Expanding the Scale and Reach of Effective Sectoral Training Programs│The PROMISE Center
For decades, workforce development programs have sought to make a meaningful difference on the lives of low-income individuals and their families by providing occupational skills training and employment supports. And yet, rigorous research on these programs has consistently yielded disappointing results: Most of these programs have had limited or no lasting effects on participants’ employment and earnings. Recent studies have nevertheless elevated a small subset of programs—sectoral training programs—that have significantly improved participants’ earnings, with gains sometimes persisting years after their initial participation.
AIR has sought to establish learning partnerships with these best-in-class sectoral programs to:
- Learn about the elements and practices that contribute to their effectiveness; and
- Provide technical assistance and research expertise to further strengthen their programming and support their scaling and expansion so they can help many more Americans.
Our Work
Growing and Diversifying the Year Up Model
Year Up is a national nonprofit workforce development organization that has connected over 36,000 young adults ages 18 to 26, 90% of whom identify as a person of color, to livable wage careers at hundreds of top companies. AIR is partnering with Year Up to support, strategize, implement, and study their growth efforts.
Expanding the Scale and Reach of Per Scholas in a Post-COVID Environment
Per Scholas has a proven track record of lifting the earnings of individual workers over the long-term. Per Scholas is a no-cost occupational skills training program that has prepared and matched more than 15,000 graduates for information technology (IT) and other tech careers with leading employers nationwide. AIR and Per Scholas have established a learning partnership to explore how best to provide online and/or hybrid training of its students.
