Organization Details

Year Up is a one-year intensive training program that provides urban young adults ages 18 - 24, with a unique combination of technical and professional skills, college credit and a paid corporate internship.

The first six months of the program are spent training students in either Information Technology Help Desk, Computer Desktop Support, Financial Services, or Customer Service. The second six months of the program are spent as an intern at a local corporation.

Year Up is an "earn while you learn" program which means we pay our students a stipend of $144/per week for the first six months of training and then $260/per week for the final six months when they are placed in a corporate internship with participating companies such as American Express, Citi, JP MorganChase, Marsh & McClennan, Tower Research Capital and UBS.

In addition, we offer our graduates 16 free college credits upon completion of the one year program to attend Pace University, our collegiate partner.

Our young people have high school degrees or GEDs and typically don't know where to go or what to do next with their lives. This program is a great next step to give them the skills, support, and collegiate environment to start a career ladder. 70% of our students are working and/or in college within four months of graduation. Our goal is to recruit young men and women that will see this program as a true opportunity to gain technical and professional skills, college credits and start a career path for themselves.

In 2000, Year Up was founded to systematically address the opportunity divide that exists in this country with a comprehensive yearlong program designed to educate urban talent and enable them to advance in an economy that increasingly demands skilled workers.

After researching the program for months, Gerald Chertavian (Year Up CEO and Founder) pledged himself and $500,000 of his own money to start Year Up. This program began in a few rooms in Boston provided by Alta Communications, with a handful of dedicated staff members who were determined to change the face of Boston by giving area youth the opportunity to step up into the corporate world. Year up reached out to area high schools and community based organizations, and assembled its first class of students.

After moving to its own location in Boston (now the national headquaters), Year Up graduated its first class of 20 students on June 20, 2002. The program was an immediate success, with 90% of graduates placed in jobs earning $15/hour within four months.

But success in one location wasn't enough - ultimately, Year Up's goal is to employ a replication model that will allow it to effectively serve thousands of urban young adults across the country. Building on the success of the Boston site, new sites were opened in Cambridge, Providence, Washington D.C., and New York City. Together, these sites serve more than 350 students annually, dramatically increasing Year Up's social impact. Over the next decade, the continued expansion of Year Up will bring new hope and opportunity to cities across the country, and change the way America thinks about its urban youth.

Address

55 Exchange Place Suite 403
New York, NY 10005
(212) 785-3340 Ext. 1325

View large map