Reports Database:
BB2C High School Internship Program

“In Appalachian Ohio, a grassroots group of citizens across industry sectors have convened to use community assets to create solutions impacting multiple parts of the community system, thus attempting to solve complex rural problems in innovative ways. One intermediary organization, Building Bridges to Careers (BB2C), has implemented community and career connected learning programs as a way to solve
problems threatening rural community viability through engaging multiple community stakeholders including the community’s youth.”In Appalachian Ohio, a grassroots group of citizens across industry sectors have convened to use community assets to create solutions impacting multiple parts of the community system, thus attempting to solve complex rural problems in innovative ways. One intermediary organization, Building Bridges to Careers (BB2C), has implemented community and career connected learning programs as a way to solve problems threatening rural community viability through engaging multiple community stakeholders including the community’s youth.

Using focus groups and survey methods, this study investigated the contributions and the impact of stakeholders of one community and career connected learning program: high school internships. The place-based, cross-sector, bidirectional interactions facilitated by community and career connected learning created a learning ecosystem through the high school internship program; a complex system with many stakeholders and impacts. Using Social Return on Investment (SROI) to quantify impact within
the learning ecosystem to communicate and maximize change afforded BB2C the opportunity to capture impact to multiple stakeholder groups in the voice of those stakeholders, to make decisions around impact, and to communicate impact to diverse audiences.”