Social Finance is partnering with American Diesel Training Centers (ADTC), a diesel mechanic training program that prepares students for careers in the growing diesel tech industry, impact investors, and employers, on a Career Impact Bond. The project serves 550 students who are unemployed or underemployed through a 300-hour training program via hands-on instruction and an online adaptive-learning platform in Cincinnati, OH; Columbus, OH; Des Moines, IA; Kansas City, MO; and Tacoma, WA.
ADTC was founded in 2017 to address a nationwide diesel technician shortage to help American workers in low-wage jobs transition into sustainable careers. The program significantly cuts down the cost and time typically required for students to become diesel technicians.
With this Career Impact Bond, employers are increasingly paying employee graduates’ monthly tuition payments, enabling participants to secure economic mobility at minimal personal cost.
Project Goals
Increase career training access: Expand access to industry-recognized training, mechanical tools, and wraparound support services so that people facing barriers to education and employment can build careers as diesel technicians.
Support measurable career advancement: Help students develop the skills they need to pursue and achieve measurable career advancement in the diesel tech field.
Catalyze wider economic mobility: Take a strong step toward catalyzing economic mobility at scale by transforming education for people who face barriers to education and employment.
How It Works
Investors
Provide funding to expand ADTC's programming and cover students' tuition and tools.
ADTC
Provides training, tools, and wraparound support services to students.
Students
Repay tuition as flat-fee monthly payments if their annual salaries exceed $30,000.
Employers
May repay tuition costs for employee graduates.
The Student Perspective
Paola
Before ADTC, Paola was a warehouse worker. Upon graduation, she began working at McMahon Mack-Volvo truck dealership in Columbus, Ohio. She went on to earn a Hino truck brand certification and she is the dealership’s go-to technician for that brand. Paola has doubled her hourly pay and she has no student debt.
Project Partners
- American Diesel Training Centers is providing training for participants.
- The UP Fund financed the project.
- IonTuition, in collaboration with MentorWorks Education Capital, is managing student repayment.
Project Supporters
- Wilmington Trust serves as fiscal agent and custodian for this project.
- Chapman and Cutler serves as outside legal counsel to Social Finance for the UP Fund.
In the News
- “Job Training That’s Free Until You’re Hired Is a Blueprint for Biden,” The New York Times