Every college grad deserves a fair shot at a meaningful, growing career. That’s the promise of higher education in America, but the payoff depends on who you know, not just what you learned. Since 2014, COOP Careers has worked to close the social capital gap by recruiting and investing deeply in diverse, low-income, and first-generation grads from the City University of New York, California State, and other public universities.

Our flagship program is a unique digital apprenticeship: Peer cohorts of 16 motivated, underemployed grads meet nightly for 18 weeks (200 hours) to learn technical skills, build community, and jumpstart careers in digital marketing, data analytics and tech sales. Each cohort is led by a team of four cohort captains, near-peer program alumni who serve as coaches, mentors, and guides on top of busy day jobs at local ad agencies and tech companies. In parallel, we help these employers meet, interview, and hire more and more diverse candidates.

We’ve run over 180 cohorts since 2014, with over 2,400 alumni in our first seven years.

Four-in-five alumni overcome underemployment within a year, earning an average of $50,000 after 12 months and over $60,000 after three years. COOP aims to reach 10,000 alumni in our first decade (December 2024), fueling upward mobility and fulfilling the promise of higher education through digital skills and peer connections.