More than 4.3 million 18 to 24 year olds in the United States are neither employed nor enrolled in postsecondary education, resulting in an opportunity divide in which the people who stand to benefit the most from higher education and career opportunities find it hardest to do so. Virtually all jobs, even entry-level positions that offer wages sufficient to support a family, require at least some training beyond high school. But while just one year of postsecondary education can increase lifetime earnings by 5 to 15 percent, many youth often drop out of college or job programs because they lack the skills to succeed. As a result, they can obtain only the lowest paying jobs with little prospect for advancement.

It is these youth that Year Up seeks to launch into successful careers and higher education. Year Up's vision is that all urban young adults will have access to the education, experiences, and guidance required to realize their true potential.

Closing the Opportunity Divide
Year Up is an intensive, one-year training program that provides urban youth ages 18 to 24 with education, experience, support, and guidance that develops their technical and professional skills, improves their higher education credentials, and creates opportunities for economic self-sufficiency. During the first six months of the program, students focus on technical and professional skill development with an emphasis on communication, teamwork, problem solving, and leadership. Once these skills are mastered, Year Up places students in six-month technical support or investment operations internships with leading companies like Citigroup, Houghton Mifflin, and Microsoft. These internships allow students to apply their new skills and gain valuable work experience.

Upon graduation from the program, Year Up students have completed the equivalent of five college classes covering technology and business skills. As emerging young professionals, they have access to a support network of Year Up alumni who act as mentors and provide job leads and career advice. Sherley Torres, a former Year Up student who is now a Help Desk Specialist at a nonprofit explained the impact of the program on her life. "Before I came to Year Up, I didn't think I was going to have much of a future," she said, "I had two kids and believed that I didn't have the freedom to develop a career. Attending Year Up made me realize that once I set a goal for myself, I can achieve it. My goal now is to be a role model for other young women, to show them what Year Up taught me."

Driving Social Change
Year Up's success is a direct result of the achievements of its graduates who consistently prove that urban youth have the determination to succeed in professional careers and higher education. With an 86 percent retention rate, Year Up serves more than 600 students per year in six states. Eight-five percent of Year Up graduates are placed in professional positions within four months of graduation where they earn an average of $15.25 per hour. In addition, nearly half of Year Up graduates enroll in college within a year of graduation from the program. "Before attending Year Up, I was a completely different person from who I am now," said Wilson Correa, a computer technician and student at Cambridge College. "My experience at Year Up made an enormous impact on my life. I now have the skills to work at a great company and am able to speak English fluently. More importantly, I have clear goals for my future. I want to keep growing in my career and become the first member in my family to earn a college degree."

Gerald Chertavian founded Year Up in 2000 and now serves as its CEO. Year Up has been recognized by Fast Company as one of the top 25 organizations in the nation using business excellence to engineer social change. Gerald is continuing to lead Year Up toward its goals of serving 1,600 students in seven cities annually by 2011, and 5,000 students per year in 25 cities by 2016. Year Up is also honing its strategy to expand the program beyond the young adults it serves directly, and is working on several policy proposals to address the larger opportunity divide in America.