Designing Rural Talent Collaboratives
We partner with rural workforce collaboratives across the Southeast to co-design equitable reskilling and upskilling pathways that connect learners to high-demand careers and position community colleges as engines of regional economic mobility.
How might we support rural workforce collaboratives in the Southeast to co-design equitable reskilling and upskilling pathways that directly respond to regional employer needs and connect learners to high-demand careers?
OVERVIEW
Strengthening the Rural Workforce through Collaborative Design is an Education Design Lab initiative that partners with rural workforce collaboratives across the Southeast to co-design new workforce pathways that expand equitable reskilling and upskilling opportunities, respond directly to regional employer demand, and connect rural learners to high-demand careers. The project brings together community colleges, workforce boards, employers, and community-based organizations to use human-centered design, shared data, and cross-sector collaboration to position rural institutions as engines of economic mobility in their regions.
Rural communities are strongest when they work together, but workforce systems are too often fragmented and disconnected from the lived experiences of rural learners…This project brings employers, colleges, and community partners to the table from the start, using human-centered design to co-design pathways to good jobs while also strengthening the entire regional ecosystem.
Dr. Matt Newlin
Senior Education Designer, leads rural-focused initiatives at the Lab
IMPACT
We don’t just design programs — we design for system-level impact.
We change systems by centering New Majority Learners in a collaborative process that results in a ripple effect of transformation across multiple levels, from individual programs and colleges, to regions and state systems.
We measure progress through four elements of change that signal system transformation:
