The Center for Skills by C-BEN Congratulates the CTO Challenge Semi-finalists — and calls All States to Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Center for Skills by C-BEN congratulates the ten states named as winners of the U.S. Department of Education’s Connecting Talent to Opportunity (CTO) Challenge: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaiʻi, Massachusetts, Montana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
These states are doing the hard work: building the governance frameworks, data infrastructure, and cross-sector partnerships required to connect residents to opportunity based on what they know and can do. The $15 million in prize funds and technical assistance will accelerate what they have already started.
“Talent marketplaces are emerging as the skills infrastructure for the talent ecosystem. State leaders are answering the call from residents, employers, and credentialing entities who are using skills to connect talent to opportunity. These ten states are leading the nation and we are proud to stand with them, and even prouder that this is only the beginning.”
— Amber Garrison Duncan, Executive Vice President and Chief Growth & Systems Transformation Officer, Center for Skills by C-BEN
A Relationship Built Before the Competition Began
CFS x C-BEN’s connection to this work predates the CTO Challenge itself. Through Powering Trust in Skills — a 33-state, territory, and tribal government cohort backed by Walmart and developed with the National Governors Association — CFS x C-BEN has been delivering hands-on governance support, talent marketplace audits, and co-designed implementation roadmaps to states across the country.
Seven of the ten winning states are participants in the Powering Trust in Skills cohort and were supported by Center for Skills audit findings, governance analysis, and implementation roadmaps that sharpened each state’s vision for an integrated talent marketplace. Center for Skills has also been honored to build alongside the two scaling states, Alabama and Arkansas, who are recognized national models for connecting education and workforce data into unified talent marketplaces.
CFS x C-BEN is ready to serve all ten winning states, bringing the Building Talent Marketplaces framework, expert partners, and a proven implementation methodology that has already been tested across dozens of states.
Winning Is a Starting Line, Not a Finish Line
A prize competition creates momentum. Sustaining it requires governance, peer learning, and ongoing technical infrastructure. CFS x C-BEN provides all three.
Through the Powering Trust in Skills cohort, winning states gain access to a structured peer network, shared implementation tools, and the CFS x C-BEN tiger team, anchored by Credential Engine, the National Governors Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Together, this network delivers the full stack of expertise states need: credential registry design, Learning and Employment Record (LER) interoperability, responsible AI governance, employer engagement, and cross-sector data alignment.
Federal investments through WIOA, Perkins V, and Department of Labor programming cannot deliver their full return without functioning talent marketplaces at the state level to route people to the right opportunities based on what they can do. CFS x C-BEN helps states braid those funding streams into durable, interoperable infrastructure.
To Every State Not on This List: Your Work Matters. Keep Going.
The CTO Challenge named ten winners. But the prize of a functioning talent marketplace — one that connects workers to opportunity based on demonstrated capability — is available to every state willing to build it.
States that applied and did not win, states exploring other funding options, and states just starting to ask the right governance questions: the tools, frameworks, and national peer network are here for you. The 36 million Americans with some college and no credential represent the most urgent workforce opportunity in front of any governor today — and no state is too early, or too late, to act.
All States, Territories, and Tribal Nations Are Welcome. Start Here.
Download free implementation tools and sector guidance from the Building Talent Marketplaces series
Contact CFS x C-BEN for a talent marketplace readiness conversation
Join the NGA-backed Powering Trust in Skills cohort — 33 states, territories, and tribal governments strong
Visit centerforskills.org to explore resources, connect with our team, and join the cohort.
Read the official U.S. Department of Education CTO Challenge Semifinalist Press Release
About Center for Skills by C-BEN
Center for Skills by C-BEN (CFS x C-BEN) is the national catalyst for consensus on how skills are defined, measured, and validated across sectors. CFS x C-BEN builds the trusted common language that connects learning to career success and economic opportunity. Through Powering Trust in Skills, CFS x C-BEN supports states, territories, and tribal governments with the governance frameworks, data infrastructure, and implementation tools needed to build talent marketplaces that serve every learner.
