Meet the 2024 Impact Prize Winners
Rebuilding Exchange
Functioning as one of the only deconstruction workforce development programs in the Chicagoland area, Rebuilding Exchange collaborates with a robust set of non-profit partners and building trades employers for participant recruitment, career development, and job placement needs. In 2023, 85% of their Pre-Apprenticeship Program graduates were either employed or in an apprenticeship program, and 75% of alumni retained employment after one year. The Rebuilding Exchange will use the Impact Prize funds to expand their transitional employment program to serve 20 more individuals per year.
Lost Angels Children’s Project
Established in 2014, the Los Angels Children’s Project (LACP) is on a mission to serve disadvantaged youth, young adults, families, and distressed communities through innovative vocational training, social enterprise, and traditional outreach programs. Their flagship Work Program offers intensive training and skills development in industrial arts like welding and composites design, tailored to the aerospace industry. This program has a 97.6% completion rate and 100% job placement in high-growth aerospace positions. LACP plans to use the Impact Prize funds to expand the number of students enrolled in the Work Program.
Rise Up Industries
Sector: Manufacturing
Launched in 2016, Rise Up Industry’s (RUI) reentry program addresses the needs of formerly incarcerated individuals and those previously involved in gangs, while also filling a regional labor market gap for computer numeric control machine operators in San Diego. With a 5% recidivism rate, an 100% employment rate upon graduation, and an 85% employment rate one-year post-graduation, RUI successfully provides career guidance, apprenticeship, and wrap-around services to a historically marginalized population. The 2024 Impact Prize will support their long-term vision of expanding the Reentry Program by doubling the program’s enrollment capacity over the next two years.
West Virginia Women Work
Sector: Construction
For over 24 years, West Virginia Women Work (WVWW) has supported women in West Virginia to achieve economic self-sufficiency through comprehensive training and support services, focusing on skilled trades and manufacturing fields. Their Step Up for Women Pre-apprenticeship Programs, for construction and manufacturing, have significantly advanced the careers of over 300 graduates in the last 5 years, with 82% securing higher-paying jobs in nontraditional fields. The funding from the Impact Prize will allow WVWW to increase access to their programs, particularly in underserved rural areas, by providing these services free of charge to more individuals in need.
Meet the 2024 Impact Prize Finalists
Boston Education, Skills, and Training Corp
Mission: To provide individuals with the education, skills and training to excel in the hospitality industry and in their personal lives
Grace Institute of New York
Mission: To train and empower women to achieve employment and economic self-sufficiency
Manufacturing Works
Sector: Manufacturing
Mission: To help Northeast Ohio manufacturing companies thrive by delivering solutions that support their people, enhance their productivity, and help them prosper
Marcy Lab School
Sector: Technology
Mission: To provide an exceptional post-secondary education experience that propels underestimated young adults into financially-rewarding and purpose-driven careers in the tech sector
Next Chapter Project
Sector: Technology
Mission: To empower formerly incarcerated people to excel in tech careers while driving positive systems change across the industry
Next Chapter Project
Sector: Construction
Mission: To build skills, hope, and resilience in Chicago’s underserved communities through construction job training and job creation