Colorado Works Subsidized Training and Employment Program (CW STEP)

CW STEP helps Coloradans gain work experience and find job opportunities. It’s open to people who qualify for Colorado Works, the state’s temporary cash assistance program for families in need. This interagency collaborative program bridges the gap between Coloradans struggling to find a job with employment opportunities.

State contractors run CW STEP locally. They work with county human services departments and community partners to offer services that build job skills and strengthen our workforce.

The program helps participants work toward earning a living wage, securing permanent employment and creating a brighter economic future for their families. Participants learn skills for careers in industries clamoring for qualified workers. That opens real job opportunities. It also helps fill lingering employment gaps and keeps Colorado’s economy moving forward.

Public Notice Regarding Means-Tested Benefits
 

Program goals

• Assist Colorado Works job seekers to secure  permanent employment paying livable wages jobs through subsidized training and employment opportunities. This can include subsidized employment, such as transitional roles, apprenticeships, on-the-job training and paid internships.
• Increase employment outcomes among Colorado Works job seekers.
• Increase the number of jobs filled in industries with demonstrated shortages of qualified workers.

Areas of support

CW STEP offers several areas of support for job seekers, including:

• Subsidized employment: Time-limited, wage-paid work that helps chronically unemployed or underemployed individuals establish work history and develop workplace skills with a goal of obtaining unsubsidized employment.
• Transitional jobs: A form of subsidized employment combining real work, skill development and support services to help participants overcome substantial barriers to employment.
• On-the-job training: Combines productive work with the provision of knowledge and skills essential to full, competent performance on the job. The employer and worker/participant engage in a training plan with the goal of full employment in the position.
• Apprenticeships: An employer-driven, experiential learning model combining on-the-job learning as a paid employee with related classroom instruction in order to increase one’s skill level and wages.
• Internships: Designed to expose the participant to the work environment, requirements and behavioral expectations of a particular occupation or industry.