DENVER – Governor Jared Polis on Tuesday announced the six recipients of the fourth round of RISE grant funding, designed to create more youth apprenticeship opportunities for high school students.
"Youth-based apprenticeship programs are an innovative way to encourage students to explore careers, gain real-life experience, and get ahead in secondary education before even graduating high school," the governor said in a news release. "Investing in education and supporting our schools ensures that we provide Colorado students with resources to help them succeed."
The majority of apprentices in Colorado are adults, according to the release, but youth apprenticeships can be a valuable model for helping students take the next step from high school.
The governor's office said programs highlighted today have taken an innovative approach to allowing students to explore future career paths through pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship opportunities and will be able to grow and expand their programs.
The six RISE Youth Apprenticeship Fund Recipients include:
- CareerWise Colorado ($349,470) will engage with Colorado Space Coalition, The Colorado Community College System, and Cherry Creek School District to hire an inaugural cohort of aerospace youth apprentices.
- Colorado River BOCES ($245,000) is partnering to expand work-based learning opportunities, career-related coursework, and certifications to high school students.
- Morgan County Economic Development Corporation ($280,000) will support the Roots 76, a workforce readiness program bringing a mobile virtual reality (VR) lab to Morgan County for trade skills training for high school students.
- Neurodiversity Works ($245,000) creates opportunities in the drone industry through partnership with education and industry patterns, by providing drone certification training and summer caps to enhance theoretical and practical skills for youth ages 16 and up.
- Poudre School District (475,999) - will offer new apprenticeships in transportation, IT, cybersecurity, construction, and design for district students.
- St. Vrain Valley School District ($382,489) will offer youth apprenticeships focused on technology and PreK-12 education.
This round of the RISE funding opportunity was created by the allocation of nearly $2 million in GEER funds. The RISE grant program launched in 2020, and has provided four rounds of funding, this round focused on youth-based apprenticeships.
In total, the RISE fund has disbursed approximately $68 million to support education opportunities in Colorado, specifically aiming to provide support to underrepresented students, in low-income, rural areas.
Governor Polis also announced an additional round of applications for $550,000 in RISE: Youth-Based Apprenticeship Grants.
Just like round one, the applications should focus on high-growth, high-need industries and support underrepresented student populations. Applications must be submitted by Dec. 4, 2023, at 5 p.m. in PDF format via email to [email protected].
