First-of-Its-Kind "Micro-Pathway" Initiative Now Helps 100+ Community Colleges Build Industry-Aligned Training Programs

Education Design Lab's Community College Growth Engine is scaling stackable, skills-based pathways at community colleges across the country, better preparing them to fully leverage the forthcoming workforce Pell program

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Education Design Lab (the Lab) today announced that its Community College Growth Engine (Growth Engine) has expanded to more than 100 community colleges nationwide. Launched in 2020, the Growth Engine brings community colleges, employers, and learners together to collaboratively design, implement, and scale micro-pathways — high-quality, stackable credentials that can be completed in under a year and lead to employment in high-demand fields and progress toward a degree.

"The U.S. economy is changing, and higher education has two choices: Redesign for the future, or risk falling behind," said Michael Macklin, Associate Vice Chancellor for Workforce Solutions for the Colorado Community College System. "With the support of Education Design Lab, we've built a new approach to training that's more closely aligned with the needs of our local economies across the state — and more accessible and affordable for learners. This is the model that should define postsecondary education in the 21st century."

According to a 2025 survey of U.S. employers, colleges are increasingly out of step with the needs of the economy: 96% say colleges need to take more responsibility for workforce training, and three-quarters (75%) say students aren't graduating with the skills to succeed. At the same time, a growing number of American students and workers are demanding faster and cheaper educational pathways that align with the needs of the labor market. Policymakers are taking note of the shifting landscape and taking action, with the recent federal budget bill expanding Pell grants to shorter-form workforce training programs. Community colleges, uniquely embedded in their communities and attuned to local workforce needs, are answering the call to serve as agile talent development hubs that effectively bridge the gap between learning and earning.

"A future-ready workforce requires affordable and accessible educational and career pathways aligned with market demand," said John Poreba, Director of Partner Strategy at the Charles Koch Foundation, one of the first funders of the Growth Engine. "People are capable of extraordinary things when given the opportunity, and we're excited to partner with Education Design Lab, community colleges, and employers to help many more individuals discover, develop, and apply their gifts — creating value for themselves and others."

The Growth Engine now spans more than 100 community colleges across 20 states, including Montana, Texas, and Virginia. Growth Engine community colleges often serve historically undersupported populations – which the Lab calls New Majority Learner-Earners – and include 39 institutions in rural regions, and 43 minority-serving institutions (MSIs).

To date, the Growth Engine has helped institutions design nearly 300 micro-pathways – from manufacturing, to behavioral health care, to information technology – with 129 already launched and an additional 156 in development. Community colleges in states such as Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, New York, and North Carolina have emerged as national leaders in micro-pathway design, collectively developing dozens of credentialing options that lead directly to 200 jobs in nine sectors that pay at or above the local median wage.

The Growth Engine is powered by a coalition of forward-looking philanthropies and investors, who have collectively invested more than $20 million to scale micro-pathways. A list of the Lab's funders can be found here. 

"What makes the Community College Growth Engine work is that it represents a unique collaborative effort between philanthropies, state governments, the business community, and institutions themselves," said Dr. Lisa Larson, CEO of Education Design Lab and former president of Eastern Maine Community College. "This is about unlocking the potential of regional partnerships to fulfill the promise of community colleges as the country's greatest driver of economic opportunity at scale."

New research suggests that early investment in micro-pathways yields substantial returns. A recent impact brief from the Lab, The Multiplier Effect of Impact Investing, revealed that for every $1 of seed investment by philanthropies to the Growth Engine, participating community colleges were able to unlock $8 in public and private funding to advance micro-pathways. The second brief, Micro-Pathways, Macro Impact, reveals how the Lab's micro-pathways design process not only leads to new models that better serve learners and employers, but results in a ripple effect of institutional transformation that better enables colleges to scale stackable, skills-based pathways on their own, which has positioned these institutions to leverage the upcoming workforce Pell expansion. Both impact briefs can be downloaded here.

While the Growth Engine started with small cohorts of select institutions, the demand from leaders to scale and spread stackable, skills-based pathways has spiked with the passage of workforce Pell and other performance-based funding models. The Lab is working with state-level leaders to ensure their systems are ready to fully leverage these unprecedented opportunities that are fueling the alignment of the future of education with the future of work.

About Education Design Lab
Education Design Lab (the Lab) is a national nonprofit and intermediary with a mission to co-design an inclusive, skills-based learn+work system that facilitates upward economic mobility and closes opportunity gaps for the New Majority Learner-Earner. Our facilitated design process helps employer and education stakeholder groups co-design and launch scalable, skills-based education-to-work pathways that align talent supply and demand. Learn more: www.eddesignlab.org.

SOURCE Education Design Lab