President Leah Barrett, Northeast Community College; Katie Graham, Administrator and State Director for Nebraska’s Office of Career, Technical & Adult Education
State and college leaders are emphasizing the importance of coordinated partnerships to expand career and technical education (CTE) pathways that lead to living wage careers in rural Nebraska.
Speaking during a featured session at the Rural Pathways Project Institute, Leah Barrett, President of Northeast Community College, and Katie Graham, Administrator and State Director for Nebraska’s Office of Career, Technical & Adult Education, discussed how collaboration across education systems, employers, and state policy is strengthening workforce pipelines statewide.
“Career pathways that lead to living wage careers don’t happen in isolation,” Barrett said. “In rural communities, success depends on strong relationships between K12 schools, community colleges, employers, and the state. When those systems align around shared workforce goals, students can see clear connections between education, careers, and opportunities close to home.”
The session focused on the realities rural communities face, including limited scale, staffing challenges, geographic barriers, and access to specialized training. Speakers emphasized that collaboration, rather than competition, is essential to expanding opportunities.
“Strong rural pathways are built through partnership,” Graham said. “The state’s role is to create the conditions that support collaboration, align policy with workforce demand, and invest in programs that connect students directly to high demand, living wage careers.”
Barrett highlighted the role community colleges play as regional partners while expanding access to high‑quality CTE programs, sharing facilities and faculty, and supporting multiple school districts that may not have the capacity to offer full programs independently. High quality dual enrollment and clear pathways were emphasized as critical infrastructure that allows students to begin their journey to a career while easing the transition from high school to college and into the workforce
The session also highlighted Nebraska examples of regional partnerships that have led to shared training centers, industry‑recognized credentials, apprenticeship models, and smoother student transitions into postsecondary education and employment. These efforts help reduce time and cost to completion while strengthening connections between education and workforce needs
For more information on the “Rural Guided Pathways Project”, visit: https://ruralguidedpathways.org/
