Transforming Workforce Pathways Through Postsecondary Innovation with Alison Griffin | GSVtv Podcast

Summary

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ASU+GSV Podcast Summary

Episode: Transforming Workforce Pathways Through Postsecondary Innovation with Alison Griffin

Date: July 20, 2026
Host: Mary McCall Leland (A), GSV Higher Ed and AI Program Manager
Guest: Alison Griffin (B), Principal Consultant, Future Rise

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Episode Overview

This episode explores how Future Rise—a nonprofit foundation operating in Colorado—is catalyzing postsecondary education and workforce transformation. Through a candid conversation between Mary McCall Leland and Alison Griffin, the discussion dives into the challenges and opportunities of bridging policy, funding, and practical implementation for better workforce outcomes. Key themes include ecosystem-level investment, credential stackability, narrative change in education, and how Colorado is serving as a model—warts and all—for systemic innovation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Future Rise? Tackling Disconnection in Colorado

• Alison’s Motivation: Alison notes that although Colorado is rich with innovative providers, motivated learners, employer engagement, and political will, these efforts operate in silos. The lack of connectivity and pooled investment inspired the creation of Future Rise.
  • Quote: “We have tremendous political will, we have innovative providers, we have employers at the table, we have motivated learners. But all of those things were disconnected.” — Alison [00:43]
• Future Rise’s Mission: Combine federal, state, and philanthropic efforts to drive collective, systemic transformation rather than fragmented, isolated initiatives.

2. Systems-Level Transformation: What Does It Mean in Practice?

• Three Core Focus Areas:
  • Boundless Opportunity Scholarship: Pooled funding for Coloradans pursuing high-quality, short-term credentials.
  • Narrative Change: Shifting the conversation to encompass all of postsecondary learning, not just traditional higher ed. Includes the Rise Report newsletter.
  • Pooling Capital: Aligning philanthropic investments to drive ecosystem-wide change rather than simply funding separate programs.
  • Quote: “How do we bring philanthropic capital together, get those investments aligned towards that systems change...funding the collective effort to have impact at scale.” — Alison [02:06]

3. Bridging the Credential Gap for Nontraditional Learners

• Two Pressing Challenges:
  1. Stackability: Giving learners credit for skills and experience as they build their credentials.
  2. Destigmatization: Rebranding nontraditional, short-term, or alternate pathways as equally valid to four-year degrees.
  • Quote: “I think stackability is one of the most pressing challenges. How do we give learners credit for what they know and know how to do and bring that experience into their learning pathway?” — Alison [03:47]

4. Philanthropy’s Missed Opportunity: Funding the Ecosystem

• Common Mistake by Funders:
  • Most funders support individual ideas but not the broader ecosystem, contributing to fragmentation.
  • The solution is greater collaboration, pooled resources, and changes to policy frameworks that encourage collective action.
  • Quote: “Most funders fund the idea, they don’t fund the ecosystem... now we actually need those funders to come together and fund that transformation in the ecosystem.” — Alison [05:09]

5. Colorado as a Model—Room for Growth

• Strengths & Honest Critique:
  • Colorado is good at policy and public relations but often lacks implementation and coordination.
  • The state needs more “glue” to bring disparate efforts together and orchestrate systemic change.
  • Memorable Analogy: “We have all the pieces of the orchestra, we’re all sitting in different rooms.” — Alison [06:30]

6. A Call to EdTech and Funders: Colorado as a Learning Lab

• Message for EdTech Providers and Investors:
  • Invites the EdTech community to see Colorado as a place for new ideas, tools, and collaboration with those directly facing workforce challenges.
  • The $30 million fundraising effort is intended to fund proven solutions, program support, and to expand high-quality credential providers.
  • Quote: “Come and bring your ideas, bring your tools, bring your solutions and talk to real people on the ground who are faced with the challenges or trying to resolve an issue... We’re trying to raise a $30 million fund. We’ve raised almost $8 million to date.” — Alison [08:01]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I really think that everyone’s in marketing... this idea of rebranding a word is so important... to attract more people into such important work.” — Mary [04:44]
• “[Colorado’s] really good at writing a press release. We’re all really good at passing policy that doesn’t lead to full implementation.” — Alison [06:30]
• “Instead of showing up with sharp elbows, how do we start to link arms and figure out how to do this work together?” — Alison [06:40]
• “In policy, we also need [a glue girl], like being the prism of information, having people come to and through the work that you’re doing so that we can all speak the same dialect.” — Mary [07:28]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:43: Alison explains Colorado’s disconnected but promising landscape
• 02:06: Outlining Future Rise’s three primary strategies
• 03:47: The pressing credential “stackability” challenge
• 05:09: Why funders need to support the ecosystem, not just programs
• 06:30: Honest critique of Colorado’s progress and challenges in implementation
• 08:01: Alison’s open invitation to EdTech innovators and funders

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Final Thoughts

Alison Griffin’s perspective from inside both philanthropy and systems-building reveals the necessity of coordination at every level—financial, rhetorical, and practical. Future Rise aims to make Colorado a proving ground and collaborative “learning lab” for the next evolution in workforce development and postsecondary innovation, with lessons the rest of the nation can share.

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Transcript

[A]

Hi, I'm Mary McCall Leland with GSV. I work as a higher ed and AI program manager.

[B]

And I'm Allison Griffin. I'm a principal consultant with Future Rise out of Colorado. We're a nonprofit operating foundation supporting post secondary education and workforce transformation.

[A]

I'm really excited to talk to you, Alison. I just really admire the work that you're doing and what you're doing at Future Rise. So I have a few questions for you today.

[B]

Great.

[A]

Start with you've worked in federal policy, philanthropy and consulting. What made you want to plant a flag in Colorado with Future Rise? Specifically, what's the gap you kept seeing that nobody was filling?

[B]

So there are a couple things that I saw were happening in Colorado that were disconnected from each other. So we have tremendous political will, we have innovative providers, we have employers at the table, we have motivated learners. But all of those things were disconnected. They were operating in silos. And we kept seeing philanthropy invest in a lot of those different segments of the Colorado population, but they were making individual investments. And that money wasn't all being pulled together to actually transition and make some impact in a system, transforming a system. And so we saw there to be an opportunity to combine what was happening at the federal level, what was happening at the state level, what's happening in philanthropy, and most importantly, what's happening with learners and earners in Colorado. How can we better leverage philanthropic capital to move the agenda forward?

[A]

Yeah, I mean, our theme for the summit this year is fusion. And so it makes a lot of sense that you're seeing this collapse across different sectors to see how you can elevate human flourishing using Future Rise on all of these different sides of the table. So you describe FUTURISE as focused on systems transformations like you just mentioned. What does actually look like on the ground? And what does a win look like for this fund in year one or year two?

[B]

Sure. So right now we're doing three things. The first thing is we have a significant investment in what we call the Boundless Opportunity Scholarship. So we're actually pooling money to support scholars scholarships for Coloradans who are pursuing high quality short term credentialing programs. So those programs deliver on outcomes both for the learner and for the employer. And we don't put money into those programs unless they're committed to delivering on those outcomes. That's the first thing. The second thing that we're working on is narrative change. I think that there's a tremendous opportunity to tell a different story about post secondary education. For so long, we've talked about higher ed. Higher ed is only one part of a broader post secondary ecosystem. So we write a weekly newsletter called the Rise Report where we profile our grantees and our partners and talk about the impact that they're having. The third thing that we're doing is trying to pool capital. I think this is probably the most important part of our work because it allows us to do the other things. How do we bring philanthropic capital together, get those investments aligned towards that Systems change. Not just funding individual programs, but actually funding the collective effort to have impact at scale.

[A]

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense and I would love for everyone to subscribe to the newsletter. It's a great way to get a bite size amount of information of honestly encouraging work that we want to see scaled across the country.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

So you've written a lot about the mismatch between how we credential people and what employers actually need to. And for non traditional learners in Colorado specifically, where is that gap most painful right now?

[B]

So I think stackability is one of the most pressing challenges. How do we give learners credit for what they know and know how to do and bring that experience into their learning pathway? So I think that's one thing. The second thing is actually destigmatization.

[A]

Right.

[B]

How do we destig continue to, I don't even want to say start to continue to destigmatize all those pathways beyond maybe that historically traditional two or four year degree. How do we begin to show both learners and families, but also employers and policy leaders that there are multiple ways into a job? And so those are two of the things where I think the investment of futurise both changing the conversation about various pathways but also putting money and resource and support into the stackability of different credentials and programs.

[A]

It's funny because people say that everyone's in sales, but I really think that everyone's in marketing. And so this idea of rebranding a word is so important or like a concept so that you kind of attract more people into such important work. Upskilling or reskilling human potential. So you've sat at both sides of the table as a grant maker at Lumina and Strada and and now building a fund yourself. What do most funders get wrong about workforce and post secondary animation?

[B]

So in my experience, most funders fund the idea, they don't fund the ecosystem. We are full in Colorado of funders who have come in and supported ideas, supported programs and all of that has been incredibly helpful to get us where we are. But now we're At a different point in our work where we actually need those funders to come together and fund that transformation in the ecosystem. So I would argue that this fragmentation that's happened, it's not the fault of any funder or provider or grantee. It's actually the framework that we have at the systems level. There's nothing at the systems level that's actually encouraging us to pool our resources to figure out how to work together and to actually change the underlying policy conditions that have created the fragmentation in the first place.

[A]

Right. The siloing of the work that's happening and almost like crewing a boat, like rowing in the same direction. It seems like you're going to be the coxswain at the end, yelling and making everyone's to go in the right direction.

[B]

I hope so.

[A]

I would roll for you. Colorado has held up as something of a model for post secondary innovation. Is that reputation deserved and where does the state still honestly have real work to do?

[B]

I would say, and this is friendly, but a little critical, I feel like Colorado's really good at writing a press release. We're all really good at passing policy that actually doesn't lead to full implementation. So we have all the, we have all the ingredients or we have all the pieces of the orchestra. We're all sitting in different rooms. So no one has any idea, you, you know, when to come in, when their part is ready. Because we haven't actually brought everything together and we haven't figured out one. I mean, it is a function of resource and capacity, but it's also an element of coordination and collective action. As opposed to, I frequently say, showing up with sharp elbows. Right. Instead of showing up with sharp elbows, how do we start to link arms and figure out how to do this work together?

[A]

Yeah. In like social settings, you would call that the glue girl, the person who like, brings everyone to the same table.

[B]

There you go.

[A]

But in policy, we also need that, like being the prism of information, having people come to and through the work that you're doing so that we can all speak the same dialect. Because I think that we're speaking of very similar languages. But there might be some variation in how people are communicating the work they're doing to row in that same direction.

[B]

I would agree with that.

[A]

All right, we're at our last question, which is for edtech founders or investors listening who want to be part of what future Rise is building. What do you need from them right now?

[B]

So I would say to our EdTech colleagues, I hope you see Colorado as a learning lab. Come and bring your ideas, bring your tools, bring your solutions and talk to real people on the ground who are faced with the challenges or trying to resolve an issue. So consider us open to be a learning lab to funder partners. I'd love for you to consider investing in Futurise. We're trying to raise a $30 million fund. We've raised almost $8 million to date, which I'm really excited about. But we want to get to 30 and that 30 is going to seed those proof points. Both dollars to learners, dollars to support programs that are paying off in the economy, and also dollars to bring new providers into the state to grow the market of high quality short term credential providers.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. And who doesn't want to make their city or state better? I think that your way of saying Colorado is a learning lab is so great. We're all building and learning alongside each other. So thanks so much for your time. It's been a pleasure to interview you and I'm so glad you're part of the ASUGSV community.

[B]

Thank you so much for having me. Of course.