Evaluating the Indirect ROI of Transit Agency Training Partnerships with Two-year Colleges

This empirical site-based study documents the outcomes of an established training partnership at a two-year college that offers five registered apprenticeships in transit work. Previous studies have established that transit agencies that develop partnerships to recruit and train workers see a return on their investments. This study aims to calculate the indirect ROI of partnerships with two-year colleges that offer career technical programs in transit work. It determines what benefits these programs hold for students including expedited access to jobs that offer family sustaining wages, acquisition of multi-purpose soft-skills through work-based learning, and work-based opportunities to engage in civic behaviors defined as working with others toward public purposes. Where program benefits take the form of soft skills and civic engagement, the study determines how the program advances those learning outcomes through its curriculum.