not passive grant-seekers. They are providers who believe that learners deserve a high bar, and that they can meet it.
We have $2 million to award this cycle. That gap isn't a problem to apologize for. It's a signal about where Colorado's workforce and postsecondary ecosystem is — ambitious, outcomes-oriented, and ready for the kind of investment that matches its potential.
Some of you reading this are already funding organizations in this space. You know these providers. You believe in them. What FutureRise is building is something different — and complementary. We're not only moving scholarship dollars to learners. We're pooling capital and attention across providers to ask a harder question: what is this field actually learning, and how do we use what we are learning to change the system?
The proof point isn't any single program. It's what happens when funders work together — coordinating investments, surfacing what's working, building toward insights that can inform policy and practice at scale. Colorado is small enough to move and ambitious enough to matter. That combination is rare.
If you're curious about what it looks like to be part of our work — not just funding a grantee, but helping shape what the field learns — we would love to hear from you.
Please reach out to: [email protected].
Update on the Unified Postsecondary Talent Development System Legislation
This update on HB26-1317 comes from our colleagues at the Colorado Equitable Economic Mobility Initiative (CEEMI), including their lobbying team, Carrick Strategies.
As we've shared previously, a bipartisan bill currently being considered in the General Assembly would create a planning process to unify Colorado’s higher education and workforce systems under a more aligned, outcomes-focused structure.
The bill advanced last week with a promising unanimous (13–0) vote out of the House Education Committee and is now pending in House Appropriations. With the state budget process dominating the next week, we expect movement to resume shortly – followed by a House floor vote and then consideration in the Senate.
Following nearly a year of connecting with stakeholders and planning, HB 1317 implements the Governor’s vision for more coordinated postsecondary and workforce governance (see announcement here). It creates a 26-member Transition Advisory Committee to develop a detailed plan by November 2026 for aligning key programs – including higher education, workforce development, apprenticeship, and adult education – and sets a path toward a unified department by 2028.
The bill’s strong early momentum reflects broad, bipartisan support. Sponsors include Speaker McCluskie, Rep. Taggart, and Senators Bridges and Frizell. A couple targeted amendments to the advisory committee made in committee, negotiated by the Speaker, the Governor's staff, and others, helped secure support from labor leaders, including the Communications Workers of America (CWA), which represents many Colorado unionized faculty members, and Jason Wardrip with the Colorado Building & Construction Trades.
In the committee, supportive testimony came from many stakeholders including labor, business (Debbie Brown with the Colorado Business Roundtable), and state agency leaders (including CWDC and CDHE). CEEMI and partners also previously submitted a support letter signed by 60+ organizations and leaders, helping build the coalition behind the legislation.
Bottom line: We remain cautiously optimistic about passage this session. While this is a first step, it meaningfully advances long-term alignment – and helps ensure the next Governor can build on momentum in support of these reforms.
WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
A Learning Society: Stanford's Mitchell Stevens has a provocation worth sitting with: America has built a civic architecture for schooling, but not for learning. The two are not the same. Schooling is front-loaded, credential-dependent, and designed for the first two decades of life. Learning — the kind that actually builds human capital across a career — happens everywhere, spans a lifetime, and is almost entirely unfunded by public systems. A new initiative, Learning Society, is asking a deceptively simple question: who is responsible for the lifelong employability of the American people, and who pays for it? His answer — shared responsibility across business, government, philanthropy, and individuals — may be the most urgent civic challenge of our time. Engage: Read more here and follow the work through LinkedIn.
Workforce Intermediaries: In a new series, New America is asking: what do workforce intermediaries do? They argue the solution may be captured in a working framework of six coordination functions that must be performed at the state or regional level for a workforce system to behave coherently. New America argues that coordination is the exception, not the rule in most workforce systems — not because people are unwilling to collaborate, but because no one is clearly responsible for coherence across institutional boundaries. The result is familiar. Training providers oversupply some skills and undersupply others. Employers struggle to hire. Learners navigate a complex system largely on their own. New America is asking practitioners to weigh in on whether the framework reflects what they actually see on the ground. Engage: Share your thoughts here.
FAFSA Completion: The U.S. Department of Education announced that more than 10 million 2026–27 FAFSA forms have been completed — a 17% increase over the same point last year. The more interesting data point may be what's happening with the College Scorecard's updated earnings indicator: roughly 25% of students who were shown a low-earnings flag for a school removed that institution from their application and chose another. The Department is careful to frame the tool as informing, not limiting, student choice — but the behavior change is notable. When students have clear, program-level earnings data early in the process, they use it. That has implications for how institutions think about the value proposition they're communicating — and to whom. Engage: For the most current state and district-level data, NCAN's FAFSA Tracker updates regularly and is worth bookmarking.
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 University of Northern Colorado’s Board of Trustees has selected Kamel Haddad, Ph.D., to serve as interim president beginning Aug. 2.
Colorado State University Global named Dr. Janice Nerger as interim provost, effective March 23.
Arapahoe Community College President Dr. Stephanie J. Fujii is one of 23 leaders selected from across the country to participate in the 3rd cohort of the Aspen Presidents Fellowship.
BlackRock announced a $100M initiative to increase participation and completion in the skilled trades. The Future Builders Initiative will channel resources toward nonprofit and workforce development partners with the intent of reaching 50,000 workers. The program will support access to pre-apprenticeship, training, and licensure, while providing financial literacy and savings tools for participants.
SHEEO is hiring a Senior Policy Analyst based in Washington D.C. or Boulder, with a priority application deadline of April 3. The role spans college attainment, student success, data systems, workforce development, and higher education finance.
WHAT'S NEXT
The ASU+GSV Summit will be held in San Diego in less than two weeks: April 12-April 15. Scott Laband and I will be attending the Summit and welcome the opportunity to visit with colleagues from around the country about FutureRise. Please message me to set up a time to connect in-person!
Shameless promotion: I am taking part in two Summit sessions and always enjoy seeing familiar faces in the audience. On Tuesday, April 14, I will join Jon Schnur from America Achieves, Joseph Fuller from Harvard Business School, and MC Pilon with the John M. Belk Endowment during the Fusion Breakfast on a panel entitled, “Beg, Borrow or Steal…A New American Talent System for an AI Disrupted World,” and on Wednesday, April 15, I will moderate a discussion with Kristin Hultquist with HCM Strategists, Portia Pratt with the National Governors Association, and Lee Lambert with Foothill-DeAnza Community College District entitled, “Wiring the Workforce Pell Era: Building the Infrastructure for Short-Term Credentials.” I hope to see you in San Diego!
Until next week,
Alison