A seven-year evaluation of a career-escalation training program for indigenous nonprofessionals.

A community mental health center in an urban ghetto offers a career-escalation program in which indigenous nonprofessional mental health workers can earn a master's degree in the behavioral sciences. The program allows them paid time off for classes and study and also pays for their tuition and course materials. An evaluation of the first seven years of the program showed that only 56 of the 91 staff members who were eligible for the program entered it, and 23 subsequently dropped out. Only three trainees earned a master's degree, although 24 were pursuing or had received an associate-in-arts degree. The author briefly discusses changes that could make the program more effective, but he believes a community mental health center is not the best setting for a career-escalation program.