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An Ambitious Vision: Connecting the Dots Across Colorado

Our workforce development strategy is ambitious, building on a proven foundation. Through previous collaboration, we assembled a network of nearly 180 signatory organizations supporting Colorado's clean energy and climate workforce. Now, we're taking the next critical step.

It is well known that Colorado lacks sufficient numbers of skilled workers—especially in the trades—to deliver on its climate goals in a timely way. Our long-term ambition is to foster an efficient statewide talent pipeline serving the clean energy and climate sector that will accelerate workforce development while greatly improving access to family-supporting jobs, especially for communities that have not had equitable access to them in the past.

Despite the daunting description, we believe this is achievable. Many excellent organizations across Colorado are doing great work in this area; however, they often lack precise information about job demand from employers and an easy mechanism to link their work to adjacent organizations with similar goals. We believe the entire talent pipeline can be sharpened and accelerated, and that doing so will significantly enhance the development of clean energy and climate talent.

We envision a publicly-accessible data structure across Colorado where coordinated regional efforts both feed information about job demand and access information about availability of talent and resources for filling those jobs in a timely manner. Because of the variety of working environments and job demand across Colorado, we intend to approach the challenge region-by-region, building and linking together the network as we go. This will create a system that is more responsive to the needs of regional employers and communities and provide local market insights that are more accurate than anything available now.

Our Comprehensive Strategy

Our overall workforce development strategy includes:

Building a Real-Time Data Infrastructure: Creating a network of information sources including industry associations, employers, unions, schools and colleges, learning providers, economic development agencies, chambers of commerce, community organizations and others who can build an accurate picture of job demand by title and county, making this data available in real time to all participants.

Connecting Organizations: Linking these organizations together so they can share information and resources, reducing fragmentation and increasing coordination.

K-12 Outreach: Engaging the K-12 population to encourage participation and understanding of cleantech careers from an early age.

Stackable Credentials and Career Transitions: Developing opportunities for internships and stackable credentials for entry-level careers and to transition legacy energy skilled labor to new energy positions based on feedback from employers.

Learning Pathways: Providing pathways that include paid apprenticeships or college credit for high school students choosing a technical career path.

Much of this work is being done in Colorado already but is fragmented. We see our role as connecting the ecosystem and then finding ways to fill in any gaps that may appear between them.

CleanPath Colorado: Turning Strategy into Action

Through CleanPath Colorado, we're putting this vision into practice by bridging the gap between cleantech job demand and skilled workers while prioritizing historically underserved communities. This innovative initiative leverages Zal.ai's data infrastructure technology to align training programs with real employer needs, creating direct pathways to clean energy and advanced manufacturing careers that don't require four-year degrees.

CleanPath Colorado delivers comprehensive workforce solutions by:

• Mapping the ecosystem: Identifying and connecting 300+ Colorado workforce organizations to create a coordinated support network

• Building stackable credentials and apprenticeships: Offering flexible, industry-recognized pathways that allow workers to advance their skills and careers over time

• Forecasting location-based job demand: Using data-driven insights to target training where opportunities exist across the state

• Providing wraparound support: Ensuring rural, immigrant, and low-income learners have access to the resources they need to succeed through the state’s many excellent providers

Proven Approach, Expanded Impact

CleanPath Colorado brings together the Colorado Cleantech Foundation, Zal.ai, Manufacturer's Edge, and public partners to establish replicable infrastructure for Colorado's climate economy.

We are grateful to be supported by the ZOMA Foundation, the GitLab Foundation, and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), whose commitment to workforce development and economic opportunity makes this work possible.

A Good for All Coloradans

In the end, we expect that successful execution will provide an unmitigated good to the people and industries of Colorado and help our ecosystem participate more effectively in Colorado's energy transition. Whether you're a student exploring career options, a professional seeking to transition into clean energy, or an employer looking to build your talent pipeline, the CleanPath Colorado workforce initiatives connect Colorado's people with Colorado's cleantech future—ensuring that our state has the human capital necessary to maintain our competitive edge while creating economic opportunities that benefit all communities.