COALITION MEMBER FEATURE: Collective Advocacy In Action in Colorado
By Roger Low and Perla Bustillos
Founded in 2021, the Colorado Equitable Economic Mobility Initiative (CEEMI) is a nonprofit organization that works to scale effective higher education and workforce development programs in the Centennial State, focusing on public funding. Our ultimate goal is to expand opportunity and improve outcomes for the many hundreds of thousands of Coloradans living in or near poverty.
There are incredible, impactful programs already operating in Colorado that create pathways to economic wellbeing and greater prosperity, and that support individuals and families throughout the journey, but too often those programs face significant barriers to growth. Decisions at the state and federal level have an outsize impact on how successfully programs are able to operate at scale, which is why CEEMI is dedicated to engaging with policymakers to create the conditions under which evidence-based, effective organizations can thrive.
Recently, CEEMI organized an exciting conversation with U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO). The 90-minute roundtable discussion with Sen. Hickenlooper included learners and recent graduates from three of our Colorado workforce training provider partners: ActivateWork (which delivers the America Forward Coalition member Per Scholas IT training program in Colorado), the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), and Denver’s IBEW electrical apprenticeship program. These three exemplary upskilling providers represent different sectors, and each has strong learner evidence and strong outcomes. They all have a track record of connecting learners with good jobs, and fueling economic mobility.
Sen. Hickenlooper and his senior staff heard from leaders of each program, and from learners, participants, and apprentices currently enrolled or recently graduated. These learners all vulnerably shared their lived experiences, including the economic challenges they faced prior to enrollment, the barriers they faced within the workforce system, and how these programs helped them overcome these barriers to be able to secure good jobs — with good wages and good benefits — that enabled them to support their families and thrive in their life and careers.
Senator Hickenlooper asked thoughtful follow-up questions. For instance, he asked several of the participants to share more details on how these programs helped propel their career forward, and he asked specific follow up questions about how the public sector might improve federal workforce programs, and help these training providers better access wage outcome data to measure their impact. CEEMI’s partner, the Attainment Network, supported the event through a “learner voice” grant, which covered gift cards to each learner to thank them for their time.
We spent the final third of the discussion talking with Sen. Hickenlooper in detail about the challenges, specific pain points, and opportunities for progress within the public workforce system, including the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Because Senator Hickenlooper sits on the Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) committee in the U.S. Senate (and chairs the workforce subcommittee), overseeing WIOA and other workforce programs, the Senator was a terrific policymaker to have at the table for this conversation.
Senator Hickenlooper (and subsequently his staff) indicated the event was helpful and that they would be interested in continuing the conversation, perhaps via a broader convening on WIOA and workforce development early next year.
All and all, this learner roundtable featured authentic and effective grassroots advocacy. It was also a great example of what both America Forward and CEEMI are built to do — bring together social entrepreneurs unlocking evidence-based economic mobility pathways, their learners, and key policymakers for substantive conversations about how to improve our education and workforce ecosystems.
In the past 18 months, CEEMI has convened deep dive learner roundtables/events between our evidence-based program partners, their learners, and a) Senator Bennet, b) Gov. Polis, c) Senator Hickenlooper, and d) key leaders in the state legislature, in addition to organizing program/learner testimony before both the Colorado legislature and the Denver City Council.
We want to sincerely thank Senator Hickenlooper, his staff, all the program providers and learners who participated in this rich discussion. We’re excited about some of the potential progress next year that this Colorado conversation helped make possible!
We believe in the power of advocating for evidence-based workforce programs by leading with learner voices and learner stories — and that’s the approach we plan to continue to take as we pursue this work!
Roger Low is CEO and Founder of CEEMI, an America Forward Coalition member. Perla Bustillos is COO & Programs Director at CEEMI.