CAPITAL INVESTING IN DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT OF ADULTS INC

Capital IDEA provides a pathway out of poverty by helping low-income residents achieve self-sufficiency, using education as a bridge to financial stability. Our program provides the academic, financial, and emotional support that non-traditional, adult students need to succeed. We fund tuition, fees, and books and provide wrap-around services. The most critical part of our program is our Career Navigators who help our students stay on track.

Our primary objective is to remove barriers that might otherwise keep nontraditional students from succeeding. Our methods focus on our students’ financial, academic, and emotional needs. First, our financial supports maximize our students’ focus on academic goals by covering tuition, books, and fees and helping with childcare, transportation and emergency expenses. Secondly, our academic supports meet students where they are. Our College Prep Academy helps those who need to bring up their math, reading, and writing skills in order to pass the Texas Success Initiative exam. We also ensure students have access to tutoring while in school. Finally, our Career Navigators support our students’ emotional well-being through individualized case management. Life’s challenges continue as our students move through school. Our
Career Navigators are there to listen and support our students, so we can make sure they stay on track with their educational goals.

We believe education is the best way to break the cycle of poverty for the working families in Central Texas and for generations to come. With over 20 years of proven success, our innovative program provides the financial and emotional support that non-traditional, adult learners need to succeed in higher education and ultimately reach self-sufficiency.

Capital IDEA fully funds direct education expenses such as tuition, fees, and books. Because our participants are non-traditional students with distinct needs, our program also provides a range of wrap-around support services that are vital to the academic success of adult learners. As needed, this includes assistance with childcare, transportation, and emergency expenses. All students are provided intensive case management and counseling to help them balance their busy lives with the demands of navigating and succeeding in the post-secondary education system. To complete the wrap around support, students also meet regularly with peers in a one-hour session guided by their Career Navigator designed to teach them study skills, financial management, and job-related "soft" skills that are known to be vital to the success of our adult learners in long-term career education.

The experience, passion, and dedication of Capital IDEA's staff and Board of Directors is key to our success. A total of 29 employees make up the Capital IDEA professional team, led by Executive Director, Steve Jackobs. Capital IDEA's Board of Directors is comprised of 12 members, 6 leaders from the business community, 5 members of Austin Interfaith, plus one representative of Capital IDEA's Alumni. Board members represent a diverse cross-section of the community and each brings a high level of commitment, experience, and engagement to the organization.

Capital IDEA benefits from the long-term commitment of our lead founding organization, Austin Interfaith, who creates the political support needed to sustain substantial public investment over multiple years. A coalition of community organizations, churches, schools, and unions, Austin Interfaith provides direct and real-time access to the working poor adults who need Capital IDEA support and offers to host orientations in low-income neighborhoods and non-urban areas throughout Central Texas.

External collaboration and partnership are principles on which Capital IDEA was founded and is how our program continues to make a significant impact in our community. On the educational side, Capital IDEA is in partnership with Austin Community College (ACC) and other training institutions in Central Texas to develop educational offerings that will meet the needs of our participants. In addition, we work closely with job training programs in Central Texas such as Workforce Solutions, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the Rural Capital Area Workforce Development Board to coordinate college preparation and training for high-skill, in-demand careers. From the business community, Capital IDEA develops informal employer partnerships to identify emerging careers that will provide a living wage, benefits, and opportunities for advancement for our participants.

Since 1998, Capital IDEA has more than 1,700 successful examples that our program is effective at transforming lives. The success of Capital IDEA is shown in our impressive record of taking people with the most barriers to higher education, getting them into college or training, graduating them with great academic records, and placing them with local employers, usually within a few months of their graduation. Since January 2019, the average wage earned by employed participants has been $23.52 an hour, or $48,922 annually. Compared to average annual earnings of $15,013 at program entry for the same students, this represents an increase of more than 300%..

A sizable increase in earnings means graduates become homeowners, start savings accounts, open college accounts for their children and serve as role models for extended family, friends and neighbors. The long-term impact on the lives of our graduates is a testament to the strength of our methodology, and evidence of the effectiveness of our program.

Over the years, a number of external studies have reviewed and evaluated the long-term success of the program, including recent studies by The Aspen Institute and the Ray Marshall Center at the University of Texas. The results of these projects continue to inform our process for evaluating program effectiveness as we make progress toward our long-term goals. Capital IDEA will continue to encourage and support these research projects as the opportunities arise, as they do more than validate our program; they tell a compelling story about the potential of low-earning, under-educated adults.