Robin Lovewell, Colorado Springs’ Workforce Administrator in the Office of Economic Development, made the following welcome remarks during a recent Learner-Centered Ecosystem Lab site visit in Colorado. Her remarks highlight the appetite for learning ecosystems in Colorado Springs—a sentiment we hear across the nation. We thank Robin for allowing us to share these remarks with you.
On behalf of Mayor Yemi Mobolade and the entire City of Colorado Springs, it’s my true honor to welcome you, educators, innovators, community builders, and thought leaders, to our home at the foot of America’s Mountain.
You are here today as part of the Education Reimagined Ecosystems Lab, an initiative that is not just visiting schools but exploring the very ecosystems that surround and support the learner experience. And we’re proud that Colorado Springs was selected as one of your stops. We believe this visit isn’t just about showcasing local practice, it’s about engaging in a national movement of possibility, of reimagining what learning can look like when community, curiosity, and opportunity come together.
Before you dive into your full day, I’d like to offer a sense of place. To ground you not only in where you are, but in the values and vision of this city.
Colorado Springs is a city of just under 500,000 people, nestled at the base of Pikes Peak, a mountain that has inspired poets, presidents, and pioneers for generations. In fact, this city’s founding was itself a kind of reimagining. Back in 1871, General William Jackson Palmer stood on these plains and envisioned a city dedicated to beauty, health, innovation, and education. He wrote of a dream: a place of first-class newspapers, schools, colleges, literature, and science. And he didn’t just dream it, he invested in it, planting thousands of cottonwood trees by hand and laying the foundation for a place that believed in the long arc of human flourishing.
The legacy of General Palmer still echoes here over 150 years later. We are now the 40th-largest city in the United States and the second-largest in Colorado, and our population is expected to grow to over one million by 2060. The median age is 35.4, and 44.8% of residents 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. We are a city shaped by both tradition and transition, by the grandeur of the Front Range and the grit of the people who call it home. We’re known nationally as Olympic City USA, home to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and dozens of national governing bodies. But our identity is broader than any single title.
We are a military city, home to five major installations, including Fort Carson, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and NORAD. Over 130,000 active-duty and veteran service members live among us. That means this is a community deeply familiar with sacrifice, with service, and with starting over. My husband’s military service is what brought us to Colorado Springs, and the beauty of our surroundings, the warmth of its people, and the robust job opportunities are what kept us here after he retired and started his second career.
We’re also a city of entrepreneurship, and a city of artists and aerospace engineers. You’ll find world-class defense contractors and small local makers on the same block. And what connects us isn’t a single industry or background, it’s our shared desire to build a future where everyone has the chance to belong, contribute, and thrive.
That’s the vision Mayor Mobolade brings to his leadership every day. As a trailblazer for community and growth, his story is a testament to what this city can make possible. He often says that he didn’t choose Colorado Springs, it chose him. He came here as an entrepreneur, as a pastor, and as a husband and father looking for a place to raise his family. And what he found was a city ready for growth and rich in potential.
Under his leadership, our city has embraced five clear strategic priorities: public safety, infrastructure, housing, economic vitality, and community activation. But at the heart of all of these is a commitment to people, to dignity, to opportunity, and to the belief that every resident, especially every young person, deserves a chance to shape their future.
And that brings us to why your work matters here.
In Colorado Springs, we believe that learning doesn’t begin and end in a classroom. It lives in neighborhoods, in maker spaces, in parks, in opportunities to explore varied career options, and in internships. It lives in relationships. And if we want to truly support our youth, we have to think in ecosystems, not just institutions.
We’re also focusing on the “how” behind the “what.” That means co-creating solutions with students, not just for them.
Robin Lovewell
Mayor Yemi has made workforce development a top priority for our city, including students. But not in the narrow sense. He doesn’t just want young people to get jobs, he wants them to find purpose. To discover what they’re really passionate about. He believes, as many of you do, that workforce development doesn’t begin at graduation, it begins in elementary school. In how we help kids see themselves. In how we expose them to possibility, equip them with real skills, and connect them with people who believe in their potential.
Here in Colorado Springs, we’re working to make that vision real.
We are working on building partnerships between the City and our local school districts to expand career-connected learning. We’re investing in programs that link education to the real economy, from aerospace to manufacturing to creative arts. We’re helping young entrepreneurs access capital and mentorship through programs like Exponential Impact’s Survive and Thrive, created in the wake of the pandemic to support small businesses.
We’re also focusing on the “how” behind the “what.” That means co-creating solutions with students, not just for them. It means listening to their experiences, their barriers, and their insights. It means understanding that a young person who’s couch-surfing or working two jobs while attending school might have more resilience and raw leadership potential than we can measure by test scores.
That’s why today’s visit matters.
Because you’re not just here to tour a few classrooms. You’re here to see the connective tissue of a city, a city that’s imperfect, yes, but a city willing to learn, adapt, and stretch. A city that believes students aren’t just our future. They are our present.
So, as you meet with educators, students, nonprofit leaders, and changemakers today, I encourage you to look for the throughlines. Listen for the values. Ask the hard questions. And know that this community welcomes your insights. We want to learn from you, too.
In this room are people working in bold, learner-centered ways. Not just to reform a system, but to reimagine how we build flourishing communities around the learner and alongside them.
I’ll end with this: in Colorado Springs, we talk a lot about what it means to be “onward and upward.” It’s our motto, but it’s also a mindset. It’s the understanding that progress doesn’t come in sweeping declarations. It comes in relationships. In small shifts. In showing up again and again with courage, humility, and hope.
That’s what we see in your work. And that’s what we’re proud to be part of today.
Welcome to Colorado Springs. We’re so glad you’re here.
And as Mayor Yemi would say, onward and upward. Thank you very much!
