When an electrical lineman buckles into a leather strap, shimmies up a wooden pole and restores power to a business after a storm, the owner might not just have the power company to thank. He might also be indebted to The Forward Fund.

John Thomason used the loan he received from the fund, which now provides up to $15,000 for high-demand workforce training, to help cover mortgage payments and other expenses during his career change to become a lineman.

“The Forward Fund making this opportunity available with 0% interest is amazing,” Thomason said. “It’s the best deal possible to start your new career.”

Two years after the nonprofit’s founding, recently employed linemen, truckers, law enforcement officers and registered nurses have benefited from the group’s pay-it-forward educational model, meaning borrowers repay the money once they’re on their feet.

“We’ve financed close to $3 million in loans to nearly 300 students, and our loan fund has grown from $7 million to just over $8.5 million,” Meaghan Dennison, founder and CEO, said in August.

The Forward Fund has been partnering with community colleges, including providing loans in the past to Cape Fear Community College students. The CFCC program is on pause currently but could be restarted in the future.

The organization also has earned accolades, including from the nonprofit group myFutureNC, which named The Forward Fund a 2026 Champion of Attainment.

One of The Forward Fund’s main goals is to help people earn more.

“The average borrower enters the program earning well below a living wage – between roughly $15,000 and $34,000 depending on the cohort and program – and graduates into a salary of more than $45,000,” Dennison said. “This wage jump is at the core of our loan model. Our $45,000 minimum salary threshold for repayment means we recover capital only once a graduate has achieved a livable wage, and all our programs support jobs that pay well above the minimum salary.”

She noted that the initial class of borrowers has had a high success rate.

“Our first borrowers graduated in the spring of 2025 and began repayment in the summer of last year. Today marks the first time we have 12 months of repayment data from a sizeable number of borrowers,” she said. “Most of our borrowers found jobs. Cape Fear Community College’s truck driving program has an employment success rate of at least 80%, and line workers are close to 100%, based on the repayment data we’ve collected.”

Dennison said that the more than $120,000 in loan repayments returned to the fund so far “is early-stage and will grow substantially as more cohorts graduate and move through their three-month grace period and into active repayment.”

The program’s administrators understand that every borrower’s situation will be different. Some borrowers may still be struggling after three months. The objective “isn’t to collect regardless of circumstance,” Dennison said.

“We are closely monitoring borrowers in delinquency and working to provide customized repayment supports to get their loans back on track,” she said. “With outcomes-based lending, if they are experiencing a hardship and making less than $45,000, they can request deferment and remain in good standing with their loan.”

The Forward Fund got off the ground with help from the New Hanover Community Endowment and commitments from the business community, such as a $1 million, five-year investment from Live Oak Bank.

In June, the Golden LEAF Foundation, which was established with North Carolina’s share of the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, awarded another $1 million. The money will support 100 additional students.

“This funding lets us deepen our reach into exactly the parts of North Carolina where access to training capital is most limited and where community colleges serve students who often have the fewest financing alternatives,” Dennison said. “It will help students access high-wage career opportunities, creating lasting benefits for families and strengthening economic mobility and workforce growth across the state.”

The fund will continue to vet training programs to determine strong fits. She said the criteria are enrollment capacity and cost, shorter program terms with high graduation rates, minimum starting salaries and a strong local hiring market.

The registered-nurse program, for example, is an RN refresher course for nurses with lapsed licenses or those seeking to update their skills.

“We look for programs where completion reliably leads to a well-paying job, not just a credential,” Dennison said.

She added that the brief loan cycle means the economic return on investment also arrives quickly.

“Because these programs are short, the time between disbursement and a borrower’s first paycheck is short too,” she said, “which makes outcomes-based repayment financially viable in a way it isn’t for a four-year degree.”