Grant recipient: Per Scholas, Inc.
Term: 2018 –2024
Funding: $4,800,000 from LJAF plus $2,210,013 in committed funding from other sources
Summary: Under this project, Per Scholas —an employment and training program for low-income adults focused on the information technology sector— will expand program delivery by at least 700 new trainees in two U.S. cities selected from among four locations (Atlanta, Columbus, Dallas and Washington, DC). Per Scholas trainees receive 15 weeks of occupational skills training, career readiness services, and post-graduation job placement services. Per Scholas is backed by particularly strong evidence of large earnings impacts relative to program costs. In two prior, well-conducted randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in Per Scholas’ home location in the Bronx, the program was found to produce earnings gains of about 30% ($4,000-$5,000 annually) two to three years after random assignment.
As a condition of grant award, Per Scholas will participate in an RCT at the expansion sites to determine whether the large impacts found in the two prior RCTs can be reproduced under expanded implementation conditions in the new geographic settings.
