business in Adams County Colorado
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History


In February 2004, Adams County Economic Development (“ACED”) hosted a task force dedicated to finding ways to address the workforce problems that business has had with the quality of applicants for employment openings in Adams County, Colorado.  ACED collected information from the business community county-wide, shared it with various education providers and started to organize and implement small scale events and partnerships, including career expos for middle school students and speaking opportunities for local area business personnel within the school system to address some of the disconnect between the positions available in the county and the skill level of those applying. 

In the process of creating a bridge between education and business, partnerships were formed between government, social and human services, educators and business representatives who were committed to finding central resources to ensure that learners in the county achieved greater personal and skill development appropriate to careers in the area and that companies both within the area and those considering relocating their operations would find an adequately skilled workforce available.

Out of these initial meetings, the following was accomplished:

(1) Formal presentations were made by businesses which outlined the needs of the business community that were not being met and the minimal skills required for their current job openings;

(2) Two Career Expos for 7th and 8th grade students were conducted; 

(3) A list of business representatives willing to participate in classroom career awareness was assembled; and

(4) The task force introduced planning for internships for students majoring in key disciples and teacher in-service career awareness training.

While these events were being conducted, the educational community in Adams County was working to review the current process for instruction and preparation of the K-16 population.  They reviewed their current practices in light of unacceptable graduation and skills achievement statistics and made recommendations to the area superintendents and community college presidents for actions to improve the successful completion rate for the students of our community.

On June 16, 2005, the area superintendents from the five largest K-12 school districts, the four area community college presidents, and the business community announced their efforts to organize *ACEC.  Participants in outlining the goals of ACEC include: 



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Adams County Education