November Brings Opportunities to Celebrate Progress, Strengthen Partnerships, and Expand Opportunity

November 2, 2026

Celebrating progress, strengthening partnerships, and creating new opportunities for learners and earners across Colorado and beyond. 

We're heading into November with plenty of momentum! After bringing together leaders from across education, workforce, industry, and community organizations at our Career-Connected L/Earning Conference, we're excited to keep the conversations and connections going. 


Here's where you can find us this November: 


🗓️ November 2 

🔹 Opportunity Now Celebration and Awards Ceremony — Denver 

We're excited to celebrate the collective impact of Colorado's Opportunity Now partnerships! Rana Tarkenton, Stefan Richarz and Board Chair Kim Poast will join partners at the Governor's Mansion, where The Attainment Network will be recognized for our partnership-building work in the San Luis Valley. Together with regional partners, we've expanded healthcare career pathways, created paid internships, and opened new opportunities for workers to advance into high-demand roles. At the heart of this work is a shared commitment to creating meaningful education and career opportunities right where learners live, so young people can build their futures in the Valley without having to leave to pursue them. 


🗓️ November 4–6 

🔹 Pathways Impact Fund Collaborative Meeting — Boston, MA 

Libby Klingsmith and Katherine Stewart will join teams from across the country to explore how Boston's education, workforce, and community partners have built and sustained a citywide pathways compact. From conversations with state policy leaders and education partners to site visits highlighting career-connected learning, we're looking forward to bringing fresh ideas back to Colorado. 


🗓️ November 5 

🔹 Rocky Mountain Partnership State of the Partnership Luncheon — Denver 

Rana Tarkenton will join regional leaders to celebrate progress and explore what's next for what it will takein the effort to help 71,000 more young people reach cradle-to-career milestones by 2030. 


🗓️ November 9 

🔹 San Luis Valley All-Partner Meeting — Virtual 

Ashley Maestas and Wes DeVaul will bring San Luis Valley partners together to celebrate shared accomplishments and align on priorities for 2026–27. From healthcare and construction pathways to work-based learning and stronger education-to-workforce connections, partners will explore how to build on recent progress and sustain regional collaboration for the long term. 


🗓️ November 17–19 

🔹 National Youth Apprenticeship Summit — Denver 

Rana Tarkenton and Libby Klingsmith will connect with national leaders at this three-day gathering hosted by CareerWise and New America. Rana will also participate in Rural Reconsidered: Strategies for Expanding Youth and Young Adult Access to Apprenticeship, a panel exploring innovative approaches to making apprenticeship opportunities more accessible in rural communities. 


🗓️ November 18 

🔹 Postsecondary Talent Development System Transition Advisory Committee — Denver 

Michelle Camacho Liu will reconvene with fellow committee members to continue developing recommendations that will guide Colorado's new unified postsecondary talent development system. This important work is helping shape a more connected and responsive approach to meeting the needs of learners, earners, and employers across the state. 


🗓️ November 25–27 

🔹 Thanksgiving Break 

We'll be taking a short break over Thanksgiving to spend time with family and friends, recharge, and reflect on all we've accomplished together this year. Our offices will be closed November 25–27, and we'll be back in December, ready to finish the year strong! 


As we head into the holiday season, we're especially grateful for the partners, communities, and leaders who make this work possible. Thank you for your continued collaboration and commitment to creating stronger pathways to opportunity for learners and earners across Colorado. 


Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving! 🍂 

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We are so excited about the month ahead! We have so many opportunities to connect with our brilliant partners here in Colorado and beyond to learn, explore, and design what’s next for preparing learners and earners for in-demand careers. And the biggest opportunity of all is our Career-Connected L/Earning Conference, Oct. 29-30 in Colorado Springs. We’ve been working on this conference all year, and we can’t wait to see you there! Here’s where you can find us this October: 🗓️ October 7 🔹 Boettcher State of Leadership: San Luis Valley Convening — Fort Garland Who will be the “Next Ten” leaders stepping up in the San Luis Valley? Ashley and Wes will join current and emerging community leaders for a conversation about strengthening the region’s leadership pipeline, building new connections and addressing the “Same Ten People” challenge identified through the Boettcher Foundation’s State of Leadership initiative. 🗓️ October 8 🔹 Postsecondary Talent Development System Transition Advisory Committee — Edwards Michelle Camacho Liu will reconvene with fellow committee members to continue developing recommendations that will guide Colorado’s new unified postsecondary talent development system. If you'd like to join sign up through the RSVP link . 🗓️ October 12-14 🔹 CFO Leadership Conference — Westminster Finance executives from across the country, including our own Michelle Payne, will explore emerging trends in leadership, AI and technology, economic conditions, and strategies for strengthening organizational performance. 🗓️ October 13 🔹 Superintendent Meeting — Monte Vista Ashley and Wes will connect with San Luis Valley superintendents to continue strengthening regional collaboration needed for pathways that lead to in-demand careers and economic mobility. 🗓️ October 14-16 🔹 Leading with Value, Building Trust: Lumina State Policy Retreat — Philadelphia Rana will join state teams from across the country for this invite-only convening focused on value-centered postsecondary attainment goals, better alignment between higher education and workforce needs, and how states define and measure credentials of value. 🗓️ October 20 🔹 Human Capital Summit — Arvada As AI and emerging technologies reshape the workplace, what human skills will matter most? Katherine will join employers, executives, HR professionals and community leaders for this Greater Arvada Chamber and Colorado Inclusive Economy event exploring how organizations are staying competitive by investing in people, culture, and innovation. 🔹 Making Pathways Data Useful: Pathways Impact Community Workshop — Virtual Michelle will join partners for a working session focused on making pathways data more useful and actionable. 🔹 CDE Technical Advisory Panel for PWR Accountability Metrics — Virtual Stefan will join his fellow TAP member to work on designing Colorado’s Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness accountability metrics. 🗓️ October 21 🔹 Postsecondary Talent Development System Transition Advisory Committee — Virtual The Transition Advisory Committee reconvenes. 🗓️ October 29-30 🔹 Career-Connected L/Earning Conference — Colorado Springs It’s the event we’ve been looking forward to all year! The entire Attainment Network team will join hundreds of leaders from education, workforce, industry, government, philanthropy and community organizations for two days of learning, connection and collaboration focused on building stronger education-to-career pathways. We hope you’ll join us!