Colleen Connolly

Lima, Minneapolis

Freelance Contributor at Freelance

Freelance journalist. Words in @TheImprintNews, @SmithsonianMag, @guardian, etc. Hablo español. Now in 🇵🇪 Past: @chicagotribune, @LatAmDispatch, @GloJo_NYU

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Articles

With Meta University’s Closure, a Sign of Changing Times in Tech

2 weeks ago | workshift.org | Colleen Connolly

Meta will soon bring in the last cohort of students at Meta University, its diversity-focused training program that had been a model for the industry. The program’s impending closure is part of a larger shift away from diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts among tech giants, and other companies that began amid backlash a couple years ago and has intensified since Donald Trump returned to office in January.
Minnesota legislators introduce Foster Youth Bill of Rights

1 month ago | sahanjournal.com | Colleen Connolly |Alberto Gomez

This story is being co-published with The Imprint, a national nonprofit news outlet covering child welfare and youth justice. Advocates seeking to codify the rights of foster youth in Minnesota are hoping a last-minute push to have the bill considered by lawmakers will result in its passage before the Legislature’s quickly approaching deadlines.
N.C. puts big money on graduating more community college students in high-wage fields

1 month ago | ednc.org | Colleen Connolly

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Work Shift. Several months ago, leaders at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina, looked at their data on college completion rates and noticed that students in their career technical education programs were not finishing. Among them were machining, diesel mechanics, mechatronics, and construction—relevant programs in a growing region where companies including GE Hitachi and Corning have a big footprint.
Minnesota Considers Comprehensive Foster Youth Bill of Rights

1 month ago | imprintnews.org | Colleen Connolly

Advocates seeking to codify the rights of foster youth in Minnesota are hoping a last-minute push to have the bill considered by lawmakers will result in its passage before the legislature’s quickly approaching deadlines. Crafted by Minnesota’s Office of the Foster Youth Ombudsperson less than a year after the watchdog agency’s official opening, the Foster Youth Bill of Rights seeks to enshrine more than 150 rights into law — some already existing under current law, others entirely new.
N.C. Puts Big Money on Graduating More Community College Students in High-Wage Fields

1 month ago | workshift.org | Colleen Connolly

Several months ago, leaders at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolin, looked at their data on college completion rates and noticed that students in their career technical education programs were not finishing. Among them were machining, diesel mechanics, mechatronics, and construction—relevant programs in a growing region where companies including GE Hitachi and Corning have a big footprint.
Workforce Training Programs Grapple with Threats to Federal Funding

1 month ago | workshift.org | Colleen Connolly

Up until the last few months, the job training program Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) had been in “expansion mode.” Over the last several years, they’ve grown from their base in San Francisco to sites across California, training workers in healthcare, skilled trades, and tech. But with threats to federal funding for workforce training programs and a crackdown on DEI initiatives, JVS is pausing its growth.
Global perspectives: EMBA students gain business insights through international immersion

1 month ago | newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu | Colleen Connolly |Kim Girard

For Krissy Estrada, a trip to Mexico last June was both a new experience and a homecoming. As a Mexican American, Estrada had traveled to the country many times before, but never to Mexico City and never as a business student. “From a business perspective, when you take yourself out of your comfort zone, you just get a different viewpoint on whatever problem you’re trying to solve, and you just never know what that can unlock,” she said.
Minnesota Foster Youth College Grants See Demand and Hurdles

1 month ago | imprintnews.org | Colleen Connolly

Vivian Dudley was operating in “survival mode” when she began her college career at Saint Paul College. The Minnesota foster youth also worked two jobs with back-to-back shifts. She sometimes walked the 45 minutes between home and campus so she wouldn’t have to spend money on a ride with Lyft.
Community Colleges Reimagine Their Role to Transform Whole Communities

2 months ago | workshift.org | Colleen Connolly

Community colleges have always been the open door of higher education—focusing on students and employers who might not otherwise get served. In recent years, as the accountability push in higher education evolved, that’s translated to an increasing focus not just on getting students to the finish line but beyond it into good jobs.
Report calls on Minn. counties to protect foster youth's SSI benefits

Feb 12, 2025 | sahanjournal.com | Colleen Connolly |Alberto Gomez

This story is being co-published with The Imprint, a national nonprofit news outlet covering child welfare and youth justice. Two years ago, amid growing scrutiny, Minnesota and states across the country reexamined a longstanding child welfare practice: When the parents of kids in state custody die or become disabled, their rightful survivor benefits are funneled into the cost of the foster care system that cares for them. Youth advocates have decried the practice and want it stopped.