(1)The general assembly finds that:
(a)Increased educational attainment is a proven pathway out of poverty. In
general, research shows that average annual earnings increase and unemployment
rates decrease with each successive level of education or training that a person
achieves.
(b)Postsecondary education and credential attainment are increasingly
central to a person's ability to earn family-sustaining wages, participate more fully
in Colorado's twenty-first-century workforce, and contribute to the state's
economic health and vitality;
(c)Both nationally and in Colorado, projections indicate that by 2025, two-thirds of all jobs will require some level of postsecondary education or technical
skill training;
(d)Colorado has a substantial middle-skill gap in its workforce. Mi
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(1) The general assembly finds that:
(a) Increased educational attainment is a proven pathway out of poverty. In
general, research shows that average annual earnings increase and unemployment
rates decrease with each successive level of education or training that a person
achieves.
(b) Postsecondary education and credential attainment are increasingly
central to a person's ability to earn family-sustaining wages, participate more fully
in Colorado's twenty-first-century workforce, and contribute to the state's
economic health and vitality;
(c) Both nationally and in Colorado, projections indicate that by 2025, two-thirds of all jobs will require some level of postsecondary education or technical
skill training;
(d) Colorado has a substantial middle-skill gap in its workforce. Middle-skill jobs require some postsecondary education or training but less than a four-year degree. These positions make up approximately forty-seven percent of the
state's jobs, but only thirty-six percent of Colorado workers have the training
necessary to fill them.
(e) Before Colorado can meet its workforce, educational attainment, and
poverty-reduction goals, the state must address the need for adult education. A
significant percentage of the state's working-age population lacks a high school
diploma or its equivalent. Many of these individuals do not have basic literacy,
digital literacy, or numeracy skills and are unprepared for participation in
postsecondary education and for participation in the twenty-first-century
workforce. Further, these individuals are unprepared to provide the learning
support and advocacy that their own children or the children they care for require.
(e.5) Literacy and level of educational attainment not only impact an
individual's ability to gain employment at a self-sufficiency level, but extensive
research shows that they are also key determining factors in the educational
success and future employment potential of the individual's children or children for
whom the individual is a caregiver. A two-generation approach to increasing
literacy, digital literacy, and numeracy skills is essential for the workforce of today
and tomorrow and for helping to break the cycle of poverty.
(e.7) While some adults require educational programs that will improve their
literacy, digital literacy, or numeracy skills to gain higher-paying levels of
employment, many adults have not completed ninth grade or may otherwise be
identified as lowest-level learners. Before these adults can aspire to higher-level
employment, they require more basic educational programs that specialize in
English language skills and assistance in obtaining a high school diploma or an
equivalency certificate.
(f) Effectively addressing the need for adult education requires the
appropriation of state money to fund adult education and literacy programs that
participate in workforce development partnerships or education attainment
partnerships and that enable individuals to acquire the basic and more advanced
skills needed to function effectively as parents, caregivers, employees, and citizens
of the United States. Although there are several postsecondary programs that
focus on workforce development and skills acquisition, these programs typically
assume that participants are or have been in the workforce in some capacity and
have already attained a base level of literacy, digital literacy, and numeracy. Adult
education and literacy programs, however, are typically designed for adults who
have been unable to enter the workforce in a meaningful capacity or are limited in
their ability to support their children's education or participate in society due to a
lack of basic literacy, digital literacy, and numeracy skills.
(g) In return for state investment in adult education and literacy programs,
these programs must refocus their mission to ensure that more low-skilled, low-income adults attain the basic literacy, digital literacy, and numeracy skills that
they lack so that they may improve their own and the next generation's ability to
participate in the current and future in-demand sectors of employment, function
effectively in supporting and advocating for their children's education, and actively
participate in society; and
(h) Successfully refocusing the mission of adult education and literacy
programs requires the active collaboration and coordination of a variety of state
agencies and organizations that are involved in adult education and literacy;
elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education; training and credential
attainment; workforce development; economic development; and human services.
(2) The general assembly finds, therefore, that it is in the best interests of
the state to establish an adult education and literacy grant program to provide
state funding for public and private nonprofit adult education and literacy
programs. Investing in these programs will enable them to serve a larger share of
the state's eligible adult population and ensure that more adults can reach and
complete the next level of education and training, thereby leading to better
employment outcomes that enable more low-income, low-literacy adults to
ultimately achieve economic self-sufficiency and leading to an adult population
that is better prepared to support the educational attainment of the next
generation and actively participate as citizens in a democratic society.