First Step Staffing, a nonprofit social enterprise staffing company in Atlanta, GA, employs men and women who are transitioning out of homelessness, disabled, veterans, and those formerly incarcerated. After acquiring a for-profit staffing competitor in 2016, turning it into a nonprofit, and growing sales to $22 million with 1,250 employees –750 of whom are homeless – First Step wanted to replicate its business model in other U.S. cities. The organization posted this opportunity on CapNexus to attract funders for its expansion.
Reinvestment Fund contacted First Step after seeing the CapNexus post and decided to fund First Step’s acquisition of a for-profit staffing company in Philadelphia. Reinvestment Fund also brought together the Nonprofit Finance Fund, LISC, and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation to participate in the loan. The deal will allow First Step to expand into a second city and continue its mission of providing job opportunities for men and women with barriers to workforce re-entry.
According to First Step founder and Board Chair Greg Block, “Our CapNexus post and the call from the Reinvestment Fund really led to being able to attract the other CDFIs that we had not worked with before.” First Step Staffing hopes to expand to four additional cities to continue offering daily job opportunities and to provide job coaching, transportation, and housing placement assistance to individuals in need.
Read more in the press release included below.
