GiveBetter x New York City

St. Nicks Alliance

Brooklyn workforce training plus affordable housing, youth and elder services

Research time: 2 min on Claude Opus 5.5
  • Research — reviewed programs, finances and impact evidence.
  • Modeling — estimated costs, QALYs and uncertainty.
  • Source audit — checked claims, assumptions and calculations.

Updated: 2026-10-18

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Summary

What do they do? St. Nicks Alliance is a Brooklyn community organization that runs job training, affordable housing, youth programs and elder care. Its workforce programs train adults and young people for certifications in construction, HVAC, environmental remediation, building maintenance and healthcare, and it reports placing over 1,000 people a year in jobs or further education. This in-depth review charges the whole organization’s cost against only the earnings gains its environmental-remediation training produced in a randomized trial.

Why we’re interested in this organization:

  • In MDRC’s randomized WorkAdvance trial of about 480 applicants, St. Nicks’ training raised average earnings by 32% in year 10 and the share earning $45,000 or more by 7 points.

  • It is the only one of the four WorkAdvance providers with a significant earnings effect ten years after enrollment.

  • Its other services (housing, youth and elder care) add value we do not count, so the estimate is conservative.

Our main reservations:

  • Our working estimate is about $527K per DALY; it counts only workforce earnings while charging the whole budget.

  • Gains appeared only in years 8 to 10; earlier years showed no significant effect, so the result could be a late fluke.

  • Today’s workforce programs cover many more trades than the tested environmental-remediation track, so transfer is uncertain.

What do you get for your dollar? $527K per DALY in New York City. DALY is our one-year comparison unit. QALY-based health gains and income-welfare equivalents retain their original assumptions; they are not measured clinical DALYs. Whole-organization cost against only workforce earnings gains from a randomized trial; other programs unquantified; income-only welfare comparison, not a verified marginal gift offer.

Annual earnings and share earning $45,000+ over ten years.

1. What do they do?

St. Nicks Alliance (St Nicks Alliance Corp, EIN 51-0192170) works in north Brooklyn. Its workforce division offers skills training and certifications in construction, HVAC, environmental remediation, building maintenance, data analytics, financial services and hemodialysis, plus adult education and youth programs such as YouthBuild. The wider organization also develops affordable housing and runs youth, education and elder-care services. A donation supports the whole organization unless restricted.

2. Monitoring and information sharing

St. Nicks was a WorkAdvance provider in MDRC’s randomized trial: 242 applicants were assigned to its environmental-remediation program and 237 to a control group, with earnings tracked in administrative wage records for ten years. It reports annual placement counts on its website. We did not find program-level costs, enrollments or completion rates; we have not contacted the organization.

3. Qualitative assessment

At three years the trial found no significant earnings effect at St. Nicks, and the seven-year report attributed WorkAdvance’s pooled gains mainly to Per Scholas. By years 8 to 10, however, St. Nicks participants earned more; in year 10 average earnings were 32% higher and 7 percentage points more earned $45,000 or more. Year 10 overlapped the pandemic recovery. A late-emerging effect is plausible for trades with credential ladders, but it rests on one site and a few years.

4. What do you get for your dollar?

Our central estimate is $527K per DALY, using one modeled equivalent year. It is an income-only comparison of the workforce benefit alone.

Cost. We charge the CY2023 whole-organization expense, $47.7M, to the roughly 1,000 adults and young people it places each year: $47,666 each. This deliberately loads housing, youth and elder-care spending onto the workforce benefit, so it overstates the cost of the training itself.

Benefit. We credit a $6,000 average gross gain in years 8–10 (rising to 32% of a $30,000 base in year 10) and half that for five more years, 60% of it as net welfare. We keep 0.5 for transfer to today’s broader programs, 0.85 for displacement and 0.9 for NYC residence.

Range. If a restricted gift bore only workforce costs (assumed a quarter of the budget), the estimate is $132K per DALY. With no persistence after year 10 it is $928K per DALY; with full transfer, $263K per DALY. If the late gains do not replicate, there is no credited benefit.

Model, assumptions and sensitivity

CY2023 whole-organization expense divided by about 1,000 people placed per year; non-workforce programs charged but not credited.

Brooklyn participants; 0.9 of earning years in the NYC metro.

Price = cost per placed participant ÷ Σ [0.5 × discounted years × ln(1 + 0.6 × gain ÷ base) × transfer × non-displacement × NYC share]. Health = 0.

CY2023 total expense
47665555 USD (observed). Form 990. [propublica]
Placed per year
1000 people (observed). "Over 1,000" placed in jobs or advanced education annually. [sn-workforce]
Late gross gain
6000 USD per year, years 8–10 (judgment). Year-10 +32% on a ~$30,000 base, lower in years 8–9. [mdrc-10yr]
Base earnings
30000 USD per year (judgment). Control-group level not retrieved.
Transfer to current programs
0.5 share (judgment). Tested track was environmental remediation; current programs are broader. [sn-workforce]
Non-displacement
0.85 share (judgment). Some trade jobs taken from other applicants.

Whole-organization cost per placed participant, late trial gains: Cost: $4.8M; New York City health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 9.05. CY2023 whole expense over about 1,000 adults placed or advanced each year; $6,000 gross gain in years 8-10 and half that for five more years; 0.5 transfer, 0.85 non-displacement, 0.9 NYC.

Only a quarter of spending is workforce: Cost: $1.2M; New York City health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 9.05. If a gift restricted to workforce programs bore only their share of cost (judgment: 25% of the budget).

Gains end at year 10: Cost: $4.8M; New York City health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 5.13. No persistence after the observed window.

32% of base in years 8-10: Cost: $4.8M; New York City health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 11.87. Uses the year-10 gain for all three late years.

Current programs as effective as WorkAdvance: Cost: $4.8M; New York City health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 18.09. The trial model applies to today’s broader trades and youth programs.

Current programs much less effective: Cost: $4.8M; New York City health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 4.52. Only a small part of current workforce activity resembles the tested model.

No effect at current scale: Cost: $4.8M; New York City health QALYs: 0.00; all-population health QALYs: 0.00. Income-equivalent healthy years: 0.00. Late gains do not replicate.

Counterfactual: Randomized control applicants with access to other training and jobs.

Attribution: A gift is credited with the transferred average late effect per placed participant at whole-organization cost; other services unquantified.

Dominated by whether the late single-site gain is real and transfers to current programs, and by the share of cost that is workforce.

Sensitivity

  • Only a quarter of spending is workforce: $132K per DALY. If a gift restricted to workforce programs bore only their share of cost (judgment: 25% of the budget).
  • Gains end at year 10: $928K per DALY. No persistence after the observed window.
  • 32% of base in years 8-10: $402K per DALY. Uses the year-10 gain for all three late years.
  • Current programs as effective as WorkAdvance: $263K per DALY. The trial model applies to today’s broader trades and youth programs.
  • Current programs much less effective: $1.1M per DALY. Only a small part of current workforce activity resembles the tested model.
  • No effect at current scale: no finite positive estimate. Late gains do not replicate.

Unresolved inputs

  • Year-by-year dollar impacts and control means at St. Nicks.
  • Workforce program cost and enrollment.
  • Whether added funding creates added trainees.

Health and income breakdown

For the modeled $4.8M: 0.00 health QALYs + 9.05 income-equivalent healthy years in New York City: $527K per DALY. Income equivalents are welfare comparisons, not observed QALYs or DALYs.

Method and caveats.

5. Funding and previous grants

St Nicks Alliance Corp reported CY2023 expenses of $47.7M, up from $41.9M in 2022 and $35.1M in 2021, with $35.7M of contributions and grants and $10.1M of program service revenue. Related entities include St Nicks Alliance Home Care Corp and a community development corporation, which are not included here. We have not seen a costed plan for added workforce trainees.

Annual expenses

Organization-level spending, including programs, administration and fundraising. The research list averages three comparable, consecutive full fiscal years when available.

  • FY 2021: $35.1M; St Nicks Alliance Corp, EIN 51-0192170, 12-month period, IRS Form 990 total functional expenses, calendar year. Source
  • FY 2022: $41.9M; St Nicks Alliance Corp, EIN 51-0192170, 12-month period, IRS Form 990 total functional expenses, calendar year. Source
  • FY 2023: $47.7M; St Nicks Alliance Corp, EIN 51-0192170, 12-month period, IRS Form 990 total functional expenses, calendar year. Source

6. Sources

  1. Effects of Sector-Focused Training After 10 Years: Findings from the WorkAdvance Evaluation. MDRC (Yusim, Schaberg, Tessler and Ubalijoro). Published: 2025-09-01; retrieved: 2026-10-18.
  2. Employment and earnings effects of the WorkAdvance demonstration after seven years (St. Nicks site). U.S. Department of Labor CLEAR. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-18.
  3. Can sector strategies promote longer-term effects? Three-year impacts (St. Nicks site). U.S. Department of Labor CLEAR. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-18.
  4. Workforce Development. St. Nicks Alliance. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-18.
  5. St Nicks Alliance Corp, Form 990 filings (EIN 51-0192170). IRS, hosted by ProPublica. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-18.
  6. Cost-effectiveness: health and log-income comparison. Coefficient Giving. Published: not stated; retrieved: 2026-10-18.