Pursuit

An upskilling initiative "to equip 1,000 adults from low-income backgrounds with the tools and skills they need to become software engineers and thrive in tech careers."

Active

Our mission is to create economic transformation. But training is not the only challenge to workforce development—there’s limited funding for an ever-increasing need. Our solution: an innovative financing model called Pursuit Bond that leverages impact investment and capital markets in addition to philanthropy. It is outcomes-based and relies on Pursuit successfully helping create lasting jobs for its Fellows in order to work. In 2016, we raised pilot funding to test the model and prove that it can work. In 2020, we fully repaid this initial funding, being one of the first programs to successfully complete a training Bond. Based on this success, Pursuit has raised $10 million in impact investments to support our growth, create a sustainable model for job training, and provide economic mobility for more Americans. The investment will enable Pursuit to equip 1,000 adults from low-income backgrounds with the tools and skills they need to become software engineers and thrive in tech careers. In doing so, we will create over $1 billion in increased lifetime earnings for these Fellows. This funding has the potential to create a new financial market for this type of investment.