Calbright is best known as a new approach to college for working-age adults — a statewide, fully online, career-focused model accessible to anyCalifornian over 18, regardless of previous college or work experience. Seven years after the California Legislature founded the college, Calbright has also become a leader in educational and economic development efforts across the state.
While Calbright performs significant research on policy issues affecting the college-to-workforce pipeline, it’s not just a think tank making recommendations from afar. The college has students in 57 of California’s 58 counties, and partners directly with state and regional organizations to create change in workforce development and improve economic conditions for students, workers, and employers.
Calbright is directly partnering with the Rural County Representatives of California to address the “rural opportunity gap” in areas that make up 60% of California, but where only 17% of the population has a college degree and just 53% of the population is in the labor force.
“Calbright aims to be a workforce engine,” the College’s president Ajita Talwalker Menon told the RCRC Board of Supervisors in early 2025. “And with your collaboration, we can shift the trajectory of local economies and create more opportunities for the families in your communities.”
The college has similar efforts with the Inland Empire Economic Partnership and the Governor Newsom’s Office of Business and Economic Development, to determine what skills local and regional businesses are looking for, how to offer those skills in traditionally underserved regions, and then connect those Calbright students and job seekers to the companies who need them.
Providing Paid Experiential Learning, Statewide
This past year, Calbright has created partnerships with both the private and public sectors to create new opportunities, statewide, for paid experiential learning and skills-based mastery beyond the traditional academic environment, as called for in Governor Newsom’s State Master Plan for Career Education. This plan specifically notes the needs to engage adult learners and create more equitable access to living wage, fulfilling work for and with them.
The Calbright Career Bridge was established with Riipen, a private company that develops marketplace platforms connecting college students with companies. Career Bridge offers Calbright students the opportunity to be paid to work with real companies on real projects through “micro-internships,” given students job experience and financial support. Over 75 Calbright students went through the pilot program in the spring of 2025, some of whom have gone on to become employees of these companies.
Calbright has likewise partnered with the City and County of San Francisco on TechSF, a collaboration that offers a direct pipeline for Calbright alumni to receive paid apprenticeships in the tech industry. This opens up significant work experience and training resources to Californians for whom these opportunities were previously not available.
The California Workforce Accelerator is a partnership with the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, private companies NexusEdge, and Hubspot. It provides students with paid micro-interships specifically focused on digital marketing and AI tools. Launched in the spring of 2025, it has placed 100 Calbright students and 89 students from sister community colleges with businesses that assign them hands-on projects, offering students valuable workforce experience, contacts, and relevant skills to advance their careers.
Shaping Policies And Making A Difference Across California
Calbright faculty and staff are also making significant contributions to changing how education and workforce partners come together to reimagine college-to-career pathways that work for working-age adults . Calbright’s president, Ajita Talwalker Menon, now serves on the Board of Directors for the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN), a nonprofit international leader in helping institutions and employers advance skills-based learning.
Calbright technology faculty member Michael Stewart is one of just five faculty members across California who belong to the California Community College Chancellor’s AI Conversations working group – helping to set the parameters and policies for AI across the entire CCC system.
Technology faculty member Elizabeth Biddlecome serves on the Academic Senate of the California Community College’s (ASCCC) Online Education Committee, recommending policies and practices in online education and educational technology across the entire system.
Calbright’s Assessment and Open Education Resources Librarian, Alex Mata, was selected to serve on the CCC Library and Learning Resources Program Advisory Committee.
As Calbright moves from its “start-up period” to its next chapter, Calbright knows it doesn’t exist in an ivory tower. We are working with partners across the public and private sectors, and having an impact, statewide and nationally, about what higher education and workforce development must look like today for students. We’re changing conversations about higher education, connecting students to valuable, timely career opportunities, and developing new approaches to paid apprenticeships that make experiential learning accessible to everyone.
Learn more about our partners in workforce development and the value of work-based learning in our 2025 Milestone Report.
