From Our Leadership
It is with immense pride, urgency, and a deep sense of responsibility that we present this bold vision and strategic plan for the Colorado Community College System (CCCS). This plan reflects the collective efforts, insights, and aspirations of a wide range of stakeholders including the State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education, senior system staff, and 13 college presidents, and the many faculty, staff, students, business leaders, and community members who helped shape it. Together, we have crafted a roadmap for the next five years that will guide our system and colleges in realizing their full potential as engines of economic mobility for all Coloradans.
The north star of our strategic vision is economic mobility for all Coloradans. We know without a doubt that education and training is the key to prosperity for our learners and our communities. We also recognize that the success of our students is the ultimate measure of our effectiveness—not only while attending our colleges, but as they pursue their chosen career pathway.
This plan is the result of a year-long listening and learning tour that spanned every corner of the state. Through in-person and virtual engagements at all 13 of our colleges, conversations with statewide business partners, and countless interviews and work sessions, we heard from thousands of voices. These voices echoed a shared sense of both opportunity and urgency; opportunity in Colorado’s thriving industries like aerospace, bioscience, and quantum technology, and urgency to address persistent inequities in educational attainment and economic mobility.
Our 13 colleges are unique, each possessing different strengths and qualities, and each serving their distinctive communities. While
celebrating these differences, we are united in our vision, the goals we have laid out, and the strategies we will pursue to meet those goals. As embodied in our Power of 13 goal, we will serve our learners and communities and be stronger together, united by this common path forward.
The insights we gathered make one thing abundantly clear: 2025 to 2030 will be a critical inflection point for Colorado’s economic future. If we act boldly and decisively, we can ensure that economic prosperity reaches every community and every learner in the state—not just a privileged few. This moment calls on us to double down on our commitments, challenge the status quo, and re-imagine how Colorado goes to college.
This plan is our collective pledge to Colorado. It unites the vision and commitment of all of us—leaders and staff across the system, faculty and students, and the partners who stand beside us. It is a promise to fundamentally transform higher education and workforce development in the state, building a system that is equitable, accessible, and relentlessly focused on learner success.
This is more than a strategic plan—it is a call to action for everyone who believes in the power of education to transform lives. The stakes could not be higher, and the opportunities could not be greater. We need you—our business leaders, community advocates, policymakers, and education partners—to join us. Together, we will create a system that not only serves learners during their time at CCCS but sets them on a lifelong path to success.
The future of Colorado depends on us seizing this moment to ensure economic mobility reaches every corner of our state. We will not rest until every learner, every family, and every community has access to the prosperity they deserve. We—the members of the State Board for Community Colleges and Occupational Education, Chancellor and Executive Staff, 13 college presidents, and faculty, staff and students of the Colorado Community College System—are excited to embark on the journey that this plan describes.


Learn About our Goals
With the objective of Transforming Futures, CCCS and our 13 colleges are pursuing five goals in this Strategic Plan.