The challenge
Low-income adults in San Antonio needed a route into well-paying careers in growing local industries.
The case
Project QUEST, a San Antonio nonprofit, helps low-income adults enrol full-time in occupational training at partner community colleges, with weekly counselling, financial help with tuition and other costs, and remedial classes if needed, for about 23 months on average. It works with employers to learn what skills they need and with colleges to teach them. Between 2006 and 2008, researchers randomly assigned 410 low-income adults interested in healthcare training to QUEST or to a control group, and tracked their earnings through state wage records. The program costs about $14,400 per participant. In years 9 to 14 after random assignment, QUEST participants earned 15–20% more each year, about $6,000 a year.
Why it worked
Training tied closely to real local demand, with intensive support to help people finish, produced earnings gains that grew over time rather than fading. The evidence reviewers at Social Programs That Work rate it 'Near Top Tier'.
Sources
- Social Programs That Work (2024). Project QUEST: evidence summary. Arnold Ventures.
- Roder, A., & Elliott, M. (2021). Eleven year gains: Project QUEST's investment continues to pay dividends. Economic Mobility Corporation (summary by Arnold Ventures).
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