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Summary

Bridges to Success was an intensive adult mentoring and comprehensive case management program where mentors worked with participants over two years to identify their short- and long-term goals, create step-by-step plans for progress, and provide cash incentives for completing planned steps.

Bridges to Success was an intensive adult mentoring and comprehensive case management program where mentors worked with participants over two years to identify their short- and long-term goals, create step-by-step plans for progress, and provide cash incentives for completing planned steps. Bridges to Success adapted a Mobility Mentoring approach for implementation in Rochester, NY. Mentors created step-by-step plans for short- and long-term goals identified through a detailed assessment process covering housing, family relationships, health, networks, finances, education, and employment. Mentors connected participants to a variety of community organizations to ensure clients had needed to supports. Progress is tracked using an assessment tool called the Bridge to Self-Sufficiency Matrix. Participants can receive financial incentives for completing action steps toward their goals.

Mentors met with participants for up to two years and aimed for at least monthly interactions, though they commonly met on a more frequent basis, either in-person or virtual.

Eligible participants were working age adults who were U.S. citizens, able to work, had household incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold, and reside in the City of Rochester. The program was evaluated in Rochester, NY.

101035-Study of Bridges to
Populations and employment barriers:

Effectiveness rating and effect by outcome domain

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Outcome domain Term Effectiveness rating Effect in 2024 dollars and percentages Effect in standard deviations Sample size
Increase earnings Short-term Little evidence to assess support favorable $583 per year 0.016 356
Long-term Little evidence to assess support favorable $219 per year 0.006 356
Very long-term No evidence to assess support
Increase employment Short-term Little evidence to assess support favorable 5% (in percentage points) 0.127 356
Long-term Little evidence to assess support favorable 7% (in percentage points) 0.165 356
Very long-term No evidence to assess support
Decrease benefit receipt Short-term Not supported unfavorable $199 per year 0.058 273
Long-term No evidence to assess support
Very long-term No evidence to assess support
Increase education and training All measurement periods No evidence to assess support
* This intervention was assessed as supported for this domain, meaning it achieved one or more statistically significant, favorable effects. However, the intervention has an average effect size that is unfavorable because the average includes all effects in this domain - both statistically significant and favorable effects and statistically insignificant but unfavorable effects.

Effectiveness rating key:

  • Well-supported Well-supported   
  • Supported  Supported   
  • Not supported  Not supported   
  • Mixed support  Mixed support   
  • Insufficient evidence  Insufficient evidence   
  • No evidence  No evidence
Effectiveness rating terms?

Studies of this intervention

Study quality rating Study counts per rating
High High 1
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Implementation details

Organizations implementing intervention

The program was implemented by three local non-profits: Catholic Family Center, Action for a Better Community, and Community Place of Greater Rochester, with support from the City of Rochester and the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative.

The information contained here reflects how the intervention was implemented at the time of the evaluation.

Local context

The providers and study site were located in Rochester, NY.

Characteristics of research participants
Black or African American
64%
White
9%
Another race
27%
Hispanic or Latino of any race
26%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

State(s) where implemented

AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY Canada

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.