Mountain States Printing Education Foundation was established in 1991 as a charitable and educational entity for the Graphic Communications Industry. As such it has raised funds to support printing related programs throughout Colorado with grants to assist the educators/students in purchasing equipment and materials for their programs. It has also given sponsorships to deserving Colorado students interested in making printing a career.

In 2004, the Foundation began working on a project to update SOC codes with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on behalf of the Graphic Communications Industry nationwide, to better reflect the true nature of the modern printing industry. The codes now used had not been update in thirty to fifty (30 – 50) years, giving the impression that the printing industry was no longer a viable industry. Since these codes are used by all other government agencies and departments of education, their inaccurate data has been instrumental in closing school programs and projecting an inaccurate picture of the industry that employs over one million individuals in the United States of America, and over 12,000 in Colorado. According to the Department of Labor’s SOC Committee, these changes were to be put into place in March 2008, after being published in the Federal Register in July 2007.  The Federal Register notice was eventually published and the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) accepted the recommendation for revised printing industry job classifications on January 21, 2009. To date revisions have not been posted and the BLS has stated that it would not implement using them until 2011 or 2012.  The Foundation is currently working with the Education Summit Group for Graphic Communications to complete this task which is vital to the health of educational institutions supporting the printing industry.

In addition, the Foundation has written and delivered curriculum for apprentices entering the industry and individuals already employed in the industry to enhance their knowledge in Quality Control, Customer Service, Press Operations and Binding & Finishing. These programs began with a Printing Boot Camp and followed up with a series of weekly classes (one day per week) focused on the specific areas of training.

The Foundation is proud to offer troubleshooting modules to assist individuals unable to attend classes. These programs were developed by Gabe Trapani, the main classroom instructor for these segments.