What is Ohio’s Career Pathway Support Network
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce has historically valued collaborative relationships between educational entities through industry, which has never been more apparent than the recent creation of the regional Career Pathway Support Networks.
A regional structure for collaboration in this space has existed for the last few decades under the name Tech Prep and is a grant-funded entity as a line item in the state biennial budget. In November of 2026 this regional structure has been reimagined to increase engagement and collaboration across education and industry. The Career Pathway Support Networks are executed in seven regional centers, the Southwest Regional Center being housed at Cincinnati State as the fiscal agent. In the Southwest Region, all regional consultants and regional lead are employed at postsecondary institutions, highlighting the value of the integration of higher education into this work.
The Career Pathway Support Network (CPSN) has multiple grant deliverables, goals, and projects under its purview, but the mission is simple: assist regional districts with implementing high-quality career technical education, expand career-connected learning offerings, and create pipelines from education to workforce to serve current (and future) industry needs with a knowledgeable, skilled, and prepared talent pool. While this may seem simple, the layers of connectivity, implementation, and execution are quite complex.
CPSN and Career-Technical Education
Career-technical education can come in many forms, and the CPSN assists districts in understanding how to work with their career technical planning districts and industry leaders, while leveraging student aptitude and interest data to execute curricular programming best-suited for their local needs and the wider Cincinnati geographic area. The long and short of it is, we are conveners. We bring people to the table to make connections, review data, collaborate, hear about state resources, and more.
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce has multiple departments ensuring Ohio’s high school graduates have multiple paths forward for success, leveraging multiple avenues to find meaningful careers after their educational paths have ended. A part of the Career Pathway Support Network’s mission is also to disseminate information from the state, acting as local field agents to all parties ensuring an understanding of state expectations, new initiatives, providing professional development, and bridging knowledge gaps. This certainly keeps our Southwest regional team busy, but we are happy to support the region in any capacity needed.
Strengthening Education and Industry Partnerships in Southwest Ohio
The Career Pathway Support Network is intended to bring partners together to find the mutual benefit point for all involved and establish lines of communication between industry and education. This is why the Chamber is so incredibly valuable! With the Workforce Innovation Center being involved with business advisory councils, the Southwest CPSN regional steering committee, and other connection points to education, this brings a voice and strong advocate for industry to every table. One thing can be certain-your needs are being shared with educational partners region wide-but we still need your help.
How Employers Can Help Shape Ohio’s Future Workforce
Industry representatives can directly impact education and the future talent pool you need by being a part of the conversation. School districts and educational service centers host business advisory councils where your collaboration is needed. Please join educational leaders in this work to ensure what they are implementing in schools is what you actually NEED in the future regional workforce.
Unsure how to get started? Reach out! We’d be happy to get you connected.
Authors:
Rita Graf
Regional Lead, Career Pathway Support Network Southwest Region
Katie Bauer
Regional Coordinator, Career Pathway Support Network Southwest Region
