Study to Increase Success for Low-Income Adults in Community College

About this grant

This grant will enable Jobs for the Future to develop a national demonstration to help low-skilled, low-income adults attain community college occupational certifications and/or associate’s degree that will help them in the labor market. The goals of the demonstration are to strengthen and expand practices at participating institutions; increase the importance of the issue within the community college field; and promote policies at the state and federal levels that include strategies to improve outcomes for low-skilled, low-income students in community college degree programs.Funding will support the first phase of the demonstration – identifying, testing, evaluating and selecting six to eight community colleges in communities across the U.S. to participate in the project. Objectives include providing technical assistance and $50,000 in financial assistance to each site per year; providing a separate set of peer learning activities for interested community colleges not selected for the demonstration; analyzing and documenting state financing approaches that support transition of low-skilled adults to occupational degree programs; and helping colleges establish data collection and documentation procedures to better track performance outcomes and demonstrate effectiveness. During 2004, Jobs for the Future – in partnership with the National Center for Workforce Education – began studying the ways that community colleges can improve the outcomes for low-income, low-skilled adults in obtaining family-supporting careers.