There are 4.6 million opportunity youth who aspire to succeed but are locked out of the labor market without a path to a family-supporting wage, with dire consequences for them and for the country.

We now know what works for these young people: a rigorous, independent evaluation found that Back on Track postsecondary bridging implemented in Opportunity Works doubled the postsecondary enrollment rate of opportunity youth, and improved it six-fold for young men of color.

The Keys to Opportunity Works’ Success

Executive Summary

Opportunity Works was a three-year effort led by JFF to help opportunity youth—young people ages 16 to 24 who are not in school or meaningfully employed—access postsecondary and career pathways. Based on the Back on Track framework, seven cities across the country undertook collective impact approaches with diverse partners to provide supportive, enhanced preparation and postsecondary/career bridging for eligible young people, with a particular focus on young men of color.

A quasi-experimental evaluation conducted by the Urban Institute in three Opportunity Works sites found large, consistent, positive effects on participants’ postsecondary enrollment and increased connection with either education or employment about one year after program entry. Specifically, Opportunity Works participants were twice as likely to enroll in college and 25 percent more likely to be in either education or employment. Postsecondary results were even greater for young men of color, who were nearly six times as likely to enroll in college. This report also includes insights and lessons from qualitative field research.