SkillsUSA Colorado

A nonprofit organization

SkillsUSA Colorado is a state affiliate of SkillsUSA, a nationally recognized Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO). SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. We help each student excel. SkillsUSA’s mission is to empower its unique partnership of more than 430,000 students, teachers and industry representatives working together, to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens.

We improve the quality of our nation’s future skilled workforce through the development of SkillsUSA Framework skills that include personal, workplace and technical skills grounded in academics. Our vision is to produce the most highly skilled workforce in the world, providing every member the opportunity for career success. A nonprofit national education association, SkillsUSA serves middle-school, high-school and college/postsecondary students preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service (including health) occupations. SkillsUSA improves the quality of America’s skilled workforce through a structured program of citizenship, leadership, employability, technical and professional skills training and enhances the lives and careers of students, instructors and industry representatives as they strive to be champions at work. With more than 4,000 school chapters in all 50 states and 4 U.S. territories, SkillsUSA serves more than 370,000 students and instructors annually. Through state associations, like SkillsUSA Colorado, SkillsUSA offers a variety of programs, leadership and professional development conferences, as well as local, regional and state conferences through which students demonstrate their technical and leadership skills in occupationally related trade, industrial, technical and leadership competitive events.

A student who once hid quietly in the back of the class finds a confidence he never knew he had … and now will never lose. Another, once unsure of her future goals, discovers a passion for a specific skill that will lead to a fulfilling, in-demand career. A teacher, struggling to provide students with real-world connections to their classroom, transforms his curriculum into an engaging model of a high-functioning workplace. An industry representative, desperate for entry-level employees to meet her company’s growing needs, taps into a talent pipeline of career-ready applicants ready to bridge that skills gap. These moments — and so many more — happen every day across our nation thanks to SkillsUSA involvement.

SkillsUSA changes classrooms. SkillsUSA changes workplaces. SkillsUSA changes lives.

Mission

SkillsUSA is America’s proud champion of the skilled trades. Our mission is to empower students to become skilled professionals, career-ready leaders and responsible community members.

Background Statement

The SkillsUSA legacy is rich with tradition, and while the organization was officially founded in 1965, the history of the skilled trades stretches back … almost indefinitely. In fact, skilled tradespeople have been passing down their abilities to “apprentices” since the earliest days of civilization.

We won’t go that far back, but we will start in 1917, when the first federal law in the United States relating to career and technical education was passed: The Smith-Hughes National Vocational Education Act. This law was the first to provide funding to the states for agriculture, homemaking and trade and industrial education. Forty-five years later, the Vocational Educational Act of 1963 specified that vocational student organizations were an essential part of vocational instruction. Today, these organizations are called career and technical student organizations, or CTSOs, and SkillsUSA is one of eight authorized by the U.S. Department of Education. This law was also important because it recognized CTSOs as an integral part of classroom instruction and legitimate recipients of federal and state grant money to support their work. And the rest is history. Our history.

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

SkillsUSA Colorado

other names

SkillsUSA Inc

Year Established

1965

Tax id (EIN)

84-6044886

Category

Education, Youth Development, Employment

Organization Size

Small Organization

Address

9101 E LOWRY BLVD
DENVER, CO 80230

Service areas

CO, US

Phone

720-858-2740

Social Media