Bridges to Work

Program launched by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Transportation/Federal Transit Administration, to explore new ways to link urban welfare recipients with suburban jobs. Run by Public/Private Ventures in Philadelphia, Pa, a non-profit group started in order to reduce these barriers to successful youth development so that more young people can move through school and into responsible adulthood. To do so, they try to shape or identify strategies, program models and organizational practices that promote young people's success in education, life skills and employment; test these initiatives with rigorous, scientifically sound research; mine the research results and implementation experience for their policy and practice implications, and communicate the findings to local, state and federal government decision- makers, and to leaders of the nonprofit and business sectors; and create the building blocks--model policies and financing approaches, curricula, training materials and technical assistance expertise--necessary to implement the new approaches and strengthen the institutions responsible for youth policies and services.

Details available via Public/Private Ventures at http://tap.epn.org/ppv/

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Job Links

Program of the US Department of Transportation. Currently being run by the CTAA (Community Transportation Association of America 1341 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005. Note: There is a current Job Links project in Clarksdale, which is aiming to improve the availability of transportation services within the entire community by developing a transportation system to meet the needs of transit-dependent residents, including people on public assistance. All of the services launched will connect with a community health center and with intercity bus service.

Details available via CTAA at http://www.ctaa.org/welfare/

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Virtual High School (VHS)

Cooperative project funded by a Technology Challenge Grant from the U.S. Department of Education. "Bringing the future to 43 high schools from 13 states. The first large-scale project to create Internet-based courses at the pre-college level, providing a low-cost means of augmenting the range of courses a school can offer without expanding enrollment. In exchange for contributing a small amount of teaching time to the cooperative, a school can offer its students netcourses ranging from advanced academic courses to technical and specialized courses. As this approach gains popularity, each school can contribute more teaching time, enroll correspondingly more students, and help make a wider variety of courses available. Program run by the Concord Consortium, a non-profit educational research and development organization launched in 1994 by educators in Concord, Massachusetts.

Full information on program available via the Concord Group at http://concord.org/proj-vhs.html

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Global Lab Curriculum

The Global Lab Project, developed by TERC of Cambridge, MA, and supported by the National Science Foundation, has developed and tested key strategies to reform science education through the implementation of experiential, student-based collaborative inquiry. The project utilizes telecommunications, affordable scientific tools, and innovative curriculum to create a global community of student researchers engaged in real-world, hands-on investigations into local and global environments. The objective of this program is to increase the level of environmental awareness, sophistication and hands-on involvement at the community level in environment issues on the part of school children. Has shown that it can work well in schools that have to deal with kids with problems.

Details via TERC at http://www.hub.terc.edu/terc/gl/global-lab.html

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New Ways Workers National (NWWN)

A youth employment program, promotes year-round private sector job opportunities for high school and college students. It gives young people the chance to build important job skills on a regular part-time basis. Program provides specialized technical assistance, tailored to the needs identified at the State, Regional or Local level. Building the Connections between Schools and Employers NWWN assists communities in developing third-party brokers that connect students to the workplace and employers to the classroom. The NWWN model can be adapted to address specific needs and opportunities identified in a region and/or local community. NWWN provides a "turn-key" approach to the development of work-based learning opportunities for students.

Details are available via New Ways to Work at: http://www.nww.org/index-f.html

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CREST - the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology

For the past four years the non-governmental organization CREST, the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology, has been developing interactive multimedia software applications and operating one of the world’s larger Internet services on sustainable energy and resource development, known as Solstice . Solstice is dedicated to assisting citizens and professionals worldwide in accessing, at no cost, information resources, computer-based software tools, and online discussion groups with peers and experts, that can aid them in promoting sustainable energy and resource development opportunities in their homes, communities and businesses.

Details are available via CREST at: http://solstice.crest.org/

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Also Worthy of Note

You are invited to review the draft materials that you see here, and to share your critical comments and suggestions with us either by email at postmaster@the-commons.org or more directly via Contact Point.

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