General Assembly

General Assembly (GA) prepares future workers with today’s most in-demand skills. A top measure of success from GA full-time immersive programs are job placements — in our most recent outcomes report 90.5% of graduates who participated in our career services had a job within 180 days of graduation. These programs have a huge impact on careers and potential earnings, but there are financial access barriers. In partnership with Social Finance, GA offers the Career Impact Bond (CIB) where students have no upfront financial commitment, wrap-around supports, and career coaching, to secure employment following graduation. CIB is designed for students facing barriers to employment. Within CIB there is still an access gap, many students do not have the required hardware to participate. To solve this, GA is creating a Technology Fund designated to help students acquire internet, a computer, and other hardware needed to participate in bootcamp training.

The pandemic has not only given rise to unprecedented challenges for our nation, but it has also widened long-existing inequities. People have lost their jobs, or lost precious hours, and are faced with the challenge of not having relevant skills, and not being able to afford training. The CIB supports students struggling to afford GA training, but currently there are students who still cannot begin a training program because they do not have internet or a computer capable of executing the required software.

This is the digital divide — people across the country lack access to affordable internet and computer hardware due to a cycle of profit-driven discrimination. According to a 2020 study by Microsoft, 162 million Americans comprise the digital divide. The large majority of these individuals are from low-income communities, and are individuals who identify as BIPOC. The CIB currently has an emergency fund intended for unforeseen financial needs.To date we have distributed $96K in emergency funds, with almost 50% of students accessing the fund to specifically support tech needs. The digital divide prevents students from accessing accelerated technical training and creates a loop of exclusion.

The Career Impact Bond (CIB) is a financing model that expands access to quality, industry-recognized career training to people who face barriers to education and employment like low income, criminal justice involvement, and immigration status. It’s based on a student-centered income share agreement (ISA) that allows students to enroll in training with no upfront costs. Our solution builds on the CIB’s innovation and proven success with the Technology Fund — a fund designated to offer laptops, access to high speed wireless internet, and hardware accessories for students and close the digital divide.

The target population for CIB are people who face barriers to education and employment. These barriers include low income, criminal justice involvement, and immigration status. Highlighted below are CIB’s current student metrics.

CIB Student Metrics: 

• 60% of students are between the ages of 25 to 34

• 59% male, 37% female, and 3% non-binary

• 51% of students identify as non white (Black/African American, Asian, South Asian, Latinx) 

• 26% of students are parents

• 67% of students enter the program without a 4 year college degree

• 45% of students come from Retail/Customer Service & Hospitality industries

• 74% of students report earning less than $30000 annually at enrollment

The Career Impact Bond prepares those entering, re-entering, or who are in need of upskilling for the future of work with affordable training and wraparound supports, to ensure students are successful, and ultimately result in job placement. The Technology Fund would allow CIB to reach those currently excluded by removing connectivity and hardware challenges. The target population for CIB are people who face barriers to education and employment. These barriers include income, criminal justice involvement, and immigration status (see our previous response for CIB student metrics).

Currently our Career Impact Bond is offered in-person in ten cities across the US and nationally for our live online instructor-led courses with proven success in both formats. Our CIB students are supported currently with an emergency fund. If GA is selected for this opportunity we would use this allocation to strengthen and expand our program supports by creating a Technology Fund to support students purchasing laptops, paying for internet, etc.

The Career Impact Bond is the first of its kind, a financing model that expands access to quality, industry-recognized career training and to people who face barriers to education and employment such as, income, criminal justice system involvement, and immigration status. It’s based on a student-centered income share agreement (ISA) that allows students to enroll in training with no upfront costs. Students utilizing CIB have a dedicated team of social workers who help students access additional resources, and help to manage their experiences both inside and outside of the classroom. This means that CIB students can prioritize and focus on their training program, with little to no interruption. CIB is available for GA’s UX, and software engineering immersives. One year after an immersive course, 96.8% of graduates who participated in our Full-Time Career Services program had accepted a job offer in their field of study. Not only do GA’s immersive programs translate into job placements, they also lead to higher job satisfaction and increased wages for students. Based on a Gallup survey of GA graduates, one year after the course, 84% of Immersive graduates were happier in their careers, and 74% were making more money. Five years after course completion, a majority of Immersive graduates more than doubled their income (103% increase, on average). GA’s plan to establish a dedicated Technology Fund will increase access to this innovative financing model.

Technology skills are central to the future of work and GA has been a leading tech training provider for the last 10 years. The CIB is offered for GA’s immersive career change courses — the User Experience Design Immersive, and Software Engineering Immersive programs. In these courses GA teaches the most relevant technologies in order for students to leave the course with industry relevant, in-demand skills. In the software engineering course, students learn full-stack development and leave the course with a full portfolio of projects that are at an industry level. Our User Experience Design Immersive covers design principles, the most current programs for designing and prototyping, as well as user research, testing, and interviews. Graduates from the User Experience Design Immersive have a full portfolio of projects that are at an industry level. 

Currently students who participate in the CIB must have a reliable internet connection, a computer, and additional hardware for remote programs. The Technology Fund would allow previously excluded populations to access CIB financing, graduate from GA’s immersive programs with the latest technology, and break into tech through GA’s comprehensive career coaching services.

Over the past 10 years, GA has helped more than 12,000 career-changers land jobs in software engineering, data, and user experience design through our outcomes programming. Students work hand-in-hand with dedicated career coaches who help them build a personal brand, apply for jobs, prepare for interviews, and tackle technical assessments with confidence. 

According to GA’s most recent Outcomes Report, reviewed by KPMG, one year after the course, 96.8% of graduates from our immersive programs who participated in our Full-Time Career Services program had accepted a job offer in their field of study. 90.5% of graduates who participated in our Full-Time Career Services program accepted a job offer in their field of study within 180 days of graduating. For graduates of Q1 2019 - Q3 2019, this number is 92.4%. For graduates of Q4 2019, who kicked off their job search as COVID-19 impacted the economy, this number is 84.8%. An additional 8.7% of all full-time job seekers accepted a job offer after 180 days, for a total of 99.2% of this eligible population working in the field.

Not only do GA’s immersive programs translate into job placements, they also lead to higher job satisfaction and increased wages for students. One year after the course, 84% of Immersive graduates were happier in their careers, and 74% were making more money. Five years after course completion, a majority of Immersive graduates more than doubled their income (103% increase, on average).

Our graduates secure jobs at top companies across sectors including Adobe, Amazon, Apple, Bank of America, Capital One, Cisco, CVS Health, Deloitte, Dish Network, Disney, Express Scripts, Google, HP, Microsoft, Prudential Financial, Salesforce, Verizon and Visa.

GA teaches these technologies and devotes class time to understanding and discussing ethics involved in each career track, and the relevant technologies.

To date 642 students have used the CIB to participate in a GA immersive. GA initially set a goal of serving 1,000 students over the initial projected 5 years. The popularity of the program has set us up to far surpass our goal. We are currently on track to reach the 1000 enrollment goal in half the time, at 2.5 years. Given the large demand for CIB we are projecting to continue to increase the students we serve over the next year and five years.

As a mission-driven organization, GA has maintained a steadfast commitment to creating equitable pathways to the most in-demand careers in the digital economy over the course of our ten-year history. We launched our social impact portfolio in 2014 when we were still a venture-backed start-up, collaborating with businesses, nonprofits, and government to build partnerships designed to ensure that adults from underserved and overlooked communities could access our programs. The Career Impact Bond is an important part of GA’s commitment to social impact and to widening access to high-growth, competitive-compensation roles for underserved communities. GA is dedicating personnel and resources to growing our social impact, and with that growing the number of students we serve through these programs and maintaining our commitment to job placement.

GA measures success towards our impact goals. We track the number of students that enroll in our programs from underserved backgrounds, with concentrated efforts on creating partnerships to reach and support students with diverse needs. Throughout the program we collect student and instructor feedback to understand how students are progressing with course content. One of our guiding metrics is net promoter score (NPS) -- which we collect throughout the class. And, finally our ultimate goal is to support successful career transitions, for this GA tracks interviews, job offers, and ultimately job placement. 

A core component in the skills training is equipping students with employability skills through project-based collaborative work, which is supplemented by career readiness and “soft” skills through the career coaching program. Career coaches begin working with students on the first week of the program, and teach a lesson every week related to career readiness. These coaches work hand-in-hand with students until they secure their first role, no matter how long the search takes — though most students are able to secure roles within six months of course completion.

At GA the Career Impact Bond is overseen by two full-time employees with additional support from numerous team members through our traditional student support staffing including the Admissions, Consumer Finance, Student Success, Instructor, Career Coaching, Social Work teams and the VP of Social Impact. 

The Technology Fund builds on the innovation of our Career Impact Bond by expanding access to those without access to the required hardware or technology for the program. The CIB currently has an emergency fund intended for unforeseen financial needs.To date we have distributed $96K in emergency funds, with almost 50% of students accessing the fund to specifically support tech needs. Tech needs are not an emergency, they are a necessity for completing a program. The digital divide prevents students from accessing accelerated technical training and creates a loop of exclusion.

General Assembly’s mission is to empower people to pursue the work they love, and we recognize that not all individuals have the same level of access and opportunity. Over the past ten years, GA has trained over 80,000 adults in fields such as data analytics, data science, digital marketing, software engineering, user experience design across 32 campuses in five countries -- we believe that education is for all and serving diverse students is at the core of GA’s mission. 

That’s why we launched the Social Impact initiative five years ago to create pathways for students from underserved and underrepresented communities into tech, marketing, data, and design.  Our campus and leadership teams reflect a large range of diversity in demographics as well as background and experience and we are committed to continuing to ensure our leadership team reflects the diversity of the populations we serve.

The pandemic has not only given rise to unprecedented challenges for our nation, but it has also widened long-existing inequities. People have lost their jobs, or lost precious hours, and are faced with the challenge of not having relevant skills, and not being able to afford training. The CIB supports students struggling to afford GA training, but currently there are students who still cannot begin a training program because they do not have internet or a computer capable of executing the required software.

This is the digital divide — people across the country lack access to affordable internet and computer hardware due to a cycle of profit-driven discrimination. According to a 2020 study by Microsoft, 162 million Americans comprise the digital divide. The large majority of these individuals are from low-income communities, and are individuals who identify as BIPOC. The CIB currently has an emergency fund intended for unforeseen financial needs.To date we have distributed $96K in emergency funds, with almost 50% of students accessing the fund to specifically support tech needs. The digital divide prevents students from accessing accelerated technical training and creates a loop of exclusion.

Currently our CIB is offered in-person in ten cities across the US and nationally for our live online instructor led courses with proven success in both formats. Our CIB students are supported currently with an emergency fund. If GA is selected for this opportunity we would use this allocation to strengthen and expand our program supports by creating a Technology Fund to support students purchasing laptops, paying for internet, etc.

GA is always looking for hiring partners who are committed to diverse talent pipelines.