Socialwyze, Inc. closed its first round of outside investment with $600,000 in contributions from Mark Cuban Companies, Cortado Ventures, Jason Gaudette, and others. Aiming to provide universal transitional work, Socialwyze launched a mobile app that multiplies the value of government and charitable dollars through industrial-scale public benefit projects tackling poverty, hunger, and climate change.

Founded by Cody Merrill, Socialwye is a revolutionary platform that helps governments and donors pay income insecure individuals to perform public benefit work. The app solves a social matching problem by pairing individuals who most need income with the local public benefit work that most needs to be completed. Governments and donors fund the labor and monitor outcomes, nonprofits post gigs and facilitate worksites, and workers book gigs to tend community gardens, plant trees, clean beaches, and more.

 Socialwyze is currently piloting its technology at a produce distribution drive in South Dallas with Miles of Freedom, a local reentry nonprofit serving formerly incarcerated individuals. The formerly incarcerated population faces high employment barriers and low social trust, making them ideal candidates for barrier-free work opportunities on the Socialwyze platform. Miles of Freedom uses the Socialwyze app to clock workers in, clock them out, and rate their performance to help them build digital resumes to demonstrate credibility to landlords and employers.

 “When people experience income disruption, financial and human costs can spiral out of control quickly,” said Mark Cuban. “I’m thrilled to be an investor in Socialwyze, where we will be able to direct government and philanthropic dollars immediately to people who most need it, while providing them with meaningful work experience and connections to employment.”

 Socialwyze offers a new gig economy twist on FDR-style jobs programs such as the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which provided essential work for displaced workers during the Great Depression. Since then, the US has developed a vast network of nonprofits deploying labor towards nutrition and the environment, and most are looking to expand capacity. Socialwyze is designed to allow ubiquitous access to transitional work through these nonprofit programs, creating a Public Jobs Net to catch households facing eviction and other hardships.

 “People deserve the opportunity to be judged by their character and work ethic instead of their temporary life circumstances,” said Socialwyze Founder Cody Merrill. “Whether someone is experiencing homelessness, is formerly incarcerated, or is facing an imminent threat of eviction, it is far cheaper for society to help them get back onto their feet than to allow them to hit rock bottom and fail. Imagine a society in which nobody willing to work had to fear having their family evicted because of income disruption.”

 Socialwyze is available for download on both the Android and Apple app stores, and work opportunities will be expanding throughout Dallas in 2020 and to new markets in 2021. Donations and inquiries can be made through www.socialwyze.com.

 About Socialwyze

Founded in 2018 when Cody Merrill was living in San Francisco and refused to accept the waste in human potential resulting from status quo homeless solutions. Participants in the EarthX<EIR> program, Stitchcrew Accelerator with the OKC Thunder, and X4impact.org. Potential workers and nonprofits can download Socialwyze today from Android and IOS app stores. To learn more visit www.socialwyze.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.