Our Mission

Overcoming underemployment through digital skills and peer connections.

The Challenge

Every year, one million first-generation and low-income students graduate from college believing that a bachelor’s degree will provide long-term economic wellbeing for themselves and their families. A shocking number never realize this promise. 

Over half of recent graduates are underemployed, working in jobs that don’t require a degree or offer commensurate salaries. For three in four of those graduates, underemployment becomes a trap they cannot escape: they will continue to earn significantly less than their peers for at least the next decade.

A key reason is the network gap. Research indicates that 85% of positions are filled through referrals, but even as degree attainment has scaled, access to professional networks has not. 

Only 1 in 5 first-generation seniors network with professionals in their field, with lasting professional impact: they find good jobs less often (31%) and build significantly less wealth over their lifetime than their peers.

For these graduates, who are more likely to support families and face overwhelming student debt, the promise of upward mobility is the most profound–and the most likely to be broken. 

At COOP, our mission is to mend that promise with the relationships, mentors, and opportunities that connect them to their first good job and set them on a path toward long-term economic mobility.

Our Solution

Graph with our solution including near-peer connections, alumni coaches, and focus on full-time jobs. COOP's social-capital program: Peer connections for economic mobility. Alumni coaches, skills, and networks for good jobs.

COOP bridges the social capital gap by equipping underemployed first-generation and low-income college graduates with peer connections that unlock upward economic mobility. 

Our unique program model matches peer cohorts of motivated college graduates with alumni coaches to support them in building the professional skills and networks they need to get their first good job. 

We connect un-/underemployed college graduates to one another — within cohorts and across “generations” of cohorts. By growing their peer professional networks, members of our community achieve upward economic mobility by building the skills and connections they need for the careers they deserve.

Our fellowship for underemployed graduates has produced compelling wage outcomes for thousands of first-generation and Pell recipient grads in New York, California, Illinois, and Florida. Within 12 months of program completion, three out of four COOP alumni are fully employed, earning an average of $50,000 per year (median pre-program earnings are $12,000 per year). 

We imagine a world where peer and near-peer connections help first-generation and low-income college grads overcome underemployment — where thousands secure good jobs faster through their COOP network.