May 23, 2025
On May 16, 2025, employers, regional leaders, educators, and workforce professionals gathered at Fort Lewis College for the South Central Opportunity Now Regional Talent Summit. Hosted by the La Plata Economic Development Alliance, Fort Lewis College, and The Attainment Network, the event was the fifth of seven regional summits taking place across the state.
The goal of the Summit is to address critical workforce and training needs through the development of two- and five-year tactical workforce plans informed by employers attending the summit. The South Central Summit focused on opportunities to address workforce shortages in agriculture, healthcare, and technology in 11 southwestern Colorado counties: Alamosa, Archuleta, Conejos, Costilla, Dolores, La Plata, Mineral, Montezuma, Rio Grande, Saguache, and San Juan.
CWDC Assistant Director of Systems Innovation Renise Walker joined key stakeholders Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment Joe Barela, Suzie Miller of the Colorado Rural Workforce Consortium, representatives from OEDIT, including Misti Ruthven and Marie Pecoraro, Ed Sealover from the Colorado State Chamber, and Ben Gerig and Brad Revare from Colorado Succeeds.
Industry Breakouts: Priorities and Action Areas
Participants shared regional perspectives and recommendations on immediate priorities across three targeted industries:
Technology
- Invest in online training opportunities through intermediaries to reach more learners.
- Align technology and skilled trades through interoperable training and career pathways.
- Create clear and regionally relevant training pathways for in-demand tech roles.
- Increase the speed of communication between education, business, and industry - transitioning from years-long change cycles to months.
- Establish local “innovation hubs” to serve as points of contact for rapid skills alignment.
Healthcare
- Expand awareness of healthcare careers starting in K-12.
- Address capacity constraints at college and university healthcare programs.
- Scale paid work-based learning (WBL) opportunities to ensure earn-while-you-learn models that promote equity and access.
- Boost employer engagement by showing the value of workforce participation and how it meets their staffing needs.
Agriculture
- Launch a regional agriculture sector partnership.
- Adapt existing career pathway resources to highlight ag career pathways in the region.
- Promote the societal value of farming through a regional campaign.
- Explore updates to labor laws that currently create hiring barriers.
- Leverage tools such as the Agriculture Career Pathways featured on My Colorado Journey to support localized planning.
Shared Regional Challenges
Despite strong momentum and roughly $10 million of current Opportunity Now investment flowing into the region, participants noted shared barriers impacting workforce development. These include high housing and childcare costs, geographic distances limiting access to training programs, and misaligned credentialing and regulatory standards.
Summit conversations reinforced the importance of community-specific solutions and faster cross-sector collaboration. Outcomes from the event will help shape the development of tactical workforce plans that will be implemented within the region. .
Looking Ahead
The Opportunity Now Regional Talent Summits are part of a statewide series established under HB24-1365, aimed at developing two- and five-year tactical workforce plans tailored to each region’s needs. These insights will be shared in the 2025 Talent Pipeline Report and incorporated into local workforce areas’ Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Local Plans.
The Colorado Workforce Development Council (CWDC) will manage the implementation and reporting processes to ensure progress is being made on the tactical workforce plans. This effort will be done collaboratively with OEDIT and local workforce boards who will lead continued engagement of employers within the region and facilitate implementation of the plans.
The next Opportunity Now Talent Summit will be hosted by Vail Valley Partnership and held at Colorado Mountain College in Edwards, Colo., on June 3, 2025. The summit will focus on the construction, healthcare, and tourism industries within Eagle, Grand, Jackson, Pitkin, Summit, Routt, and Park counties. The final summit will be hosted by the Pikes Peak Region on June 13, 2025. In addition to the inclusion of the final plans from each region in the 2025 Talent Pipeline Report, annual progress reports will be published in subsequent years.
For more information, explore the Opportunity Now Summit webpage.