What is the Homegrown Talent Initiative?
The Homegrown Talent Initiative (HTI) is a statewide effort to develop career-connected learning experiences for K-12 students in rural communities across the state. To better prepare for life after graduation, schools and communities strategically focus on skill development, career-connected learning experiences, and flexible, relevant opportunities that align to student interests and local industry needs.
HTI supports the development of lifelong learners, rooted deeply in the context of local community assets and needs, through cultivating and solidifying partnerships between often siloed organizations.
HTI Goals
- Improve the lives of rural students and their communities by promoting relevant and dynamic skill development and work-based learning in students.
- Empower rural communities as champions of systems-level change in education
- Build momentum for future career-connected initiatives in other districts across the state
- Change the narrative around what’s possible in rural Colorado communities
What started as eight districts across the state has grown to a larger network of communities committed to expanding career-connected learning opportunities for students, investing in their educonomies, and developing a shared vision of growth based on the strengths, needs, and aspirations of their unique contexts.
An integral part of HTI’s success is the collaboration among K-12, higher education, and local industry partners to benefit their students, communities, and economies – the educonomy.
From intentional coaching and programming to networked-learning, Homegrown Talent Initiative districts benefit from education experts’ support in developing career-connected learning programs that work for their students, their economy and their community.
Homegrown Talent Initiative is facilitated by Colorado Succeeds and the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI), and supported by the Daniels Fund, Walton Family Foundation, Gill Foundation, Adolph Coors Foundation, and El Pomar Foundation.
The Career-Connected Learning Continuum
What does HTI entail?
Find out from our Cohort 1.
Who is in the HTI network?
Find out in our Network Overview.
What makes HTI unique?
Find out in our Program Overview.
For More Information
Read the Vision 2030 Framework and The Colorado Roadmap to Work-Based Learning
or contact us via the form below.