The Aspen Institute

This issue of Update looks at how Northern Virginia Family Service, a nonprofit organization, and Northern Virginia Community College partner together to provide Training Futures, a six month training program designed to help low-income adults in Northern Virginia start new careers in office administration and advance towards degrees and certificates in college. We share information about participants and the education and employment outcomes they achieve, program design, recruitment strategies, curriculum, training approach, services provided, employer involvement and funding. We also discuss the history of the program and partnership, partners’ roles and responsibilities, key staff members, planning processes, data management, and key innovations and lessons learned from the partnership. This case study builds on research done through Courses to Employment, a demonstration project funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation that investigated how community college-nonprofit partnerships can help low-income adults succeed in college and the labor market.