Responding to the Demographics of a Community

• Navajo and Apache County Workforce Investment Board, Snowflake, AZ
• Capital Workforce Partners, CT
• Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago, IL
• Rochester Workforce Development Inc., MN

Overview

The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago (WBMC), a consortium of nine Workforce Boards, is in the process of developing "bridge" programs in industries they have already targeted in their sector initiatives: health care, manufacturing, and transportation/warehousing/ logistics (See Promising Practice #3). This strategy was developed as part of a larger regional effort to focus workforce development activities on assisting all customers to achieve genuine economic self-sufficiency.

Bridge programs are designed to prepare individuals, particularly those with literacy levels below ninth grade, to enter and succeed in postsecondary education and training leading to career-path employment. Bridge programs are an effective tool to help such adults improve their basic skills in the context of training for jobs. The WBMC developed unique partnerships that led to two technical assistance conferences on creating bridge programs. Technical assistance was provided on a team wide basis. Teams included various community college departments, community-based training organizations, social service providers and/or a union.

Over a dozen partnerships are now in the process of implementing bridge programs. Based on feedback from institutions interested in starting bridge programs; Women Employed along with the Chicago Jobs Council and Dr. Davis Jenkins at the University of Illinois-Chicago, Great Cities created a comprehensive guide "Bridges to Careers for Low-Skilled Adults: A Program Development Guide."

Bridge programs are distinguished from traditional job training programs in that they seek to provide a broad foundation for career-long learning, both on-the-job and through formal postsecondary education and training. They are particularly designed to assist individuals who have the desire to advance but who lack the basic skills and knowledge for a career-path job. These students might include low-skilled unemployed individuals; students with high school diploma or GED who are unable to meet college entrance exam requirements; adult education participants; and low-skilled incumbent workers in entry-level jobs.
Bridge programs are designed to move people as quickly as possible from noncredit to credit programs and to provide opportunities for certification and degree attainment. They are often offered in compressed and flexible schedules enhancing students’ ability to participate and succeed.

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History

The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago (WBMC) partnered with Women Employed, Chicago Jobs Council and University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute to convene two technical assistance conferences for teams of organizations interested in creating bridge programs. In order to attend, teams were required to assemble partnerships with a range of organizations. Teams were also required to have leadership, willing faculty, and the ability to implement a bridge program. Technical assistance conferences on creating bridge programs in healthcare, manufacturing and transportation, warehousing and logistics were held in 2004.

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Partners and Funding

The State’s Critical Skills Shortage Initiative (CSSI) provides an important source of funds for Bridge program development. The CSSI is funded through Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Governor’s Reserve Funds. In addition, local workforce partnerships are encouraged to look at realigning existing program resources and accessing other funds for program development and implementation.

The technical assistance conferences required participants to attend in teams. Teams could be comprised of members from various community college departments (including credit, noncredit, adult education, and contract training departments); multi-institutional partners including a college partnering with a community based training organization or social services provider; and/or a training provider partnering with an employer or a union.

Challenges

The biggest challenge was moving from the experimental stage of a bridge program to a full scale program is to get a broad array of financial support. Strong support from the community college system is equally important, in the form of institutionalization of bridge and career pathway programs, and the commitment of financial resources to their success. This commitment would allow the workforce and social service systems to pay for the extra support and employment readiness needed by disadvantaged participants. Under this more complete model, all agencies could contribute to more broad scale and sustainable career pathways.

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Keys to Successful Implementation

• WIB leadership in the development of Bridge programs is vital to the bridge program success.
• Functioning partnerships that include education institutions and/or community-based training providers.
• Securing adequate sources of funding.
• Designing a program that is responsiveness to student needs.

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Model Materials

• The Bridge Program: An Effective Educational Approach to Meeting Employers' Critical Skills Shortages (2004) [PDF, 200KB]. Overview of Bridge programs and resources to implement them.
• Bridge Program Planning Guide (2004) [PDF, 714KB]. This document guides program developers through the main considerations involved in planning and launching a bridge training program.
• Responses to "Burning Questions" from the Creating Bridge Programs in Healthcare Technical Assistance Conference (2004) [PDF, 472KB]. This document answers to the many questions raised regarding implementing and sustaining such programs.
• Building Bridges: Funding options for the core components of Bridge programs (2004) [PDF, 250KB]. This document provides details on possible funding sources for Bridge programs in Illinois, and provides examples of how they can be utilized.

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