middle skills

Creation of a Manufacturing Career Pathway

House Bill 13-1165

Testimony to the Senate Education Committee
Frank Waterous, Senior Policy Analyst
April 25, 2013

My name is Frank Waterous, and I am a senior policy analyst with the Bell Policy Center. The Bell is a non-partisan, non-profit research and policy organization founded on progressive values and dedicated to expanding opportunity for all Coloradans.

By Kathleen Hallgren
Huffington Post Denver

It's been said that the best anti-poverty measure is a job. But for more than a quarter of Colorado's workforce, working hard isn't enough to make ends meet.

In a recent report, we found that more than 48,000 working families in Colorado lived below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four in 2011. Another 154,085 families – 27 percent of all working families in Colorado – lived on up to twice that amount.

By Kathleen Hallgren
My Side columnist, Glenwood Springs Post Independent

It's been said that the best anti-poverty measure is a job. But for more than a quarter of Colorado's workforce, working hard isn't enough to make ends meet.

In a recent report, we found that more than 48,000 working families in Colorado lived below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four in 2011. Another 154,085 families – 27 percent of all working families in Colorado – lived on up to twice that amount.

By Kathleen Hallgren
Guest columnist, The Daily Camera

It's been said that the best anti-poverty measure is a job. But for more than a quarter of Colorado's workforce, working hard isn't enough to make ends meet.

In a recent report, we found that more than 48,000 working families in Colorado lived below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four in 2011. Another 154,085 families – 27 percent of all working families in Colorado – lived on up to twice that amount.

By Kathleen Hallgren
Guest columnist, The Greeley Tribune

It's been said that the best anti-poverty measure is a job. But for more than a quarter of Colorado's workforce, working hard isn't enough to make ends meet.

In a recent report, we found that more than 48,000 working families in Colorado lived below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four in 2011. Another 154,085 families – 27 percent of all working families in Colorado – lived on up to twice that amount.

Creation of a Manufacturing Career Pathway

House Bill 13-1165

Testimony to the House Education Committee
Frank Waterous, Senior Policy Analyst
Feb. 18, 2013

My name is Frank Waterous, and I am a senior policy analyst with the Bell Policy Center. The Bell is a non-partisan, non-profit research and policy organization founded on progressive values and dedicated to expanding opportunity for all Coloradans.

By Ed Sealover
Denver Business Journal

Does a bill need business groups to support it to be considered a pro-business bill? Or are backers' statements that a new law is needed to help Colorado companies good enough?

House Bill 1005, sponsored by Aurora Democratic state Reps. Rhonda Fields and John Buckner, is one of those rare pieces of legislation that sits at a crossroads of those questions.

The measure passed out of the House Education Committee by a 12-1 vote Monday and is on to the House Appropriations Committee.

Senior policy analyst Frank Waterous testified in favor of House Bill 13-1005 today before the House Education Committee.

This bill would create a pilot program that would combine adult basic-education coursework with post-secondary skills training – an effort aimed at helping low-literacy working-age adult students "acquire the educational and technical skills they need for successful participation in the 21^st century workforce," Waterous testified. The pilot program is based on a successful education model used in other states.

(Online edition headline: College isn't what it used to be, but it's critical)

By Frank Waterous

Recently, the value of a college education has come into question. Robert J. Samuelson of The Washington Post, for one, said the "college-for-all crusade has outlived its usefulness."

In these tough economic times, with unemployment high and college graduates facing a bleak job market, the question might seem worthy of debate. But that's because the question misses the mark on two crucial points:

The Skills for Jobs Act is good public policy that will help match the needs of Colorado's businesses with the training and skills provided by the state's post-secondary education and workforce-development programs.

Policy analyst Frank Waterous testified in favor of the legislation (HB 12-1061), which also was supported by the Colorado Association of Commerce and Industry, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and the Interwest Energy Alliance, among others. CACI said HB 1061 is a "common-sense bill."