Financing Economic Mobility: Adopting New Jersey’s Pay It Forward Model

In this report, the Center for an Urban Future (CUF) profiles the New Jersey Pay It Forward Program, an initiative created in partnership with Social Finance. The report, which is the first in CUF’s Economic Opportunity Lab series, argues that the New Jersey Pay It Forward Program could provide a funding model for New York to scale up the most successful job training programs.

“New Jersey is looking at funding short-term certificate and credential programs that aren’t eligible for [federal student loans],” says Jake Edwards, Social Finance Vice President, in the report. “These programs generally have out-of-pocket tuition costs, which means individuals that are low-income or stuck in cycles of underemployment can’t access them. So New Jersey zeroed in on that barrier.”

Read the report >