Message from founder Pete Weber
When President Lyndon Johnson launched the war on poverty in 1964, he said “Our aim is not just to relieve the symptoms of poverty but to cure it and prevent it”. Since then, some estimate that we have spent more than $22 trillion fighting poverty ($799 billion in 2012 alone). The results are decidedly mixed. We have certainly relieved symptoms, but it’s hard to argue that we have cured or prevented poverty. Since the turn of the century the percentage of American middle-income households has declined in 90% of metropolitan areas, the problem being most pronounced in California, where a much higher percentage of families live in poverty today than in 1964.
The California Bridge Academies were launched to demonstrate that we can do better than just make poverty more tolerable. Our goal was to permanently lift families out of poverty, and we are doing just that. Bridge Academies are helping thousands of families exit poverty every year and doing so while generating a positive return for taxpayers.
We all intuitively know that families in poverty face many different challenges. Government has responded by creating many assistance programs. There are 92 federal anti-poverty programs and hundreds of agencies and non-profits delivering services to the poor — for elderly people, for children, for adults, for disabled people — most of them delivered in silos, subject to different rules and eligibility criteria.
The major innovation of the Bridge Academy comes from understanding that lifting people out of poverty requires a holistic “family-up” approach, i.e., integrated delivery of the services needed to address the unique set of challenges faced by each family. Education and training are indispensable but insufficient. Individualized family plans must identify all interventions required to remove obstacles in the way of upward mobility. While it’s the families that must do the hard work of lifting themselves up, capable mentors (we call them Career and Family Navigators), are crucial in helping families develop effective pathways and the self-confidence to stay on course until they succeed. We think of these pathways as bridges to self-reliance.
History
In 2012, on the strength of these results, the Fresno County Department of Social Services applied for and received funding from the federal SNAP Employment and Training program to fund expansion of the program for SNAP beneficiaries (known as Cal Fresh beneficiaries in California).
In 2015, the USDA selected the Fresno Bridge Academy as one of ten nationwide pilots for a randomized control test to help inform national public policy on how to lift SNAP beneficiaries out of poverty. With that came a $12.3 million grant that enabled expansion of the program to nine academies in Fresno county, 6 in urban areas and 3 in rural areas.
In 2016, the founder of the Fresno Bridge Academy was recognized as a leadership award winner by the James Irvine Foundation. With that came funding to support expansion of the model to other California counties. By the end of 2017, the program had expanded to 14 academies in five counties, with several other counties in preparation for launch in 2018. Almost 3,000 families were enrolled in the program as of the end of 2017, and more than 4,000 are expected to be enrolled in 2018. In 2017, the program was renamed The California Bridge Academies.
Mission and Philosophy
The California Bridge Academies is an 18-month program. Although most of the primary wage earners in enrolled families obtain jobs long before the end of the 18-month program, they remain in the program because the objective is to ensure that positive outcomes are sustained.
Two-Generation Model
The California Bridge Academies is a two-generation model. Two-generation approaches focus on creating opportunities for and addressing the needs of both children and the adults in their lives together. A growing body of evidence illustrates that two-generation strategies — which integrate culturally competent education, employment, and parenting and peer support for parents alongside developmental, academic, and social supports for children — are most successful at improving economic mobility for families and education outcomes for children.
Research shows that even modest increases in family income have significant effects on a child’s math and reading scores and that children from disadvantaged backgrounds feel the effects disproportionately. Therefore our two-generation model is based on two key evidence-based insights: when parents’ income increase, so do parental aspirations for their children’s academic achievement, and when parental aspirations increase, childrens’ educational outcomes improve.
The program is based on 10 core strategies:
- DUAL-GENERATION THEORY OF CHANGE. The goal is to remove all obstacles in the way of upward mobility for the entire family. Children benefit when the family achieves improved economic stability, and parents benefit when their children have support to help them succeed.
- COMPREHENSIVE WRAP-AROUND SERVICES. In addition to job training, assistance obtaining a GED and assistance with job placement, adults in the family are provided a wide range of life skills, from parenting skills to financial literacy; from English language skills to management of household budgets; from nutrition management to digital literacy; and many others. Children in the family are mentored and tutored to help ensure they are reading and doing math at grade level, getting exposure to the arts, and showing up for class.
- MENTORSHIP. Every family is assigned a Career and Family Navigator that stays with the family from date of enrollment until program completion of the 18-month program. This is arguably the most important of the ten strategies. It is the families that have to do the work to lift themselves out of poverty, but they often have neither the knowledge of how to do it or the self-confidence to try it. Navigators provide the necessary on-ramps to the pathways families need to navigate, support them as they traverse the pathway, and help remove obstacles along the way.
- PLACE-BASED. Bridge academies are located in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. To the maximum extent possible services are delivered where people live.
- BUILDS ON WHAT ALREADY EXISTS. Bridge Academies integrate the many services that are available to people in poverty, but which are generally delivered in disconnected silos.
- JOBS WITH UPWARD MOBILITY. The FBA subscribes to what it calls an “A-B-C” approach, helping people obtain the education, training, and life skills needed to get A job, then a Better job, then a Career.
- EVIDENCE-BASED. Even though the Bridge Academies is a unique model, there is an extensive body of research that validates the effectiveness of the interventions it provides. Additionally, the Bridge Academies are generating new well-documented evidence of success.
- OUTCOMES-BASED. Bridge Academies measure income gains, job retention, and attainment of self-reliance for its participating families. Also measured are the cost-benefit ratio for the interventions provided, the returns for participating families, and the returns to taxpayers for every taxpayer dollar expended.
- CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT. The Bride Academies model is always a work-in-progress. Innovations are regularly introduced. The Academies launched across the State are encouraged to learn from each other and replicate practices that improve outcomes and improve cost-effectiveness.
- STABLE, PREDICTABLE FUNDING. The Bridge Academies model leverages foundation and private sector funding to catalyze and drive innovation, but from its founding, it has envisioned that the majority of its funding will come from the government because that’s where the deep pockets of funding are for social programs delivered at scale.
The Communities We Serve
As shown below, 18 million Californians were considered economically vulnerable in 2016, with 8.6 million in deep poverty, another 3.1 million above the poverty line only because of safety net services, and another 6.8 million with less than $700 in savings to cover unforeseen emergencies.
Bridge Academies are all located in communities of concentrated poverty.
The Individuals and Families We Serve
The California Bridge Academies is a voluntary program. Individuals and families are under no obligation to enroll in the program, and once enrolled they are under no obligation to continue the program, so the one characteristic they all have in common is a degree of motivation to improve the prospects for themselves and their families. As evidenced from the statistics that follow, most of them must surmount significant challenges to succeed:
- 100% of families have incomes below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level
- 24% of heads of the household do not have high school degrees or GED’s
- 18% have criminal records
- 8% are single mothers
- 2% are veterans
- 25% begin the program with no employment history.
Bridge Academies work closely with the department of social services in all counties in which Academies are located.
Consistent with one of our ten key strategies of building on what already exists, California Bridge Academies develops a network of service providers to provide any and all supports required by clients and their families. In 2010, when the Bridge Academy was founded, Fresno clients were referred to twelve partner organizations. In 2016, Fresno clients were referred to 118 different organizations for the delivery of 176 services.
We also think of employers as partners. The role of our employer liaisons is to establish close connections with employers to ensure that both our clients and their employers have positive experiences.
In addition, we think of the foundations who have supported us as partners. The James Irvine Foundation, for example, has been much more than a funder. They have helped shape our program, played an invaluable role in the scaling and replication of our model, and have funded our Upskilling Program.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
The SNAP provides nutrition assistance to millions of low-income individuals and families. SNAP is a safety net for those struggling with hunger. In addition to providing food assistance, The Food and Nutrition Service works with state agencies and community organizations to support those eligible for nutrition assistance in applying for the program and accessing benefits. The Food and Nutrition Service also works to provide nutrition education and career development support to families receiving assistance.
SNAP Employment and Training programs are made available to food stamp recipients who wish to develop or improve skills that can lead to a better-paying job and greater financial independence. Individuals who receive SNAP benefits qualify for many federal and state programs that help them obtain and retain employment. The number of food stamp recipients in California referred to as CalFresh beneficiaries, has increased from 2.1 million to approximately 4.5 million in the last ten years.
CalFresh E&T has established an Advisory Committee to provide more people with effective services that will improve rates of employment. California Bridge Academy Founder Pete Weber is a member of the Advisory Committee. The committee measures the benefits of CalFresh E&T participation throughout the state. The data they collect shows how workforce services improve the lives of both individual recipients and also their families and communities.
The SNAP E&T Pilot
The 2014 Farm Bill authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to award grants for ten national E&T pilots to increase income levels and reduce public assistance for recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance. Following a national competition, the USDA announced on March 19th that Fresno had been awarded one of the grants. The ten pilots are participants in a randomized control trial (RCT) that began in 2016 and will be completed in 2018. The impacts of the RCT will be evaluated through 2021.
The $12.3 million USDA grant has enabled the Fresno Bridge Academy to serve 1,500 families over a three-year period at nine sites in Fresno County. The goals of the pilot program are to: enable at least 75% of participating families to increase income levels; enable at least 45% of participating families to achieve sustainable self-reliance; and produce a minimum return to taxpayers of $3.75 for every taxpayer dollar invested.
Poverty in California
According to official statistics, 14.3% / 17.6% of California residents did not have enough money and resources – about $34,200 per year for a family of four—to meet basic needs in 2018. However, the official poverty line does not take into account the cost of housing and other expenses in California. As of 2018, using the California Poverty Measure (CPM) more than third (35.2%) of state residents were living close to or below the poverty line.
As shown in the graphic below:
- More than 80% of the primary wage-earners in enrolled families gain employment or attain material wage growth;
- More than 80% of them retain employment one year later; and
- About 30% achieve full self-reliance within just 18 months from enrollment.
These outcomes are being obtained while generating a return of more than 5 to 1 for every taxpayer dollar expended on the program.
ROI Model
The Bridge Academies’ “ROI Calculator” is the first cost-benefit model in use in the nation that monetizes the social benefits of the interventions provided. The model uses standard economic discount rate techniques; cohort comparison analysis; publicly available data on the benefits of certain interventions; and reasoned assumptions about the causal effects of improved outcomes and how long impacts are expected to persist (“reasoned assumptions” are arrived at in consultation with program funders and program evaluators). As an illustration, for the Class completed in March 2014, every $1 spent on the program generated total benefit of $22.28, with $16.78 of the benefits going to the participating families and $5.50 going to taxpayers.
A decade after, California Bridge Academies was established with a lot of focus on helping family members to reach self-sufficiency, we now have expanded the work by adding the following components:
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Upward Mobility Pathways
The Upward Mobility Pathways (UMP) Fresh Success program is a collaborative program between the Foundation for California Community College Fresh Success program, the California Community Colleges Chancellors Office, and Reading and Beyond.
The focus of UMP is to increase college enrollment, graduation rates by 70 % within 2 years, and employment opportunities among Cal-Fresh Beneficiaries.
Services provided:
- One-on-One Supportive services
- Case Management
- Soft-Skills Training
- Job readiness assistance
- Financial Assistance
- And more!
Upskilling Program
The Upskilling Program was created to increase college success among re-entry students at Fresno City College while providing wrap-around services to ensure a living-wage job after program completion.
The upskilling program is designed to help individuals who are thinking of re-enrolling back at Fresno City College to complete where they left off and or start a new career pathway.
Services provided:
- One-on-One Supportive services
- Case Management
- Soft-Skills Training
- Job readiness assistance – Resume/cover letter/interview skills
- Financial Assistance with required school material, licensing & certifications
- Employment assistance after completion
- And more!
Community-Based Sites
- The James Irvine Foundation provided funding to expand the California Bridge Academies program to implement the Upskilling Program to address the need to increase college success among re-entry students at Fresno City College and ensure program completion and obtain living-wage jobs.
- Reading and Beyond expanded its California Bridge Academies program by partnering with California Community College Chancellor’s Office adding the Upward Mobility Pathways program to provide educational, employment, and supportive services to CalFresh recipients to increase completion of short stackable certificates and or 2-year degrees.
- California Bridge Academies is selected as one of the “11 Best Bets” by the Center for High Impact Philanthropy and MacArthur Foundation.
- California Bridge Academies founder Pete Weber receives the James Irvine Leadership Award.
- California Bridge Academies founder Pete Weber speaks to Congress about the Fresno Bridge Academy program.
- Peter Weber, founder of the Fresno Bridge Academy model received the Donald G. Larson for Community Excellence. This award is given to those who make an extraordinary contribution to Reading and Beyond.
- Reading and Beyond’s Fresno Bridge Academy is selected by U.S. Department of Agriculture as one of ten national pilots to participate in a randomized control test and awarded $12 million.