Using Coaching and Navigation to Promote Economic Mobility: How Might Programs Provide These Services Virtually?

Coaching and navigation have the potential to facilitate economic mobility. Although coaching and navigation services have traditionally been conducted in person, the pandemic has prompted many programs to offer these services virtually. Coaching and navigation can be provided virtually in several ways: by telephone or text messaging; by videoconference, using platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and WebEx; or over web-based platforms on which coaches or navigators and clients can share information and have short “chats.”

In June 2020, Mathematica hosted a virtual convening in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that explored coaching and navigation programs as a promising solution to improving economic mobility and reducing inequities.

Based on lessons learned from the convening, this issue brief highlights several aspects of providing coaching and navigation services virtually. Topics include:

• Challenges of providing coaching and navigation virtually
• Benefits of providing coaching and navigation virtually
• How web-based platforms might enhance coaching and navigation
• Considerations for implementing virtual coaching and navigation
• How funders, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers can take action to promote effective, virtual coaching and navigation