Cell-Ed

What they do

“I set out to create a radically accessible training platform so everyone has the opportunity to thrive,” says Jessica Rothenberg-Aalami, founder and CEO of Cell-Ed, short for cell phone-based education (no smartphone required).

The youngest of five children, Jessica noticed early on that some children don’t have reliable access to food and housing, let alone books and libraries. Learning that adult low literacy is a leading cause of economic instability for families, she set out to address literacy divides in the U.S. throughout her 30-year career. Via a mobile phone, her team offers an automated way for these learners to access audio lessons offered in microdoses and the participant’s understanding is confirmed before proceeding to the next lesson.

Today, Cell-Ed serves governments including state agencies and counties reaching those receiving public assistance; health care providers educating vulnerable populations; education providers like libraries and community colleges offering programming for low-literacy groups; and employers such as hospitality chains delivering training to frontline employees.

According to its website, since its inception, Cell-Ed has “helped improve the lives of over 10 million people in 54 countries.”

“Our goal is to reach a billion people,” says Jessica.

Why we invested

Cell-Ed, set up as a public benefit corporation, was introduced to Mission Driven Finance after receiving bridge funding from RSF Social Finance and Open Road. Now in expansion mode, Cell-Ed sought funding to train tens of thousands of direct care workers in California through a “learn-to-earn” model. Capital from Advance California is intended to enable Cell-Ed to grow while it retains working capital for service delivery.