For Immediate Release
September 1, 2026
OKLAHOMA CITY — Data from Oklahoma’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) State Plan reflects a marked difference in the labor force participation rate for those living above the poverty level versus those living below it. Systemic barriers such as justice involvement, addiction, generational poverty, or housing instability prevent many from entering and remaining in the labor force. SidexSide was founded in 2023 to chip away at those barriers and today the organization is experiencing tremendous success.
As a result of that success, SidexSide was recently awarded their third Pay for Success (PFS) loan. The Oklahoma City-based nonprofit has achieved a 95 percent career placement rate with help from their first two PFS loans.
SidexSide has built and is successfully modeling a human-centered, behavioral-science rooted approach to bridging the gap between overlooked talent and local employers who need to hire.
Operating a single, laser-focused program rooted in collaboration, the nonprofit currently has 79 local community partners supporting their mission. These partners tackle tasks ranging from program referrals to employee placements.
“SidexSide is not the point – we’re a conduit. We get to serve as a bridge between often overlooked talent who have experienced systemic, stacked barriers and local employers who produce stellar goods and services that enable them to hire,” said Chad Jordan, Founder and CEO of SidexSide. “Even our name stands as a proclamation of where we aim to stand – side-by-side with the community.”
SidexSide’s program offers an intensive nine-week course with participants coming through referrals from 25 local partner organizations such as The Spero Project, Palomar, Diversion Hub, Restore OKC, Homeless Alliance, TEEM, and others.
Initially, participants receive power skills training from more than a dozen local and national curriculum partners. They are then placed with a local employer for an Earn & Learn experience which allows them to apply their skills in a real-world setting. This arrangement also offers employers the opportunity to evaluate the participants' skills and assess their potential for long-term employment.
At the end of the nine weeks, graduates have completed 360 hours of career readiness engagement and earned six (or more) training certificates. The curriculum emphasizes key workforce skills such as time management, critical thinking, communication, computer literacy, financial literacy, mental health, and more. Ideally, the participant will be offered a long-term career their Earn & Learn employer.
Statistics show that 89 percent of SidexSide graduates stay with their employers for longer than a year. Program alumni, all of whom were unemployed or underemployed upon entry, experience an average hourly wage of $18.29.
Upfront operational funding will be provided by the Oklahoma Impact Investing Collaborative (Collaborative).
“We are grateful and honored to support SidexSide as they remove barriers to employment. SidexSide connects overlooked talent with meaningful work, and their clients graduate from the program with renewed self-sufficiency, dignity, and a brighter future,” said Austin Marshall, Business Development Officer for the Oklahoma Impact Investing Collaborative. “The Collaborative is also privileged to partner with the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission and support an impactful nonprofit doing transformative work in our community.”
Upon achieving specific successful program outcomes as validated by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC), SidexSide receives public funds from the State of Oklahoma which are then used to repay the PFS loan. Public dollars are only paid when the program produces successful results.
“Getting to continue this shared mission with support from the Oklahoma Impact Investing Collaborative and OESC is a tremendous honor,” Jordan noted.
By inverting traditional workforce programming to try and uproot the reasons why someone may not keep a job once they earn it, SidexSide has demonstrated strong quantitative (placement, retention, wage increase) and qualitative (HOPE Scale, community trust, trauma recovery) outcomes across 20 cohorts.
“Public workforce dollars should be focused on what works. Pay for Success gives us an opportunity to invest in proven solutions while holding ourselves accountable for measurable outcomes," said OESC CEO Trae Rahill. "SidexSide has demonstrated that when we remove barriers and connect people with the right employers, we can create lasting employment opportunities and a stronger workforce for Oklahoma.”
SidexSide attributes their success rates to several aspects of their program design. Receiving referrals from trusted partners, utilizing a rigorous interview process, compensating participants and cultivating local employers are mission critical to the organization.
More information about SidexSide is available at https://sidexsideokc.org.
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Media Contact:
Ed Long
(405) 922-7580
