Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges

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Ford Foundation Bridges to Opportunity Project


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 & 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 files.

Reports and Proposals
  

Evaluating the Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative -
This link connects to research publications and presentations on the
initiative by the Community College Research Center, Teachers College,
Columbia University.

Research Report: I-BEST: A Program Integrating Adult Basic
Education and Workforce Training

House Higher Education Committee Presentation by
Tina Bloomer, Don Bressler, and David Prince, Sept 16, 2005

Building Pathways to Success for Low-Skill Adult Students:
Lessons for Community College Policy and Practice from a
Statewide Longitudinal Tracking Study, by David Prince and Davis
Jenkins, April 2005

Building Pathways to Success for Low-Skill Adult Students:
Lessons for Community College Policy and Practice from a
Statewide Longitudinal Tracking Study, by David Prince and
Davis Jenkins, April 2005 (brief developed from the longer report)

Presentation by Tina Bloomer at the National Council for
Workforce Educators Conference, October 2004

Ford Foundation Bridges to Opportunity, Meeting Presentation by
David Prince, SBCTC, July 2004

Ford Foundation Bridges to Opportunity, Meeting Presentation by
Tina Bloomer, SBCTC, 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: Career Pathways Initiative
by Shauna King-Simms

Sector Strategies, Career Ladders, and Engaging Employers
as Partners
by Eleni Papadakis

Report: 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

Information, along with the contact list, can be found here: National Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative.

The Community College Central Website - This website houses the research and work behind the Ford Foundation's Bridges to Opportunity Initiative.

For more information about this project, please contact:

Tina Bloomer
Director, Student Achievement Project
State Board for Community & Technical Colleges
319 SE 7th Avenue
Olympia WA 98504-2495
360-704-4325
tbloomer@sbctc.edu

 

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WA State Board for Community and Technical Colleges   |   Phone: 360-704-4400   Fax: 360-704-4415

PO Box 42495  Olympia, WA 98504-2495   |   1300 Quince Street SE   Olympia, WA 98504-2495  Get Directions|   Contact Web Master