Red Rocks Community College wins 2025 Community Partner of the Year Award

Red Rocks Community College is proud to announce the school was awarded this year’s Community Partner of the Year Award by the Jeffco Economic Development Corporation.

The organization cited the college’s resources for workforce development, including with the college’s Entrepreneurship Center, and RRCC’s work to host the Colorado Small Business Development Center Serving Metro Denver. The award also noted the school’s broader innovation ecosystem and “strong community partnerships that help drive Jefferson County’s growth and opportunity.”

The school’s vision, mission and values were recently updated and part of the update helps reflect the college’s commitment to being a good partner to the community. The award is a testament that the work is having an impact.

"Red Rock's vision is to transform lives and strengthen communities — so our goal is to create partnerships that contribute to student learning, but we also want to go beyond that to enrich our entire community,” said RRCC President Landon Pirius.  

The college has partnerships with local businesses, organizations and other schools, all in an effort to expand opportunities for students. 

One example is a project funded by a $1.2 million Opportunity Now grant, in which RRCC is working with a group of aerospace and manufacturing leaders and other educators to design new or improved programs that can produce graduates ready for high-demand jobs. Colorado has the nation’s second largest aerospace economy, and it is growing. Jeffco houses nearly 600 advanced manufacturing businesses, according to Jeffco EDC. 

RRCC graduates the highest number of students from machinist programs in the area, according to an initial audit by the advisory group of leaders, but it is still not enough for the number of jobs that companies are trying to fill. RRCC, and other community colleges plan to expand offerings using learnings from the advisory group’s work to directly connect student programming to what employers are sharing that they need.

The award was announced during the Gateway Awards ceremony hosted by Jeffco EDC, where this video was shared to highlight the school's impactful work.