The role of Ohio's community and technical colleges in educating low-wage workers was examined. Ohio's community and technical colleges were shown to be uniquely positioned to serve as bridges to growth and opportunity by helping the state and its workers make the transition to a knowledge-based economy and help low-wage workers gain the footing needed to pursue more fulfilling paths. However, they were also found to be facing the following challenges: (1) recruitment and retention (possible solutions include outreach efforts to reach harder-to-serve students; bridge programs targeted toward working adults who are not academically prepared for postsecondary education; and support for student learning and persistence); (2) barriers to education and training (possible solutions include coursework geared to the workplace and external partnerships with community-based education, training and service providers, employers/employer associations, and government agencies and policymakers); and (3) fragmented services (a possible solution is internal alignment of programs and program innovations). Challenges identified as requiring action by policymakers included unreliable and insufficient funding, lack of funding for workplace programs, uncoordinated funding, and financial aid policies that limit aid to adults. Proposed solutions were as follows: (1) providing access to local funding; stable funding for non-credit workforce programs; (2) integrated funding streams; and (3) effective adult financial aid. (MN)