Colorado’s Network of Sector Partnerships

• 21 Partnerships Across Colorado:
  • 11 health & wellness
  • 7 manufacturing
  • 1 tourism and outdoor recreation
  • 2 Food and agriculture
• 86% of partnerships implemented joint or shared projects and collectively made decisions across community partners (education, workforce development, economic development, etc.)
• 81% of partnerships resulted in increased collaboration around talent development across community partners.
• Nearly every active or emerging sector partnership increased participation by businesses in the target industry and region, as well as education, training, and student/job seeker support organizations (K-12, postsecondary, workforce programs, etc) over the last year.

Impact on Students and Job seekers

• 76% of partnerships increased participation by education, training and student/job seeker support organizations (K-12, postsecondary, workforce programs, other).
• 71% of partnerships increased student/job seeker awareness of training/education programs.
• 62% of partnerships experienced increased program alignment across secondary, postsecondary, and/or workforce programming.
• 67% of partnerships enhanced existing or developed new training/education program(s).

Impact on Businesses

• 82% of sector partnerships have businesses that have developed new or enhanced ideas for new products and/or markets as a result of their participation in the partnership.
• 91% of sector partnerships have businesses that have found support in finding employees with the skills and experiences their business needs as a result of their participation in the partnership.
• 62% of businesses experienced improvements in HR policies and/or employee development practices.
• 82% of sector partnerships have businesses that have developed new recruitment practices* as a result of their participation in the partnership.
• 64% of sector partnerships have businesses that have established new or enhanced contracts as a result of their participation in the partnership.

Testimonies from businesses across Colorado:

“I truly believe that I can get expert advice on a wide range of business issues from mentors that care about my success.”

“Innovative ideas result from unexpected conversations due to interaction with local professionals.”

“A collaborative environment within manufacturing locally is helping our company to speed turnaround time on quote packages and improve the accuracy of the costing prior to winning a job.  This is because we are working with partner companies we are familiar with and whom are familiar with our capabilities.”

“This partnership fills in the gaps and provides the glue for the health care industry in our region.”

“We have seen much better candidates for skilled positions.”

Impact vs. Process Metrics

Both are important. Further information clarifying the difference can be found here.