The Multilingual Project is a nonpartisan, multimedia research and advocacy organization on a mission to create a more robust and responsive multilingual education system. TMP leverages cutting-edge research, strategic advocacy, and dynamic storytelling to empower organizations, businesses, schools/districts, and communities with the multilingual expertise they need to thrive.
Supply, Demand, & The Systems to Support it
In a state like Colorado, where demand for Spanish-speaking and other multilingual talent has increased exponentially in recent years, the implementation of and investment in multilingual systems—including those addressing workforce gaps, language barriers, and upward economic mobility—has not kept pace.
Affecting education and business, community, and virtually all facets of modern everyday life, the rise in multilingualism has demanded increasing attention on the systems set forth to ensure its seamless integration, so that:
- From PK to postsecondary, students and families are holistically supported in accessing high-quality options like dual and concurrent enrollment, career and technical education (CTE), and robust English language development (ELD) opportunities;
- Second Language Learners (L2s), as well as other students pursuing a foreign language education, graduate with the relevant linguistic, cultural, and entrepreneurial skills needed to thrive;
- Schools/districts, institutions of higher education (IHEs), and employers have shared language, goals, and quality guidelines on multilingual labor and workforce competencies.
The Status Quo
The United States is the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. In Colorado, recent workforce participation data highlighted Spanish as one of the top-10 most in-demand technical skills among employers.
Meanwhile, the state’s education system, home to a continuum of multilingual learners from K-12 through postsecondary, continues to see consistent gaps in how multilingual students and families are engaged, educated, and validated for their unique skills and contributions.
What’s more, due to decades of non-integrated systems between higher ed and employers, the state lacks a unified approach to robust multilingual compensation. As a result, students have little to no clear economic incentive to earn foreign language credentials, and employers are unsure how to validate them.
So… where do we go from here?
At The Multilingual Project, we’re advocating for a future where multilingual students and families are supported from PK through career.
Where higher ed and employers are aligned on multilingual skills and competencies.
Where monolingual institutions have the tools they need to implement multilingual systems seamlessly.
A multilingual learner may develop advanced language skills over the course of their education, yet graduate without a clear understanding of how those skills position them economically. An employer, in turn, may require bilingual talent, but lack the framework to assess, validate, or compensate it consistently.
Once these systems are invested in, implemented, and acted upon, that disconnect begins to close—creating clearer pathways for students, more consistent standards for institutions, and a more defined framework for how multilingualism is recognized and rewarded in the workforce.
In practice, this looks like:
- Students moving through years of language development with a clear line of sight into its long-term value;
- Institutions credentialing skills with a consistent understanding of how they will be interpreted beyond their walls; and
- Employers relying on multilingual talent with a standardized framework to define and compensate it.
In doing so, monolingual institutions can finally begin to implement multilingual systems aligned with their growing demand.
Beyond Words, Into Worlds.