Lost River Career Cooperative

What Lost River Career Cooperative does

Lost River Career Cooperative is a public career and technical education cooperative headquartered in Paoli, Indiana, that delivers secondary vocational training to high school juniors and seniors across three participating schools: Paoli High School, Springs Valley High School, and West Washington High School. The cooperative operates 14 program areas spanning Welding, Automotive Technology, Construction Trades, Health Science, Digital Design/Computer Science, Cyber Security, Criminal Justice, Fire Science, CDL/Tractor Trailer, Web Development, Engineering (PLTW), Culinary Arts and Hospitality, Radio/TV, and Diesel Services. Curriculum is delivered on-site at each partner school using industry-standard instructional tools including Adobe Creative Cloud, the Autodesk Suite (Inventor, Revit), and standard programming languages (Python, JavaScript, Java, C++, C#, HTML, CSS, SQL), with project-based learning supported by employer partners such as Habitat for Humanity, Kimball National Office Furniture, and Orange County Beverage.

The cooperative is funded by participating school districts and Indiana state education funding and does not charge tuition to students. Its commercial model rests on inter-local cooperative governance and dual credit articulation agreements with Vincennes University (up to 12 college credits in Criminal Justice and Construction Trades) and Ivy Tech Community College (up to 14 credits across Health Science, Digital Design, Engineering, and Manufacturing). Students can earn industry certifications including Certified Nursing Assistant, OSHA 10-hour, ServSafe, and Class A/B CDL. Programs are administered by a small central office (1-10 employees under the Director, Mary Anne Knapp, with a Treasurer and program instructors deployed across the three schools). The organization's stated mission is to provide career/technical education that enables participants to enter the workforce or pursue post-secondary education, addressing the rural skills gap in Orange and Washington Counties.

Name

Lost River Career Cooperative

Legal name

Lost River Career Cooperative

Website

https://lostrivercte.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Lost River Career Cooperative is a publicly funded Indiana career and technical education cooperative delivering 14 vocational programs across three high schools, serving rural juniors and seniors with industry certifications and dual college credit.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Career and Technical Education

NAICS

Technical and Trade Schools (61151), Apprenticeship Training (611513)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Workforce Development & Continuing Education Divisions (Noncredit) (EDAHADAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Comprehensive Community Colleges (Transfer + Workforce) (EDAHADAE)

Keywords

• Career technical education
• Vocational training programs
• Dual credit courses
• Industry certifications training
• Workforce readiness programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Paoli, Indiana

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Lost River Career Cooperative is a public career and technical education cooperative that delivers 14 vocational training programs to high school juniors and seniors from Paoli, Springs Valley, and West Washington High Schools in rural Indiana. Programs span construction, welding, automotive, diesel, health science, culinary arts, engineering (PLTW), digital design, computer science, cyber security, criminal justice, fire science, CDL/tractor-trailer, and radio/TV, with hands-on instruction using industry-standard software, equipment, and facilities. Students can earn industry certifications (CNA, OSHA, ServSafe, Class A/B CDL) and dual college credits through partnerships with Vincennes University and Ivy Tech Community College at no cost to themselves.

Product overview

Lost River Career Cooperative is a career/technical education cooperative serving students from Paoli High School, Springs Valley High School, and West Washington High School. Rather than a unified software platform, it operates as a multi-site educational program offering 14 distinct vocational training programs including: Welding Technology, Automotive Technology, Construction Trades, Health Science, Digital Design/Computer Science, Cyber Security, Criminal Justice, Fire Science, CDL/Tractor Trailer, Web Development, Engineering (PLTW), Culinary Arts and Hospitality, Radio/TV, and Diesel Services. These programs provide high school students with career/technical education, industry certifications (OSHA, ServSafe, CNA, CompTIA A+), and dual college credit opportunities through partnerships with Vincennes University, Ivy Tech College, and Sullivan University. Students gain hands-on training through project-based learning, job shadowing, clinical rotations, and work-based experiences to prepare for entry into the workforce or post-secondary education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Welding Technology

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Vincennes UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDual credit partnership allowing students to earn college credits applicable to Vincennes University's construction technologies and criminal justice programs. Construction Trades students can receive up to 6 credit hours (3 VU classes) at no cost. Criminal Justice pathway students can earn up to 12 college credit hours through four dual credit courses (LAWE 100, 101, 145, 150).
• Ivy Tech Community College (Bloomington)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDual credit partnership offering 3 college credits per year, per course across multiple programs including Health Science (up to 14 credits), Digital Design/Computer Science, Engineering (multiple PLTW courses), and Manufacturing. Students earn credits at no cost applicable to Ivy Tech degrees.
• Habitat for HumanityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerConstruction Trades students at Springs Valley partner with Habitat for Humanity to gain hands-on building experience through real construction projects for community benefit.
• Kimball National Office FurnitureminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEngineering students at Springs Valley partner with Kimball designers on project-based learning, including constructing a classroom chair from cardboard to understand design processes.
• Orange County BeverageminorOthers

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Indiana Department of Education - Office of Career and Technical Education: The Indiana CTE state office administers the CTE funding, accountability, and program approval framework that governs LRCC and every other CTE cooperative in Indiana. It is the key state-level counterparty determining funding rules and program eligibility.
• Ivy Tech Community College: Ivy Tech is LRCC's core dual-credit partner providing college credit at no cost to LRCC students across Health Science, Engineering, and Manufacturing programs. Not a direct competitor but the closest institutional counterpart in Indiana's CTE-to-postsecondary ecosystem.
• SkillsUSA: SkillsUSA is the national CTE student organization used widely by U.S. CTE programs for leadership and competitive events. As the dominant student-organization network in similar programs (comparable to LRCC's HOSA/FCCLA/BPA/FAF affiliations), it is a key ecosystem peer.
• Vincennes University: Vincennes University is LRCC's second dual-credit partner, providing Construction Trades and Criminal Justice pathway credits. The university operates as an adjacent CTE-to-college translator in Indiana, making it a functional peer for the dual-credit value chain.

Direct peers

• Five-Star Career Cooperative: Five-Star is an Indiana-area career cooperative that pools resources from member districts to deliver CTE programs on a shared-cost basis, matching LRCC's small-rural multi-district cooperative structure and overall educational mission.
• Area 30 Career & Technology Center: Area 30 is an Indiana area career and technology cooperative serving multiple high school districts in southeastern Indiana, operating the same shared-service CTE model as LRCC. Programs across construction, health sciences, and skilled trades make it the most structurally comparable peer.
• C4 Columbus Area Career Connection: C4 is an Indiana area career cooperative serving Columbus-area high schools, sharing LRCC's cooperative-funded career/technical education delivery model and dual-credit pathway with local universities. Comparable in mission, funding structure, and program breadth.

Broad incumbents

• Project Lead the Way: PLTW is the national nonprofit CTE curriculum provider whose engineering, computer science, and biomedical programs LRCC delivers under license. PLTW is the dominant incumbent shaping rural CTE curriculum choices, directly comparable on the engineering curriculum axis.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lost-river-career-cooperative-cte

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles22 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lost River Career Cooperative