WORKFORCE RESILIENCE PROGRAM

Supporting Rural Colorado Businesses and Individuals

The Workforce Resilience Program’s (WRP) is a statewide program to support rural individuals negatively affected by Covid-19 to recover their career sustainability, profitability, and longevity. These one-time federal dollars are intended to be a flexible and easy-to-access resource for rural Colorado. WRP is administered by the Colorado Community College System (CCCS) and the Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT).

Program Mission

Facilitate collaboration among rural employers, stakeholders, and community colleges to enhance workforce skills through business-led training and accessible education, fostering sustainable careers and economic growth in rural Colorado.

For rural businesses, workforce resilience means having the skilled staff they need and the opportunities for employees to evolve and grow. This may involve reskilling and upskilling their current or incoming employees in industry skills, essential skills, or technology to support relevance.

For individuals, workforce resilience means having the skills and training needed to get a good job, advance within an organization, or to pivot to a new field.

WRP launched its grant program in July of 2023. The WRP grant offers two-year funding to rural organizations for the development of training programs to support the skill development of current and new employees.

Workforce Resilience Program Grantees

Grantee Resources

Funds will be distributed as quarterly reimbursements. Grantees will submit brief activity and budget reports in order to initiate transfer of funds.

Grantees will be required to
- Collect and submit signed COVID-19 affidavits from the recipients of grant funding
- Submit brief quarterly reports and receipts throughout the life of the grant
- Comply with federal SLFRF reporting requirements
- Submit a Final Report by June 30, 2026

WRP’s program team may perform site visits after awards have been allocated. WRP staff will coordinate with grantees in advance of the visit to schedule a time. Grantees must be willing to comply with this requirement.

Contact the Workforce Resilience Program Team

For questions and regional assistance, please contact your local WRP Coordinator.

Rural Counties
Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit, Carson, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma.

Vanessa Soliz | vanessa.soliz@njc.edu

Rural Counties
Alamosa, Baca, Bent, Chaffee, Conejos, Costilla, Crowley, Custer, Fremont, Huerfano, Kiowa, Lake, Las Animas, Otero, Park, Prowers, and Teller.

Courtney Morris | courtney.morris@lamarcc.edu

Rural Counties
Delta, Eagle, Garfield, Grand, Gunnison, Jackson, Mesa, Moffat, Montrose, Ouray, Pitkin, Rio Blanco, Routt, San Miguel, Summit

Southwest regional coverage shared with WRP Director support: Archuleta, Dolores, La Plata, Mineral, Montezuma, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan, Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute tribal areas

Gary Boley | gary.boley@cncc.edu

For general Workforce Resilience Program questions, please send an inquiry to workforce@cccs.edu.

Funding Information

The Workforce Resilience Program is funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) from Senate Bill 21-291. These funds are a pass-through of federal funds from the OEDIT Economic Development Commission (EDC) to CCCS and shall be treated as a recoverable grant. Agreement #CTGG1 2023-3233

The agreement is to fund the Workforce Resilience Program at the Colorado Community College System (CCCS). $3,000,000 will be allocated to the CCCS from the Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The funding will be used to fund one-time information technology investments, rural workforce investments, business led training and content development and will result in low or no-cost training for trainees or businesses, pathways to academic credit through stackable credentials, and to bolster workforce development efforts across community colleges in Colorado. The infrastructure established through this funding will also be utilized to support the Skill Advance Colorado (SAC) Program and increased utilization of SAC, particularly in rural Colorado.