Helping students in rural Colorado explore different career pathways
Empower Schools provides direct supports the Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative as it strengthens regional partnerships and expands career-connected learning opportunities for students across rural Southwest Colorado.
In this story
The Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative connects rural school districts, higher education institutions, employers, and community partners.
Students can access shared courses, summer institutes, work-based learning, and industry connections.
The Collaborative coordinates five college and career pathways across Southwest Colorado.
From KSJD | By Tom Yoder | Published May 22, 2024
The Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative provides programs and resources that help students in rural communities explore education and career pathways. KSJD’s Tom Yoder spoke with Executive Director Jessica Morrison about how the Collaborative began and the ways it is supporting students across the region.
A $3.6 million state RISE Education Fund grant helped leaders in Southwest Colorado develop new regional approaches to education and career preparation.
“Students deserve the same access to resources that our Metro students receive in the state.”
Morrison explained that the Collaborative was founded on the belief that rural communities must move beyond organizational silos and share resources to create more opportunities for students.
How Empower Schools supports the Collaborative
Empower Schools supports the Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative as it builds regional partnerships, strengthens shared college and career pathways, and connects students with opportunities beyond what any one district may be able to offer independently.
This Empowered Partnership is part of Empower Schools’ Rural Innovation work. Empower helps rural communities create and strengthen collaborative structures that bring together school districts, higher education institutions, employers, and community partners around shared goals for students.
What students can access
The Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative coordinates five college and career pathways:
Building trades
Education
Environmental careers
Health sciences
Hospitality and tourism
Students can participate in shared courses offered across participating school districts. For example, a student may be able to enroll in a specialized course offered by another district when that opportunity is not available at the student’s home school.
The Collaborative also connects students with free summer institutes, participation stipends, job shadows, hands-on career exploration, internships, summer employment, and local employers.
Through Career Launch Southwest, students and educators can connect with regional employers and explore additional work-based learning opportunities.
Why regional collaboration matters
Rural school districts may face challenges related to staffing, equipment, transportation, funding, or the number of students interested in a particular pathway. Working across district boundaries allows communities to share resources and provide students with a broader range of college and career opportunities.
The Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative demonstrates how regional partnerships can help ensure that a student’s access to a pathway is not limited by what a single district can provide.
Learn more
Read Elevating Rural Colorado to learn how regional partnerships are expanding education and economic opportunity across the state.
Explore Colorado Rural Collaboratives: Catalyzing Career Pathways with Regional Intermediaries for practical lessons about building, governing, funding, and sustaining regional college and career pathways.
