Colorado is one of 24 states across the country that has adopted a new approach to addressing employer and workplace needs called sector strategies. This model promotes regional and public-private partnerships with the goal of improving access to good jobs and meeting industry’s needs for a skilled labor force.

The initiative in Colorado — Strategies to Enhance Colorado’s Talent Through Regional Solutions (SECTORS) — awarded ten grants to target industries including aerospace, health care, manufacturing, and renewable energy. The grants were used to create and customize curriculum that would train skilled workers for particular industries.

Over the course of the grants, 1,018 individuals entered the training programs and the partnerships exceeded their targets in the number of students who gained or retained employment.

Researchers from Rutgers studied the 10 grants and produced individual case studies that discussed the experiences, challenges, and success of each of the partnerships. The case studies were developed by the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers as part of their evaluation of the grants.

Colorado Sector Grant Evaluation Reports

Sectors Evaluation Report 
This report by the Center for Women and Work (CWW) at Rutgers University summarizes the findings, best practices, and recommendations from an external program evaluation of the Colorado SECTORS Initiative. The evaluation was conducted between March 2012 – March 2013.

Sectors Evaluation Executive Summary

Case Studies

The 10 case studies below were developed by the Center for Women and Work (CWW) at Rutgers University as part of their program evaluation of the Colorado SECTORS Initiative grants.