Western Slope of
Colorado Program Profile

Regional Challenges and Opportunities

According to the 2022 Colorado Talent Pipeline Report, more than half of the state’s residents have a post-secondary degree (61%), the second highest in the nation, yet only 26% graduated from Colorado’s K-12 public schools. Nonetheless, over 90% of jobs in Colorado that provide a sufficient living wage require a postsecondary credential. In rural regions of the state, including the Western Slope, the disparity is even greater and increasing home prices have excluded much of the region’s local workforce from the foundation of economic mobility. Montrose, Gunnison, and Ouray Counties have all experienced over 100% increases in median single-family home sales prices over the last 5 years.

Strengthening regional career pathways, including through entrepreneurship, credentials and postsecondary degrees, is essential to retaining local talent and advancing social and economic mobility of Western Slope students and graduates. Meanwhile, local employers are struggling to recruit and retain the workforce they need to be successful. If circumstances persist, this has the potential to further worsen brain-drain and erode local community and culture. 

Program Goal

To create an ecosystem that consistently brings high-quality maker and STEAMM experiences in equitable ways to students in the  West Central region of Colorado and to support community partners in building a more robust pipeline for rural high school students and at-risk youth into local career and credential/college pathways and/or entrepreneurial endeavors.

Innovation Site: Western Slope Schools Career Collaborative (WSSCC) 

WSSCC is comprised of the Montrose, Delta, Gunnison, and Ridgway School Districts and was formed by educators who saw a need for greater collaboration between community partners in order to increase rural high school student access to work-based learning, certification programs, and college credits. The group also partners with post-secondary institutions as well as industry leaders in order to most efficiently meet the needs of students as well as regional colleges and businesses. WSSCC seeks to expand and create career pathways specific to the Western Slope region while increasing equity and access through providing transportation stipends and online programming.

Program Efforts

The Western Slope program is designed to support the development of a dynamic maker and workforce development ecosystem in coordination with local school districts, direct service providers, post-secondary institutions, and local businesses. Through this greater ecosystem, rural students will have consistent access to high-quality maker and STEAMM experiences that allow students the opportunity to explore skills and experiences that connect to local in-demand careers. 

Through this design stage, we are focused on developing two new regional resources: 

• Mobile Innovation Lab - in partnership with local educators, businesses and community-based nonprofits, we are designing a mobile innovation lab model (makerspace) where youth can explore and create their own design solutions using equipment and technologies informed by local businesses and industries. Our aim is to design hands-on experiences, guided by local educators and industry experts, that directly connect with available careers in the region while enabling students to develop design solutions to local challenges. 

• Western Slope Career Pathways Toolkit - this career guidance resource  will showcase diverse local career opportunities for young people, including through the skilled trades as well as emerging industries for the region. It will feature region-specific individual and business profiles in a student-focused format that includes actionable next steps students can take to explore a potential career pathway. The goal is for the Toolkit to be shared with students across the region following their experiences in the Mobile Innovation Lab.

Throughout our Western Slope Program, we have placed a special emphasis on engaging with youth and uplifting their voices. Through two student-facing events, our team gathered important insights by collecting direct input from students. Most notably, we found a strong alignment between students' career aspirations and the needs of industry, particularly in the skilled trades. Furthermore, it was exciting to discover that many students already possess an idea of what they want to pursue, underscoring the importance of empowering students in the career exploration process. We also learned that many students take particular interest in the arts. This has further fueled our excitement to showcase how the arts intersect with various career trajectories across the region. We aim to achieve this by demystifying entrepreneurship, manufacturing, and design through the Mobile Innovation Lab and the Western Slope Career Pathways Toolkit.

Looking ahead, we are eagerly supporting upcoming student-centered events, including a High School Career Fair scheduled for late April and the region's inaugural STEAM fair in May. We anticipate piloting both the toolkit and mobile lab in Summer and Fall 2024 with a cohort of high school students. We are excited about the prospect of gathering even deeper insights from youth as we continue to integrate their interests directly into the delivery of the Western Slope program.