Sustaining Two-Generation Strategies: A Case Study of Tulsa’s CareerAdvance® Program

Authors: Amanda Briggs, Christopher T. King, and Tara Smith
Date: May 2015
Publication Type: Report, 29pp.

This report examines the CareerAdvance® program in Tulsa (OK) as a case study on the sustainability of a two‐generation anti‐poverty strategy that seeks to increase family economic mobility by investing intensively in sector‐based, career pathway education and training for parents, while their children are simultaneously enrolled in quality early childhood education. It is the length and intensity of the CareerAdvance® program that creates the most serious challenges for sustainability.

The sustainability of the CareerAdvance® program is analyzed using the Microsoft Scaling Framework, which provides a lens to consider the program’s design, adaptability, use of technology, and context. This analysis indicates that some components of the CareerAdvance® program, e.g., wrap‐around services and peer supports, lend themselves to positive and sustainable outcomes for participants, and some components, e.g., a strong workforce intermediary and identifying more reliable funding streams, require further investment. Based on this analysis, the report offers a series of recommendations for policymakers and program staff implementing two‐generation programs, and considers the challenges associated with bringing them to scale.

CareerAdvance® Implementation Study Findings Through July 2014

Authors: Tara Smith, Kristen Christensen, and Christopher T. King
Date: October 2014
Publication Type: Report, 44pp.
(Prepared for the Health Professionals Opportunity Grant Program, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)

This report examines changes in the CareerAdvance® program that directly relate to the experience and progress of participants through July 2014—the end of the fifth program year— and the recruitment of Cohort 10 in spring 2014.  A key finding of the implementation study to date is that the Community Action Project of Tulsa County (CAP Tulsa) has approached the design of the CareerAdvance® program as a continuous improvement process.  The program model, its pathways, and other components have all been refined over time to address participant concerns, barriers to progress, and other factors.  Because of these changes, few cohorts have experienced exactly the same program.  This report examines program modifications over time, documents participation and progress in CareerAdvance®, and explores factors that appear to impede or support participant progress.