2025-2026 Innovation of the Year Award Winner: Community College of Aurora

Stronger Together: Advancing Excellence in Integrated Workforce Pipelines

Community College of Aurora (CCA) and BuildStrong Academy created a first-of-its-kind model embedding a nonprofit, industry-responsive construction training provider directly into the college’s new Center for Applied Science and Technology facility through a phased memorandum of understanding covering facilities, data sharing, cobranding, and fiscal approach. The co-location streamlines student access to tutoring, career services, and wellness resources while enabling nimble, employer-aligned training to stack into college credit via credit for prior learning assessment pathways now in development. Early results are strong: Construction programs report 100% infield employment for AY22-23 and AY23-24 completers who responded, with average salaries of $66,320, and collegewide momentum, retention, and completion indicators are rising. The model is cost sensible (shared infrastructure), efficient (daily collaboration, single campus touchpoint), replicable across sectors, and timely (launched September 2025), positioning CCA as a platform for equitable workforce mobility.

Innovators

  • Jazmine Bjelland, Director, Grants Development
  • Mordecai Brownlee, President
  • Clair Collins, Vice President, Enrollment Management and Pathway Success
  • Jim DeLung, Dean, CTE Academic Success
  • Bonnie Hart, Coordinator, Career Coaching and Readiness
  • Brian Horvath, Chair, Skilled Trades
  • Eric Keppeler, Faculty, Construction
  • HyeKyung Lee, Lead Strategist, Institutional Research and Assessment
  • Anthony Luevanos, Career Coach, CTE
  • Angela Marquez, Vice President, External Strategy, and Chief of Staff
  • Tom Morrissey, Executive Director, Operations
  • Bobby Pace, Vice President, Academic Success
  • Gabrielle Rizcallah, Student Advocacy Coach, Student Success
  • Morgan Smith, Special Assistant to the Vice President of Academic Success
  • Allison Stepnitz, Director, BuildStrong Academy Colorado
  • Lynne Winchell, Vice President, Operations
  • John Wolfkill, Vice President, Advancement, and Executive Director, Foundation
  • April Zbrozek, Operations Lead, APSS
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