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Bridges to Opportunity for Underprepared Adults: A State Policy Guide for Community College Leaders

By Multiple Authors
This guide offers practical strategies and tools for addressing the need to provide large numbers of working-age adults with education and training that will give them access to opportunities for social mobility and enable them to secure jobs that pay sufficient wages to support a family. The guide describes what states can do to break down barriers that stand in the way of success for underprepared adult students; lays out case studies of Louisiana, Ohio and Washington that have changed state policy to encourage community colleges to better serve underprepared adults; provides strategies and tools for states to implement a comprehensive strategy to cultivate state policies that will support the success of underprepared adults; and presents guidelines on getting started for stakeholders within and outside state government. This guide is based on lessons from the Ford Foundation–funded Community College Bridges to Opportunity initiative, a multiyear effort designed to bring about changes in state policy that improve education and employment outcomes for educationally and economically disadvantaged adults.
Download report
December 2008
View press release
December 2008
  • Evaluation of the Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative

Related Publications

April 2005

Building Pathways to Success for Low-Skill Adult Students: Lessons for Community College Policy and Practice From a Statewide Longitudinal Tracking Study

Additional Resources

For more policy briefs and fact sheets, visit CCRC’s Policy Resources page.

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