Why is Colorado Providing Free English Training to Small and Mid-Sized Businesses?

Colorado has two open positions for every unemployed person — a challenge felt by local employers as they seek to fill critical roles. While the state is targeting millions of grant dollars to aid businesses in training workers, one state-supported program may provide employers with the key to unlocking a largely overlooked talent pool: Colorado’s 520,000 workers from immigrant and refugee backgrounds. 

To help bridge the gap between Colorado employers and aspiring “New American” workers, the state’s Office of New Americans launched a groundbreaking partnership that will allow small and medium-sized employers, from food services to hospitality and healthcare, to receive instantaneous access to free language training for their workers and prospective hires. 

READ: Colorado’s Labor Market Paradox — Plentiful Jobs, Mismatched Talent

At the core of the initiative is free access to EnGen, an AI-based platform that helps individuals gain English language and workforce skills. The platform can be deployed on-site at workplaces, or accessed on-demand via smartphone to connect working adults with industry-focused English instruction.

I talked with Dr. Katie Brown, founder and Chief Education Officer of EnGen, to learn more about the platform and how employers can access this free upskilling opportunity.

Immigrants and refugees are ready to work, but language barriers often get in the way of their success. How are you partnering with employers to close that gap?

A wide range of employees around the country are offering upskilling with English as a way to not only grow their talent pipeline, but retain existing workers as well. 

Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe, one of the nation’s fastest-growing restaurants, is offering courses such as English for Food Safety and English for Customer Service with great success. They’ve seen not only increased retention of incumbent workers but also a sharp increase in job applications since they began promoting their English upskilling program.

In our recent worker survey, 89% of learners tell us they will stay with their company because EnGen is offered as an employee benefit and 84% will refer a friend to work at their company for the same reason.

Amazon has also embedded EnGen with its Career Choice program. And, this summer, Atrium Health, the third largest nonprofit health system in the US, started offering our industry-aligned program to ensure employees have the language skills they need to advance in high-demand health care roles. 

To date, we know that 92% of EnGen learners have improved their average English proficiency scores, 95% report improved confidence in using English, and 93% say their job skills have improved.

READ: Guest Column — Helen Young Hayes Talks Talent Pipeline Disruption

You are an educator and expert in second language acquisition. Tell me about the pathway that resulted in founding EnGen.

Two decades ago, I taught English as a Second Language (ESL) at a community college in Maryland. One student, Mamadou, was a dentist from Mauritania who arrived in the U.S. eager to rejoin his career in dentistry. Maryland, like many states with acute dentist shortages, needed his experience and skills. But the path was too long: Mamadou needed to complete six semesters of basic English before enrolling in the courses that would help him re-license as a dentist. 

The U.S. approach to teaching English simply isn’t optimized for the needs of working adults like Mamadou. The U.S. currently serves just 4% of adult English learners, a population that in turn represents 1 in 10 working-age adults. Traditional in-person classes can be hard to access given long wait lists, transportation challenges, work conflicts and childcare issues. 

I knew there was a better way to teach English, so I set out to build it: career-aligned, real-world instruction that could be accessed on-demand, and offered at scale to serve the 96% of adult English learners that we’re missing with traditional approaches.

How is EnGen supporting English Language Learners and New Americans across the state of Colorado?

Mamadou’s story took place in Maryland, but it could have easily been Colorado. In the US we treat English like a prerequisite to workforce training when in reality, English is a core workforce skill. The Colorado Office of New Americans set out to solve this challenge by covering the cost of providing EnGen to local employers through the Virtual Career-Aligned English as a Second Language (VCESL) program. 

EnGen runs on a smartphone, meeting learners where they are and in any context. Lessons can be completed in just 10 minutes, and content is highly personalized, aligned to learners’ real-world career goals in Colorado’s high-demand industries. 

If you’d like to learn more about the VCESL program and how to bring EnGen to your company, visit EnGen’s Colorado portal.

Alison Griffin is a Senior Vice President with Whiteboard Advisors, a social impact agency that supports clients at the dynamic intersection of public policy, communications and research. Alison’s career in postsecondary education policy includes two terms as a policy advisor to the Chairman of the U.S. House of Education and the Workforce, as well as an early career role with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities where she guided state policy development. Alison joined Whiteboard Advisors after leading national engagement, government relations and external affairs for Strada Education Foundation.