Colorado awarded $27 million to 46 organizations in June in the first phase of grants through the Opportunity Now Colorado program designed to enhance workforce-development pipelines at a time of significant labor shortage across industries.
A smaller grant went to a La Plata County program to provide adult learners with professional certificates driven by industry needs.
About $50,000 went to Pueblo Community College Southwest to design a manufacturing facility that will train high-school students and 18- to 24-year-old workers to build manufactured homes that will be sold to local public-sector industries.
