{"id":27498,"date":"2020-02-13T18:22:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T23:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?p=27498"},"modified":"2020-02-14T11:32:49","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T16:32:49","slug":"millennial-workforce-tackles-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/millennial-workforce-tackles-poverty\/","title":{"rendered":"Millennial Workforce Tackles Poverty"},"content":{"rendered":"
>> Back to February 15th Edition 2020<\/a><\/div>\n

When I founded the Capital Good Fund in February 2009, I was driven by two simple observations. First, that predatory consumer financial services harm the most vulnerable populations in the U.S.; and second, that there are precious few equitable alternatives to payday lenders, pawnshops, rent-to-own stores, and other subprime lenders that represent a $200 billion industry. Fast-forward 11 years, and Good Fund has issued over 4,500 personal loans totaling $10 million, with a 95% repayment rate. We recently expanded into our fifth state and have been growing exponentially.<\/p>\n

I attribute our success to many factors, but most important has been a dedicated and motivated workforce. We are at 32 full-time employees, of which 70% belong to the Millennial Generation (born 1981 \u2013 1996). While I am a Millennial myself, I did not intentionally seek a Millennial workforce. Our team developed organically. Here are the reasons why Millennials are attracted to working for us:<\/p>\n

Mission.<\/strong> It is a well-worn observation that Millennials want jobs that align with their values, but, taking it a step further, it is important that the values of the employees permeate throughout the social enterprise. Angela Tosca, Director of IT, notes that, \u201cthe supportive management, culture of openness and social awareness, and genuinely caring staff\u201d keep her excited in her work as the business evolves. We are a nonprofit lender and U.S. Treasury-certified Community Development Financial Institution with the mission to create pathways out of poverty through equitable financial services<\/em>. As the company has evolved and changed over the years, we have engaged our staff to ensure that their passion for social justice is reflected in our products, services, company culture, and customer service. As evidence of this, we often note that we have 230 Google reviews with a 4.8 average rating!<\/p>\n

Millennials are also excited by the promise of social enterprise to tackle injustice at scale. For instance, they are motivated by the challenge of maintaining a balance between the imperative to fulfill our mission and the need to generate revenue. This challenge is communicated to all staff so that they can directly engage in finding solutions. We also have monthly all-staff meetings to provide a venue for people to see and hear the big picture directly from the executive team. In other words, having a notable mission is great, but the more important element is making people understand how the mission informs and guides the overall operation giving them a voice in that process. Millennials want to understand their role in the bigger picture and an ethos of strong communication provides that needed context.<\/p>\n

Location.<\/strong> Of course, young and talented individuals live across the country. Increasingly, though, they are looking to live closer to home, or in smaller cities and towns that have less traffic, higher quality of life, and a lower cost-of-living. Capital Good Fund started in Rhode Island, and 24 of our 32 team members work at our Providence headquarters. The remaining team members are spread out across our footprint but remain highly connected via electronic communication and low-cost video conference features.<\/p>\n

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