LISC Financial Stability Resources
This section provides information on Bridges to Career Opportunities and other contextualized bridge programs that may be helpful to practitioners as they approach the task of starting and building their BCO program.
This 2014 literature review by MRDC identifies the most promising approaches for increasing dropouts’ rate of attaining a GED certificate or other high school credential and successfully transitioning to college, including programs that contextualize basic skills and GED instruction within specific career fields. PDF
A paper by Abt Assoc. with a framework for evaluating career pathways programs and discussion of some of the considerations in designing evaluations that use random assignment methods to measure these programs’ impacts. PDF
This US DOE brief describes recent approaches and explores promising practices, with a focus on programs bridging adult education and community college occupational programs. PDF
A LISC analysis of 14 Financial Opportunity Centers that provide contextualized bridge programs finds that participants who completed these programs were placed in employment more quickly than a control group, had higher initial wages, and were more likely to retain a job for six months. PDF
This Georgetown University paper on the impact of number of Americans with post-secondary education on economic growth discusses trends in U.S. educational attainment, the need for more college educated workers, the impact of access to college on income inequality, and more. PDF
Indianpolis LISC shares two one-page flow charts from local Financial Opportunity Centers: The Edna Martin Christian Center BCO Integrated Services Map and the Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center Academic Pathways map.
