In response to the disruption to the economy and workforce training caused by the pandemic, CCRC is partnering with the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) and the University of Pennsylvania to examine and improve Get A Skill, Get A Job, Get Ahead (G3), VCCS’s pandemic workforce recovery initiative. G3 is built around a last-dollar scholarship targeting low-income students in workforce programs in five high-demand fields (healthcare, information technology and computer science, manufacturing and skilled trades, early childhood education, and public safety) and also provides pathways into longer-term programs, dedicated advising, and other resources to help students earn certificates and degrees.
VCCS is leveraging G3, which launched in fall 2021, to increase college enrollment, particularly among historically marginalized adults; improve workforce program persistence and completion rates; generate more racially equitable credential attainment; and increase labor market returns for historically marginalized adults. CCRC’s research will support VCCS’s efforts to improve G3 so it can better support the state’s pandemic recovery and provide information to the broader field on important questions of quality and equity in the implementation of workforce programs. The Virginia Workforce Recovery project will also improve our understanding of how to implement stackable credentials across a state community college system and the effects of a novel approach to postsecondary student aid on student outcomes.
This project is part of the Accelerating Recovery in Community Colleges (ARCC) Network, which aims to provide timely insights to community colleges seeking to rebuild enrollment and invest in effective programs that will benefit their students.
This project was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305X220024 to Teachers College, Columbia University. Additional funding was provided by Lumina Foundation.