Broadening Prosperity in Uncertain Times

Message From CEI President and CEO Rebecca Holmes

From CEI’s December 2025 Newsletter

As we close 2025 and look toward 2026, Colorado’s public schools, and many Colorado families, are entering a period of real uncertainty. Districts are planning through declining enrollment, tightening budgets, and heightened activity around school choice. Families are navigating everything from AI literacy, to financial uncertainty, to immigration concerns. Amid rising youth unemployment and shifting federal oversight of education, the “Colorado paradox” is more than a data point – it is a reminder that opportunity is not evenly distributed, and that our systems still do not ensure every young person discovers what excites them and builds a path toward a secure future. Like so many of you, just my own extended family includes young people with staggering variability across those success factors and concerns.

And yet, what we see in practice across Colorado offers a promising picture. In communities large and small, young people are leveling up their futures through career-connected learning. Districts are redefining the high school experience, so students graduate with passion, purpose, and a path to economic mobility. This work is grounded in relationships and relevance, and in a belief that public education should help every student connect who they are, what they care about, and where they want to go next.

Holyoke School District is one powerful example of this vision in action. Holyoke is one of the places where this promise is coming alive. Their story, featured in this video spotlight, is a reminder of what can happen when a whole community comes together around its young people. Holyoke’s partnerships with local businesses, their mission that every student deserves success beyond high school, and their growing collaboration through the regional BOCES show the ripple effect of a shared vision. Students are contributing to their community today and discovering who they can become tomorrow. Holyoke’s story is a powerful reminder that when future-facing visions for student success drive daily practice, young people and their communities grow stronger together. While we see bright spots like these in districts of all sizes, the Holyoke story evokes a favorite saying I heard this year: “Small towns can’t afford spectators.”

In Colorado, our small communities are inspiring the work of much larger places and of state-level collective action. The Homegrown Talent Coalition, launched this year with our partners at Colorado Succeeds, brings more than 20 organizations together around a shared learning agenda, aligning data, pathways, and policy to build the infrastructure all districts will need to offer high-quality, career-connected learning. The 2025 legislative session reflected this work, with policy changes that respond to what districts are already proving possible and a commitment to create coherent systems for all communities, not waivers for a few.

Rocky Mountain Partnership’s (RMP) expanding Cradle to Career network is adding to this momentum. These partnerships bring coherence, investment, and shared purpose at a moment when Colorado needs all three.

For CEI, this work has never been about career-connected learning for its own sake. It is about delivering on the promise of public education in Colorado: that every young person will be known, challenged, and supported to build a life of passion, purpose, and economic mobility. RMP’s origins are different than CEI’s, but we share the belief that that when young people thrive, their communities flourish. As you close out this year, I hope you’ll find a moment to watch Holyoke’s video, notice the echoes of this work in your own community, and take some well-earned rest. We are grateful to be alongside you, and we look forward to entering 2026 clear in our vision, abundant in our partnerships, and accountable to the outcomes Colorado’s young people deserve.

Our December Newsletter Highlights

• Leadership and Learning: ICYMI: Inside Colorado’s Early AI Adoption – What Superintendents Want You to Know
• Engagement Opportunities: Calendars: 2026 AI Leaders Workshop Series and Colorado Family Engagement Collaborative Hub Events
• News and Resources Roundup

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