Colorado is facing a fiscal crisis that is forcing difficult choices and deep cuts. With a projected $1.2 billion shortfall and multiple rounds of cuts already on the table, one of the state’s most effective workforce tools is now at risk: Colorado’s emergency employment supportive services program. For many low-income Coloradans, this isn’t an abstract policy debate. It is the difference between being able to finish a skills training program and having to drop out.
In 2018, as Colorado worked to implement the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the Colorado SkillSPAN coalition, Skills2Compete(S2C), led by the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, launched a broad community engagement effort. They heard from workers, learners, training providers, and community-based organizations across the state about what made it hard to access and complete job training.
A statewide needs assessment that reached 63 of Colorado’s 64 counties confirmed what people were saying: Colorado lacked any large-scale, flexible supportive services program designed to help very low-income jobseekers cover employment-related expenses.
To carry this work forward, S2C formed a Supportive Services Committee, creating a dedicated space for long-term strategy, implementation, troubleshooting, and ongoing partner engagement. The committee, which continues to meet today, became a central hub for shaping policy ideas grounded in community input.
Through ongoing conversations within this committee, workforce advocates refined and advanced a policy solution that directly responded to the gaps identified across the state. The result was HB 19-1107, which created a three-year pilot program for emergency employment supportive services under the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s Division of Employment and Training. The program proposal was designed to fill a gap and provide immediate, short-term assistance when other supportive funds were unavailable.
The bill reflected what communities needed:
The program proposal was backed by research, including a 2017 Institute for Women’s Policy Research finding that each supportive service provided increased the probability of completing job training by 11%.
The bill also came with strong community support from a broad array of endorsers, including community organizations of all types, schools and academic institutions, businesses and employers, and professional associations. These endorsements resulted from S2C’s strong partner outreach, engagement, and intentional relationship-building over years of advocacy.
The Emergency Employment Supportive Services program pilot launched in 2021. From the start, workforce advocates understood that in order for the program to survive beyond the pilot period, its impact must be properly documented and communicated. A year-one pilot report combined quantitative data with qualitative stories showing how emergency supports enabled people to stay in training, accept work, or hold onto a new job.
After the pilot period came the next challenge. In 2023, workforce advocates returned to the state legislature, armed with the pilot report, supporting research, and compelling stories from workers and students. This time, lawmakers approved seven more years of funding, turning a time-limited experiment into a more durable piece of Colorado’s workforce infrastructure.
“This was a defensive victory and a powerful reminder that the work doesn’t stop once a bill is passed or initial funding is secured. It took intentional work to document the voices of people who benefited from the program, bring those stories, alongside data, directly to legislators, and show why this program mattered. And it was the consistency of the Supportive Services Committee, treating supportive services as core, not an afterthought, that made that advocacy possible.” – Laura Ware, Skills2Compete Coalition Coordinator
Despite its demonstrated impact, the program is under threat amid Colorado’s budget crisis. Now, the state is weighing cuts that would undermine a proven approach although workers and employers continue to navigate rising costs and persistent barriers to employment.
S2C anticipates a bill by the Joint Budget Committee will be proposed to discontinue the program. S2C will continue to mobilize and advocate and testify to the devastating loss this program will present to low-income Coloradans who are pursuing a training, employment or job retention goal, and may need emergency assistance to maintain pursuit of that goal.
At the same time, Colorado is considering a broader structural shift through HB26-1317, a bill that would merge higher education and workforce programs into a single agency and establish a transition committee to guide the process. For S2C, this presents both a risk and an opportunity. Advocates are working to ensure that supportive services are not lost in the transition but are embedded as a core component of the new agency’s scope and strategy. S2C is actively engaging, including testifying before legislators, to ensure that supportive services remain central to any future workforce and education system.
This threat to the Colorado Emergency Employment Services Program is not a standalone example. Many states are having to make tough choices as they face critical federal budget cuts, and many workforce programs and supportive services are on the chopping block.
