Social Finance is partnering with General Assembly (GA) and impact investors to launch the first-ever Career Impact Bond. The project serves 1,000 individuals across 10 U.S. cities, enabling them to develop in-demand coding skills, prepare for sustainable careers in the tech space, and ultimately achieve improved economic mobility.
Project Goals
Increase career training access: Expand access to industry-recognized software engineering and user experience design programs and wraparound support services to people who are eligible for public benefit programs or have come into contact with the criminal justice system.
Support measurable career advancement: Help learners cultivate the technological skills needed to pursue and achieve measurable career progress within growing, in-demand tech occupations.
Catalyze wider economic mobility: Take a strong step toward catalyzing economic mobility at scale and recapturing the American Dream.
How It Works
Investors
Provide funding to expand General Assembly's Catalyst program and cover learners' fees.
General Assembly
Provides training and wraparound support services to learners.
Learners
Repay their deferred program fees so long as they graduate, get good jobs, and earn salaries of $40,000 or more.
THE LEARNER PERSPECTIVE
Video: Angil Tate, Career Impact Bond graduate and User Experience Designer at WillowTree
Project Partners
- General Assembly is providing the training for participants.
- Social Finance is coordinating the project.
- The UP Fund financed the project.
- Prudential Financial is a co-investor in the project.
- Vemo Education is managing learner repayment.
Project Supporters
- Wilmington Trust serves as fiscal agent and custodian for this project.
- Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe serves as legal counsel to Social Finance for this project.
- Google.org provided grant support for the project.
- Prudential Financial provided grant support for the project.
- Chapman and Cutler serves as outside legal counsel to Social Finance for the UP Fund.
In the News
- Workforce Realigned, Chapter 17, “Access to Opportunity: The General Assembly Career Impact Bond,” Social Finance and the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Philadelphia
- “For Low-Income Workers, a Chance to Learn New Skills Without Paying a Dime Upfront,” The Boston Globe
- “Unifying America: Nonprofit Provides Support For Low-Income Workers Looking to Switch Careers,” CBS Boston
- “Five Things We Learned About the First-Ever Career Impact Bond,” Pioneer Post
- “Blue Meridian, Schmidt Futures back Career Impact Bonds via Social Finance’s UP Fund,” Impact Alpha
- “Career Impact Bonds Transfer Risk to Investors as the Future of Work Arrives,” Impact Alpha