WOMEN'S OPPORTUNITY FUND
Women's Opportunity Fund
In 2023, Tipping Point Community, in partnership with Bienestar Community Economics, set out to design a novel demonstration project to support working women living in the Bay Area to advance in their careers, generate assets, and build wealth.
Bienestar supported this initiative in a variety of ways:
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Designing and facilitating an eight-session co-design series with nine partner organizations and five community design participants, along with two community sessions with women enrolled in Bay Area earn-and-learn training cohorts.
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Conducting a literature review and landscape analysis on strategies to improve access, retention, and completion in earn-and-learn programs; strengthen wealth-building outcomes; and identify policy implications.
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Interviewing dozens of workforce training providers, financial capability organizations, subject matter experts, and policy advisors to inform program design and implementation.
The result of the research and design process is The Women’s Opportunity Fund demonstration project. The demonstration project pairs previously siloed employment programs focused on Earn and Learn models with financial capability programs. The project design includes cash assistance through the duration of the training program to apply towards living costs that are cited as a significant barrier for women; financial support for a 12-month period to transition to employment; and a one-time lump sum payment for asset-building activities required to establish wealth (e.g., establish savings accounts, address debt, purchase a car for travel to work).
Success from this demonstration would provide needed evidence to tie these fields together while identifying specific, current policy issues that can be addressed.
The Women’s Opportunity Fund: Synthesis of Research Design and Findings outlines the research and design process that informed development of the demonstration project and can help other practitioners and agencies interested in designing similar initiatives or projects in the future.
The Women’s Opportunity Fund: Demonstration Project Implementation Blueprint can be used as a standalone report and serves as the foundation for those seeking a starting point to establish a project of this nature.
REGION
Bay Area, California
DATE
2023–2024
CLIENT
