- MT Rapid Broadband Training (MT-RBT) will address the underrepresentation of New Majority Learners in the broadband infrastructure sector in western Montana.
- This federal grant builds on the Lab’s state-wide micro-credentials initiative already underway in Montana.
- This is the second time the Lab has partnered with community colleges to help secure a competitive Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit that innovates more skills-based paths to economic mobility, today announced its project with academic and employer partners in Montana has been awarded more than $5.75 million by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
Highlands College of Montana Tech in Butte, Mt. — a rural, two-year college with a fall 2024 enrollment of just 727 students — has received the federal grant for the MT Rapid Broadband Training (MT-RBT) project, which will train broadband workers across western Montana.
Designing skills-focused pathways in Montana
The Lab and MT-RBT consortium colleges will create four non-credit, career micro-pathways, developed in collaboration with employers, New Majority Learners, labor unions, workforce systems, secondary schools, and community-based organizations. These micro-pathways will focus on building durable skills, easily stack into higher-level certificates and degrees, and offer flexibility for learners to join or leave the programs whenever they need.
The MT-RBT project adds to the portfolio of work already underway in Montana. In 2023, the Lab partnered with the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education and public two-year colleges to launch the Year-to-Career initiative aimed at strengthening Montana’s college-to-career pipeline. Year-to-Career will create skills-focused pathways in healthcare, education and technology, trades, and tourism.
Why it matters
Community colleges are in a unique position to improve social mobility and reduce economic disparities. The future demands a system of higher education that is more flexible, affordable, and inclusive for New Majority Learners. These micro-credential programs will center the design efforts on historically excluded populations, increase workforce equity, and strengthen economic efficiency. Instead of taking two or more years to earn a degree, learners will take accelerated micro-pathways that can lead directly into the workforce with industry-recognized skills and credentials.
Since 2020, the Lab’s Community College Growth Engine (CCGE) has supported nearly 100 colleges to design over 300 micro-pathways to connect low-wage and entry-level workers to in-demand jobs that pay at-or-above median wage and put them on a path toward a degree.
MT-RBT project details
“We look forward to working with our partners to ensure the benefits of this grant are felt throughout the community and state, by providing individuals the skills needed to succeed in this rapidly evolving industry,” said Highlands College Dean Karen VanDaveer, in a college news release.
The MT-RBT program will fund a mobile training lab for broadband installation. Certifications will include offerings in commercial driver’s license (CDL), heavy equipment, splicing, safety, professional skills, flagging, and rigging certifications.
The grant is one of 18 awarded to colleges in 14 states in the latest round of funding by the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants program administered by the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration. The funding supports programs that help community colleges scale affordable, high-quality workforce training to meet employers’ and workers’ skill development needs in critical industry sectors, such as advanced manufacturing, clean energy, semiconductors, and biotechnology.
Partners in the MT-RBT program include Highlands College, Flathead Valley Community College, Missoula College, Accelerate Montana, Education Design Lab, Blackfoot Communications, NorthWestern Energy, Rocky Mountain Contractors, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry (DLI), the State Workforce Innovation Board (SWIB), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 44 and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 206, Action, Inc., Salish Kootenai College, Butte High School, Montana Technological University’s Safety, Health and Industrial Hygiene Department, and Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.
Building on Montana’s $628 million Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) investment, MT-RBT aims to transform education, healthcare, and jobs by bringing reliable, high-speed internet to the region and making a long-term impact on the local economy.
The MT-RBT project will tackle the digital divide in a 15-county region of western Montana, where one in three residents lack broadband access — three times the national average. MT-RBT will prioritize underrepresented populations including low-income individuals, women, and Native Americans.
The grant aims to train 280 broadband workers over a four-year period, with enrollment scheduled to begin in Fall 2025. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for telecommunications technicians in 2023 was $62,350 per year.
Lab partners on federal grant projects, from start to finish
This is the second time the Lab has partnered with rural colleges and minority-serving institutions to help secure a competitive Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant (SCC). Through five rounds of grants to date, the DOL has invested $265 million with 207 colleges in 35 states.
In 2023, the Lab and a consortium of Colorado community colleges were awarded a $4.9 million SCC grant to grow career pathways in healthcare and IT sectors.
A federal grant proposal can be challenging for small, under-resourced community colleges. The Lab supports partner colleges throughout the lifecycle of the grant, collaborating on concept development, potential partnerships, proposal writing, and compliance.
Go deeper
The Community College Growth Engine, led by Dr. Lisa Larson, is a design accelerator that helps community colleges lean into a future role as regional talent agents.
About Education Design Lab: The Lab is a national nonprofit that co-designs, tests, and builds new education-to-workforce models where skills matter. The Lab’s human-centered design process focuses on understanding learner experiences, addressing equity gaps in higher education, and connecting new majority learners to economic mobility. Learn more: www.eddesignlab.org.
