Our Mission:
Establish a regional talent system connecting education to career pathways to quality jobs for all learners across El Paso County districts and education systems to support prioritized industries in our region.
The Problem:
- Employers struggle to find qualified talent.
- Students lack clear, accessible pathways into high-demand careers.
- School districts cannot build every pathway independently.
- The region lacks a coordinated system connecting education and industry.
How it Works
Industry consortium identifies regional talent needs.
IPP coordinates schools, employers and community partners.
Employers gain access to a stronger homegrown talent pipeline.
Students gain career exposure, technical learning, credentials and work-based experience.
Impact in Action
(launching Spring 2027)
Areas of Focus
IPP helps employers:
- Define the skills, experiences, and credentials their future workforce needs
- Replace fragmented, district-by-district efforts with one coordinated regional strategy
- Influence career pathways before talent gaps become workforce shortages
- Reach students earlier and build awareness of high-demand careers
- Create meaningful work-based learning that strengthens recruitment and retention
- Replace fragmented, district-by-district efforts with one coordinated regional strategy
- Leverage shared investment in industry-grade equipment, instruction, and student experiences
- Scale investment and impact across El Paso County
IPP helps schools and districts:
- Expand access to high-quality career pathways
- Connect curriculum and programming to employer demand
- Share resources across districts for greater student impact
- Create industry-sponsored student experiences
- Increase access to industry credentials and work-based learning
- Support districts in fulfilling Colorado’s Big 3 requirement
IPP helps the community:
- Prepare more young people for family-sustaining careers
- Strengthen the regional economy
- Retain local talent
- Increase access to career-connected learning and opportunities
- Create a coordinated system rather than duplicative, fragmented programs
Ways to Engage
Employers can:
- Join an industry consortium
- Host a student tour or career experience
- Sponsor an industry project
- Provide technical experts or mentors
- Offer work-based learning
- Invest in the regional talent system
Education partners can:
- Explore district participation
- Develop or expand a priority pathway
- Participate in regional programming
- Connect students to industry experiences
- Coordinate career navigation
Funders can:
- Invest in regional pathway development
- Support student access and transportation
- Fund career navigation
- Sponsor equipment or industry experiences
- Support long-term system capacity
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Innovate Pikes Peak a school or training provider?
No—Innovate Pikes Peak is a regional intermediary that connects education systems, industry, and students; it does not operate as a school or training provider. Partner districts host and send students across district lines 2-3 days per week to expand and deepen Career and Technical Education in 5 priority industries, while IPP builds the capacity to make that possible through industry-grade equipment, transportation, career navigation, industry-recognized credentials, and sustained connections to employers. This regional approach reduces duplicative efforts and prevents company investment from being diluted across disconnected district-by-district initiatives.
Does IPP replace existing district or workforce programs?
No. IPP does not replace existing district or workforce programs; it strengthens, connects, and scales them through shared regional infrastructure, employer alignment, and cross-district access.
How can an employer participate?
- Join an industry consortium in one of five priority industries
- Provide industry expertise in co-developing pathways, curriculum, and industry-recognized credentials
- Get in the classroom by scoping industry sponsored project for students to present solutions to company leaders
- Provide work based learning opportunity through internships and apprenticeships
- Provide mentorship and career navigation
- Provide classrooms with industry-grade technology and equipment
- Make a financial investment
How can a school district engage?
School district eligibility:
- One of El Paso County’s 17 school districts (for now)
- Superintendent commitment to participate
- Agreement to host or send students across district lines 2-3 days per week
- Participation in a CTE pathway aligned to one of five priority industries
- A designated school leader to build the operational framework with IPP
Who does IPP serve?
IPP serves K-12 students across El Paso County. Its initial focus is on comprehensive schools, with career exposure beginning in kindergarten and becoming progressively deeper, more sophisticated, and more connected to real industry experiences throughout middle and high school.
Is IPP currently seeking investors?
Yes. IPP is actively seeking companies, foundations, and regional leaders to invest in the infrastructure, pilot programs, and partnerships needed to build El Paso County’s long-term talent pipeline.
IPP has secured $4.8 million toward its $9 million fundraising goal, including $3.3 million raised in 2026.
Current investment supports multidistrict career exposure, industry-sponsored student projects, career navigation, transportation pilots, and other regional program pilots.
Long-term investment will support the infrastructure required to bring IPP to scale, including renovating and expanding existing facilities, building new spaces, operating a regional transportation fleet, and procuring, installing, and maintaining industry-grade equipment.
Are opportunities available to students throughout El Paso County?
No. Opportunities are currently available only to students in districts whose superintendents have signed an MOU with IPP.
All 17 El Paso County school districts are invited to participate; IPP currently has agreements with 11 districts.
Leadership Team
Jessica Warren
Executive Director
Jessica Warren is Executive Director of Innovate Pikes Peak, where she leads regional strategies connecting business, education, and talent to expand economic mobility. Her career spans workforce development at Women’s Bean Project, statewide work-release expansion with the Colorado Department of Corrections, private practice ownership, university teaching, and research with Mayo Clinic. With a background in mental health and family systems, Jessica brings a systems-level approach to developing employer-driven talent pipelines. She holds an Ed.S. and Masters of Education from the University of Florida, where she was a four-year Division I athlete and Captain of the Gators soccer team.
Vision for IPP
We must do something different.
Innovate Pikes Peak’s vision is bold because the need is urgent. In-migration is slowing. Birth rates are declining. Talent shortages are growing. If we do not redesign this system together, we all lose.
There is a deep hunger for a more effective approach, especially from the private sector. Companies want to help shape their future workforce, transfer knowledge from experienced employees to the next generation, and invest meaningfully in students. Yet the current system makes it extraordinarily difficult to engage across multiple districts in a way that is coordinated, scalable, and sustainable.
School districts face similar structural constraints. Funding, accountability, scheduling, transportation, staffing, facilities, and student access are largely organized within district boundaries. At the same time, districts are being asked to expand work-based learning, concurrent enrollment, and industry-recognized credentials—often without the regional infrastructure, shared capacity, or dedicated resources needed to do so at scale.
This is not a failure of effort or commitment. Schools, employers, and community partners are working hard within systems that were not designed for regional collaboration. The result is duplication, uneven access, fragmented employer engagement, and limited ability to leverage our collective resources.
Innovate Pikes Peak is about structural change—redesigning how El Paso County delivers robust, career-connected learning across district and organizational boundaries.
We need a third way: a coordinated regional system that reduces duplication, shares capacity, gives employers a clear and meaningful role, and expands access to high-quality career pathways for students across El Paso County.
Realizing this vision will require an entire community lift. We need each other—and we need to build the system differently.