Workforce training can open the door to family-sustaining careers, but many low-income workers can’t afford the true cost of participating. Tipping Point is working to provide financial support and coaching to Bay Area residents pursuing career training, build evidence on what helps participants succeed, and work with partners to scale economic opportunity through policy change.
For many Bay Area workers, the path to a family-sustaining career is clear. High-quality workforce training programs can help people gain new skills, enter growing industries, and increase their earning potential over time.
This is particularly true for earn-and-learn programs—a type of workforce training program where participants gain skills and earn credentials through paid work experiences. Apprenticeships are a well-known example. Research consistently shows that earn-and-learn programs are among the most effective workforce training strategies.
But for many workers, especially women with children, the challenge isn’t finding the right training program. It’s being able to afford to participate in one.
Even when tuition is covered, workforce training comes with real costs—from lost wages to childcare and transportation. Existing financial supports rarely account for these realities. As a result, many people who could benefit most from workforce training are unable to enroll—or struggle to complete programs once they begin.
Introducing the Opportunity Fund
The Opportunity Fund is Tipping Point’s response to this challenge.
Over four years, the initiative will work to remove financial barriers to earn-and-learn programs, generate rigorous evidence about what works, and bring together partners to advance change at scale.
Supporting participants
Tipping Point will partner with four organizations from our employment portfolio—JVS, JobTrain, Opportunity Junction, and Rising Sun Center for Opportunity—to recruit and enroll approximately 300 Bay Area residents into high-quality earn-and-learn programs connected to promising career pathways, including healthcare and construction.
Participants will receive coaching and financial support while completing their training, helping offset the real costs that often prevent people from enrolling or continuing with these programs.
Building the evidence base
While many workforce practitioners recognize the importance of participant supports, there is limited evidence about what types of financial assistance have the greatest impact on enrollment, completion, and long-term economic outcomes.
To help answer those questions, Tipping Point has partnered with Georgetown University to conduct a rigorous evaluation of the Opportunity Fund. Over the course of the initiative, the research team will examine whether financial support and coaching improve participation, retention, and wage growth. Throughout the initiative, we plan to share learnings with practitioners, funders, and policymakers, culminating in a final evaluation that can help inform future workforce development investments and policy decisions.
By building evidence about what it truly takes for workers to participate in and complete workforce training programs, we plan to strengthen the case for policies and funding approaches that make these opportunities more accessible.
Expanding opportunity at scale
The Opportunity Fund arrives at a pivotal moment for workforce development.
California is working to expand apprenticeships and increase participation among underrepresented groups. New federal investments, including Workforce Pell Grants, are creating opportunities to support more adults pursuing workforce training. At the same time, there is growing recognition that financial aid systems often fail to account for the realities facing working adults.
Building on Tipping Point’s support of the California EDGE Coalition’s report, The Missing Piece, the Opportunity Fund will help generate evidence about the types of supports that enable more people to access and complete workforce training.
By generating evidence and building a coalition focused on change, we aim to influence how workforce programs are designed, funded, and delivered—not only in the Bay Area, but beyond.
Why now?
Poverty rates in the Bay Area have risen sharply in recent years, while many families continue to face high costs of living and growing economic uncertainty. At the same time, employers are seeking skilled workers, and public leaders are investing in workforce development as a pathway to economic mobility. We have an opportunity to ensure those investments reach the people who stand to benefit most.
By helping workers overcome the financial barriers that stand between them and career advancement, we can create pathways to family-sustaining careers today while building the evidence and momentum needed to make those pathways more accessible for generations to come.
