Connecting the Unemployed with Services, Funds and Jobs Impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic

Mastercard today announced the expansion of its partnership with OnwardUS, a new coalition of governors, technology companies and funding partners working to assist workers who have been furloughed or laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Led by Bitwise Industries and the Kapor Center, OnwardUS is building an online platform that aims to shorten the length of unemployment and mitigate the financial burden for the more than 17 million Americans who have lost their jobs during the crisis.

Leveraging complementary resources from coalition members including several leading technology companies, the website will connect displaced workers to employers that are hiring right now, essential life services and access to retraining and upskilling.

“OnwardUS, developed by Shift3 Technologies, was built to scale to be responsive to the growing needs of American workers who have been impacted by COVID-19,” said Jake Soberal, CEO and Co-Founder, Bitwise Industries. “The contributions of Mastercard make the site more impactful and will allow it to serve even more people during this crisis.”

Supported by a donation from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the platform will also leverage Mastercard’s contribution of technology, tools, and the expertise of the network to provide critical resources to families experiencing hardship from the public health crisis. Through our City Possible™ global network, Mastercard will collaborate with government and social impact partners to identify experts, organizations, and potential funders to increase the efficacy of the platform in each state where the OnwardUS platform is launched. 

“As the nation faces staggering challenges, the private sector has a vital role to play in helping Americans achieve financial security by bringing its technology to the table through partnerships like OnwardUS,” commented Michael Froman, Vice Chairman and President of Strategic Growth. “Through OnwardUS, we look forward to creating more resilient societies and helping people make the transition back to work.”

Launched first in California and Colorado, the program will be offered to all 50 states with plans to deploy to several other jurisdictions in the coming weeks. In just one week since launch in California, the platform has already garnered significant traction with over 113,000 jobs currently available through the platform and over 312,000 users matched with a resource on the website. 

“While the US is experiencing unprecedented job losses, there are several sectors that are ramping up and need more workers during and following the pandemic,” commented Laura D. Tyson, a Global Economy Fellow at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth and Former Chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton Administration. “Platforms like OnwardUS can help build the necessary infrastructure to keep workers in the labor force and put the country in a better position for a strong and inclusive economic recovery.”

Mastercard’s partnership with OnwardUS builds on the company’s longstanding commitment to financial inclusion, most recently demonstrated by the pledge of $250 million in capital and resources to help maintain financial security for small businesses and their employees.