The 2025 Southwest Minnesota Career Expo gave high school students a firsthand look at the wide range of career and education options available throughout the region. Held September 23 and 24, the event took place at Minnesota West Community & Technical College in Worthington and at the Red Baron Arena in Marshall.

We believe every student should have the opportunity to explore, experience, and engage in career-connected learning. From business tours and field trips to job shadows and internships, these experiences help students connect classroom learning with real-world opportunities.

For some students, physical limitations can make those experiences difficult to access. That is why the Tow & Go Program, powered by The Action Foundation and supported by SWWC and LYFT Career Pathways, is helping remove those barriers.

The Medical Careers Program in Southwest Minnesota is more than just a career exploration course. Thanks to a LYFT Career Pathways grant and strong local partnerships, students from Adrian, Hills-Beaver Creek, Edgerton, Luverne, and Pipestone high schools are gaining valuable real-world experience that builds both skills and character.

At LYFT Career Pathways, we believe that students in southwest and west central Minnesota deserve opportunities to explore their futures in meaningful, hands-on ways. That’s why we’re excited to highlight an incredible resource available to schools and communities: the Career Exploration Kits from the SWWC Service Cooperative.

These career exploration kits are designed to help students gain practical, hands-on experience in more than 40 different career fields, ranging from welding, agriculture, and health care to accounting, childcare, and the trades. Each kit contains the tools, materials, and activities needed to give students a taste of real-world tasks. It’s about turning curiosity into confidence and helping students envision where their skills and interests could take them.

On Wednesday, May 7, 2025, nearly 200 eighth-grade students from Redwood County participated in the annual Career Institute: Technology & Trades on the Prairie (TTOP), held at the Redwood Area Community Center. This highly engaging, hands-on event brought together employers, educators, and community partners, including LYFT Career Pathways, to offer students an unforgettable introduction to technology and trades career exploration in southwest Minnesota.

The 2024 Southwest Minnesota Career Expo took place on September 24th and 25th at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall and Minnesota West-Worthington. This year’s event welcomed 124 employers and educational programs, giving high school students valuable insights into career paths and educational opportunities while showcasing the types of jobs offered by local businesses.

As labor force demand increases, more attention is being given to our high school graduates – where are they going and how do we keep more of them in our rural regions now that we have a plethora of opportunities available. This report tracks high school graduates in Southwest Minnesota from 2008 through 2019, examining what sorts of education and career paths they have traveled. By identifying the types of high school experiences they had, we can better understand what strategies to focus on that might keep more young people in the region.

If you are new here, welcome to LYFT Career Pathways! Let us introduce ourselves and why we are here.

The Major Madness event was designed for our English Language Learner students to become more familiar with the various training programs, careers, resources and tools available for making decisions for “What’s Next After High School” in southwest Minnesota. This event is hosted by the Southwest West Central Service Cooperative, Minnesota West Community and Technical College, Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU), Southwest Minnesota Private Industry Council, Upward Bound, and LYFT Career Pathways.

JFF's Pathway to Prosperity Network aligns greatly with the priorities of LYFT.

Guess what?! February is CTE Month!

Thank you to everyone who attended our annual meeting! Check out the Thank you letter from Amy Klobuchar, United States Senator.

LYFT was a proud presenter and partner for the Region 6W Workforce Summit held on November 8, 2023, at the Prairie’s Edge Resort in Granite Falls, Minnesota. At the summit, all area employers and community leaders were invited to learn the latest workforce data and trends and successful models of what others are doing to address the workforce shortage.

The 2023 Southwest Minnesota Career Expo was held on Sept. 26th and 27th at the college campuses of Southwest Minnesota State University–Marshall and Minnesota West-Worthington. The event brought 130 employers and educational programs; they provided valuable career and education information to these high school students, plus highlighted regional businesses and the type of jobs they provide in our communities. 

We are thrilled to announce the following applicants whose partnerships have been selected and awarded LYFT Pathways 2.3 Innovation Grant funding: Yellow Medicine East & Renville County West, Hills Beaver Creek High School, Ortonville High School, Luverne High School, Marshall Career and Technical Institute, and Jackson County Central. 

By Linda Vanderwerf, West Central Tribune

GRANITE FALLS — A growing collaboration in southwestern and west central Minnesota providing technical training to high school students won praise from the chancellor of the Minnesota State public college system.

Minnesota West Press Release

(Worthington, MN) A partnership between Minnesota West Community and Technical College, Southwest Minnesota State University, and Worthington District #518 was recently awarded two planning grants: one from the McKnight Foundation ($75,000 planning grant) and one from the Southwest Initiative Foundation ($15,000 gap grant) to develop opportunities for teacher education in the Worthington area. The goal is to assist current high school juniors and seniors by providing them with opportunities to prepare for and successfully complete college-level Education courses. The project target students in Worthington District #518, many of whom would be first generation college students.

By Kyle Klausing, Granite Falls Advocate Tribune

A remarkable collection of business, civic, and educational leaders assembled on Thursday, March 1 at the Minnesota West campus in Granite Falls for the inaugural pilot meeting of the Manufacturing/ Engineering Advisory group.