Ford Foundation Bridges to Opportunity Project

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The Washington Bridges to Opportunity project, funded by the Ford Foundation, is part of a national initiative to increase the access and success of low-income people in using community and technical colleges to achieve living-wage jobs and educational goals.

The focus of this initiative is to make state- and system-level policy changes to help achieve that overall goal, particularly changes that help integrate the basic skills, workforce and transfer missions of colleges.

Washington is one of six states in the initiative, which is currently in the final year of a five-year project period. The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges is the grant recipient, and the Educational Services Division, under the leadership of Jan Yoshiwara, has lead responsibility for the grant. Tina Bloomer is the project director for the grant.

Details about the Washington Bridges to Opportunity Project can be found in the following documents:

Reports and Proposals

• Evaluating the Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative -
  This site connects to research publications and presentations on the
  initiative by the Community College Research Center, Teachers College,
  Columbia University.
• I-BEST: A Program Integrating Adult Basic Education and Workforce Training (Dec. 2005)
• House Higher Education Committee Presentation (Sept. 2005)
  by Tina Bloomer, Don Bressler, and David Prince
• Building Pathways to Success for Low-Skill Adult Students: Lessons for Community College Policy and Practice from a Statewide Longitudinal Tracking Study (April 2005)
  by David Prince and Davis Jenkins
• BuildingPathways to Success for Low-Skill Adult Students (brief)
  (brief developed from the longer report)
• Bridges to Opportunity presentation by Tina Bloomer (October 2004)
  given at the National Council for Workforce Educators Conference
• Bridges to Opportunity presentation by David Prince (July 2004)
• Bridges to Opportunity presentation by Tina Bloomer (July 2004)
• Overview of Implementation of Grant Proposal (September 2003)
• First Year Planning Grant Report (July 2003)

Career Pathways Institute, June 18-19, 2007

• Opening Plenary by Julian Alssid
• Gap Analysis Regional Overview by Andrew Crapuchettes
• Kentucky Bridges to Opportunity by Shauna King-Simms
• Sector Strategies, Career Ladders, and Engaging Employers as Partners by Eleni Papadakis
• The Language of Opportunity: Expanding Employment Prospects for Adults with Limited English Skills by Heide Wrigley
• Policy Brief: The Language of Opportunity: Expanding Employment Prospects for Adults with Limited English Skills by Heide Wrigley

Research Projects

• Community Focus Group Summary ( research conducted March 2003)
• Student Focus Group Summary (research conducted March/April 2003)

More Information

More information about the National Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative including a contact list.

For more information about this project, please contact:

Tina Bloomer
Policy Research Associate
State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
1300 Quince Street SE
PO Box 42495
Olympia WA 98504-2495
360-704-4325
tbloomer@sbctc.edu

 

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