Pay for Success Partnership Accelerates Employment Program for Disadvantaged Youth

Media Release: June 13, 2023

OKLAHOMA CITY — A ‘sweet’ new program offered by Pivot, an Oklahoma City-based nonprofit, will provide youth ages 17 to 25 who are in or aging out of foster care, are justice involved, or experiencing homelessness with the opportunity to gain on-the-job experience and training while producing specialty fruit preserves and earning an income.

A Pay for Success investment from the Oklahoma Impact Investing Collaborative (OIIC), a subsidiary of MetaFund, in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODMHSAS), will allow this new program, Pivot Preserves, to begin serving more youth. The investment is aimed at supporting workforce development, job placement and retention within Pivot Preserves, and longer-term employment and retention with external companies.

At their 12.5-acre campus in northeast Oklahoma City, Pivot provides programs and services to youth ages 12 to 25 who are experiencing homelessness or unstable home environments, providing them a safe and secure place to live temporarily if needed. This includes counseling, educational and vocational services, and prevention, intervention, and diversion services.

“Pivot is ecstatic to have our social enterprise supported in this impactful way. It accelerates our ability to hire and train more youth at Pivot Preserves and to walk alongside them and teach them the skills needed for meaningful and long-term employment. It will also propel our ability to generate revenue, pouring back into our programs and the youth we serve, furthering our message and our mission,” said Pivot President and CEO, Jennifer Goodrich.

While employed with Pivot, participants are required to enroll concurrently in one of three training programs—on-the-job training, Preparing Adolescents for Young Adulthood (PAYA), or Grow with Google.

On-the-job training focuses on skills needed to be successful in the workplace such as résumés, interviews, how to handle workplace conflict, how to speak to your supervisor and more. PAYA is a life skills curriculum designed to assist participants with money and home management, personal care, relationships, health and safety, education and employment skills, housing, and more. Grow with Google is a self-paced training program aimed at providing individuals with the digital skills required for the jobs they want. Upon successful completion of the Grow with Google program, the participant is guaranteed a remote position at Google.

After six months in the Pivot Preserves program, the participants will receive support in transitioning to external employment with local companies. This will include, but not be limited to, Individual Placement and Support (IPS), an internationally recognized evidence-based program with successful outcomes for individuals experiencing barriers to employment. IPS is administered by ODMHSAS in Oklahoma. Both Pivot and IPS will continue to provide services after job placement for the long-term success of program graduates.

“We are excited about this supported employment partnership with Pivot. We know that supported employment teaches young people the soft and hard skills needed for the job market today. We are confident that Pivot Preserves will provide transition-age youth the skills needed to become more responsible, self-sufficient, and independent and in turn lead to healthier and happier young Oklahomans,” said Suzanne L. Williams, ODMHSAS Director of Employment and Housing.

Jams and preserves produced by Pivot Preserves will be sold in select markets, initially in the Oklahoma City area. As demand increases, the market will be expanded. Holiday gift boxes will also be sold.

"There are so many components of this project that the OIIC is exceedingly proud to support. Pivot Preserves is not only going to give youth access to critical workforce development opportunities and does so in a supported and person-centered way, but this project is also an innovative approach to support the sustainability of all the other impactful programming Pivot does that betters the lives of youth in Oklahoma,” said Sharayah Fore, MetaFund’s Vice President of Impact.

Proceeds from sales will be used to serve additional participants through the program. Plans include building a larger kitchen in the program’s second year. An estimated five youth will be employed every six months with plans to increase that number to 10 in the second year.

More information about Pivot is available at www.pivotok.org