On April 29, 2025, the CWDC convened Colorado's local workforce board leaders for a Skills-First and Learning and Employment Records (LERs) Roundtable. Participants learned how organizations using skills-first practices can hire and promote based on competencies; access broader, more diverse talent; use tools like LERs to communicate and verify skills; and ultimately stay competitive in a fast-changing economy.
Participants were also among the first to preview the Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation’s Skills First Future website, including an interactive action planner for organizations to assess its strengths and gaps, and identify actionable steps to implement skills-first practices. The website also provides research, employer examples, a vendor database, and the opportunity to earn a skills-first credential.
Taking Action: The Skills-First Local Workforce Board Challenge
Local workforce boards possess extensive knowledge of regional labor market demands as their members represent local employers, educational institutions, and community organizations with extensive community relationships. This expertise uniquely positions them to spearhead workforce strategies and actions that are critical in leading regional workforce strategies, advancing skills-first practices across Colorado, and accelerating innovation.
In acknowledgement of this expertise, the CWDC has invited local workforce boards across Colorado to lead the shift towards a skills-first future by adopting a skills-first focus into local workforce strategies.
A financial incentive is available for local boards that complete Skills-first Board Activation actions by Aug. 31, 2025. The goal of the Challenge is to increase awareness and adoption of skills-first practices and encourage local boards to explore the use of LERs. The local board that submits the most innovative plan will receive a $10,000 award. Plans will be reviewed and winners selected by CWDC Council Members.
How LERs can advance skills-first practices
LERs can capture, validate, and showcase skills across an individual’s life, including jobs, school, and military service. An LER can showcase the skills acquired through each experience, resulting in a comprehensive skills portfolio for the individual. Often held in a digital wallet, LERs are tamper-proof, owned and shared by the individual, and are portable and interoperable across systems.
LERs can also enable employers to make better talent decisions by verifying skills, enabling smarter hiring practices, providing professional development opportunities, improving retention.. Since LERs are portable and interoperable across platforms, they make it easy for employers to recognize and access. Finally, LERs can expand talent pools by validating skills acquired from experiences that have not always been recognized, revealing previously overlooked talent.
ColoradoFWD: Demonstrating use of LERs to advance skills-first practices
The Roundtable builds on the momentum of ColoradoFWD, a pilot project led by the CWDC and partners,working to catalyze an equitable, skills-based ecosystem that uses LERs to address urgent talent shortages in behavioral health and direct care.
Continuing Colorado’s history of advancing skills-first practices
This work builds on momentum created over the years in the state. In April 2022, Governor Polis issued an Executive Order Concerning Skills-based Hiring for the State Workforce, directing the development of statewide guidance and strategies for skills-based hiring. More recently, Colorado’s 2024-2027 WIOA State Plan included expanding awareness of and adoption of skills-based hiring under Priority 1: Increase AFFORDABILITY of career-connected education and training for Coloradans of all skill levels who have completed or left the K-12 education system.