JOB TITLE CHANGE

Since last year’s annual report, we have changed the job title of our direct service personnel known as employer representatives. Their new job title, youth employment specialist, is a more accurate reflection of their multifaceted role, which encompasses that of case manager, mentor, instructor, career counselor, life coach, and job developer. Within Bridges, we employ 51 youth employment specialists who are experts in preparing youth for — and connecting them to — the adult workforce.

UPDATES TO NEW HIRE ONBOARDING TRAINING

For more than one year, we have collaborated with the Center for Technology in Education at Johns Hopkins University to revamp and refresh 16 new hire e-learning modules that were designed nearly 10 years ago. The new modules reflect our name change in 2019 from the Marriott Foundation for People with Disabilities to Bridges from School to Work, as well as IT efficiencies we integrated into our processes before, during, and after the pandemic.

TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE

Young adults with disabilities experience higher rates of trauma and adverse childhood experiences, and reports of mental health challenges among school-aged youth have risen during and after the pandemic. To better equip Bridges personnel to meet the needs of program participants, we have retained consultants to deliver professional development training sessions about the lasting effects trauma can have across the lifespan.

As part of this process, thirteen staff members from around the country have spent more than 12 months undertaking the requirements for Bridges to become a trauma-informed care organization. These individuals have participated in information sessions and working groups to ensure that Bridges operates and integrates a trauma-informed approach in its policies, procedures, and program design.

Once Bridges is regarded as a trauma-informed organization, these individuals will continue to champion evidence-based practices in their Bridges cities, promote ongoing professional development related to trauma-informed care, and help the organization maintain a trauma-informed lens across all program elements.

FEDERAL GRANT

In September 2024, we learned that we won a won a competitive three-year, $3.3 million U.S. Department of Labor Workforce Pathways for Youth grant that we applied for in July 2024. Bridges was one of six national organizations that won the grant, which began on October 1, 2024. Through these demonstration grants, Bridges and other organizations will serve marginalized and underserved youth, providing them with workforce readiness programming, including soft skill development, career exploration, job readiness, workbased learning opportunities and work experiences, all that aim to improve career opportunities.

NEXTGEN RCT WITH MATHEMATICA

At the end of June 2024, Bridges exceeded the targets for young adults with disabilities across multiple cities who over three years enrolled in NextGen, a randomized controlled trial administered by Mathematica. Bridges recruited and enrolled a grand total of 933 study participants. Participants were randomly assigned to a group eligible to receive Bridges services, or they were randomly assigned to a control group. The control group did not receive Bridges services, but those assigned to it all received a list of other community providers equipped to assist them with training and career goals.

In addition to Mathematica, other NextGen partners included the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within the U.S. Department of Human Services and the Social Security Administration.

Mathematica will soon publish a NextGen descriptive report that will describe how Bridges was implemented under the study. Over the next several years, other reports will document the impact of Bridges services on participant employment-related outcomes relative to those of participants in the control group. Study results could provide actionable information to policymakers about interventions for assisting individuals facing complex challenges as they find jobs, build economic security, and advance in the labor market.

We were retained by the Manhattan Strategy Group to provide technical assistance and training to a recent cohort of federal Department of Education, Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) grantees, including the following:

• New York State Department of Labor
• Connecticut Department of Labor
• Kansas Department of Commerce
• Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

In November 2024, we assisted these grantees with identifying, recruiting, and enrolling youth with disabilities through relationships with school districts and other potential referral sources, as well as with instructing them about best practices for helping youth overcome or circumvent employment barriers that may hinder their prospects for success in the labor market.

We identified several high-performing and seasoned Bridges personnel who have now delivered two one-hour video conference sessions to 30 or more participants using expertise our organization has acquired over nearly 35 years of improving career opportunities for young adults with disabilities in some of our nation’s largest cities and school districts.

IPADS

We have tested iPads across several cities and have deployed 43 of them with data plans across all our cities. Employment specialists will use them in high school classrooms, where Wi-Fi access is unreliable, to access the internet for Bridges enrollment forms, job boards, and job applications.

STRATEGIC PLAN

On May 28, 2024, the Board of Trustees approved a strategic plan that will span from 2025 through 2027. Through this plan, Bridges will increase the number of youth who get jobs by 40%, meaning that more than 1,000 Bridges participants across 10 cities will begin employment each year. Developed in collaboration with Accenture, which provided pro-bono consultative services, Bridges aims to meet this goal through operational efficiencies such as enhanced use of technology, specialization of staff assignments, increased social media outreach, as well as increasing the number of frontline staff in key Bridges markets.