Year Up
23
5
"Up" is the number of experts who agree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in the
field. "Down" is the number of experts who disagree that the nonprofit has had the most impact in field.
Headquarters Location: Boston, MA
Founded: 2000
Mission: Year Up's mission is to close the Opportunity Divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education.
Tags:
national, workforce development, employment training, skill training, internships, college credit, technology training, leadership development, education
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Gerald Chertavian.
Gerald Chertavian is dedicated to closing the Opportunity Divide that exists in our nation. Determined to make his vision a reality, Gerald combined his entrepreneurial skills and his passion for working with urban young adults to found Year Up in 2000. An intensive one-year training and education program that serves low-income youth ages 18-24, Year Up is providing the technical,…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Charity Navigator Rating:
(profile)
(profile)
Overhead Ratio:
17.71%
Total Revenue:
$18,674,015
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
Address:
93 Summer St
Boston, MA 02110, USA
Twitter:
Story:
Read the story of Shelley Torres, a mother of two, and a graduate from Year Up in the Class of 2004:
Before I came to Year Up, I didn’t think I was going to have much of a future. I had two kids and believed that I didn’t have the freedom to develop a career. I was constantly asking myself – how can I give my kids a better life when it took so much energy and time to be a good mother?
Attending Year Up made me realize that everything is possible – that once I set a goal for myself, I can achieve it. I learned that I can have a successful career and follow my dreams, as well as be a mom. I just needed the proper technical training and someone to help me recognize my own potential. My goal now is to be a role model for other young women, to show them what Year Up taught me – that you can have a successful life and reach your potential.
(Read more success stories at: http://www.yearup.org/aboutus/students.htm)
Expert Reviews of Year Up
Evidence of Impact Summary:
YEAR UP is praised for helping urban youth succeed not only in college admissions but also in securing fruitful careers.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
Experts praise YEAR UP's leadership and the quality of its program design.See expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
Incidentally, experts citing program design as a strength still consider tweaking the program model to achieve longer term impact as an opportunity for improvement.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Impact |
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Year Up effectively trains and places disconnected youth into the workforce. It is not the hardest to serve population, however these youth would be in entry level jobs or unemployed and not on a clear path to getting a college degree (AA, BA), if not for Year Up. | ||
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Year Up's mission is to close the opportunity divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Recent results show: 100% placement of qualified students into internships, 83% student retention, 90% of interns meet or exceed internship partner expectations, 87% of graduates placed in full or part-time positions within 4 months of graduation, and $15/hr average wage at placement. | ||
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They have a strong model helping young adults reconnect with education both to prepare for careers/work and to pursue higher education (community college and beyond). It is unique in that it has a dual focus. It also has a high level of employer engagement. | ||
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Preliminary evidence of impacts on employment suggests Year Up has had an impact. | ||
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They have had a lasting impact on youth. | ||
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They developed a new model for 13th year internship-based program targeting employers in high growth high wage sectors; it is built to scale and is doing so systematically in 7-8 communities. | ||
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Year Up has managed to expand its innovative 1-year program for youth quickly and nationally. | ||
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Year Up has achieved incredible results working with urban young adults. They provide training and then place students in internships with leading employers. 85% of their graduates secure a job making an average of $30,000/year within four months of completing the program. In addition, students earn college credits while in the program, and many continue their education following completion. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Leadership & Program Design |
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The leadership and vision at Year Up has allowed the organization to expand 7 different geographic areas. The model effectively partners with the private sector to create job and training opportunities for youth. Year Up's model has the companies pay for apprentices creating an revenue stream for Year Up and reducing the program costs. | ||
Leadership |
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Gerald Chertavian, founder and CEO, has dedicated himself to closing the opportunity divide for urban youth. He has expanded the program to seven locations in a thoughtful and strategic manner. | ||
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Strong and committed leadership (the local affiliate in Arlington, VA, has just outstanding leaders and staff). Strong commitment to outcome measurement and program adaptation, as well as to participants. | ||
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They have great leadership and staff at all levels: national and local. | ||
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They have fantastic leadership, are innovative, and have strong programs. | ||
Leadership & Evaluation |
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They engage in 3rd party evaluation and are performance driven. They have strong leadership locally and nationally. | ||
Leadership & Operations |
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Their leadership and staff are top notch. The board development and strategy of aligning with venture philanthropy has expanded sources of capital. They have a smart capitalization strategy and a commitment to influence strategy beyond program expansion, recognizing limits to growth. | ||
Leadership & Fundraising |
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They are very innovative in approaches to generating capital through IPO and other fundraising techniques; they also have a marvelous executive team! | ||
Program Design |
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This is a promising model for youth in a field that seems crowded with bloated failures in trying to serve youth. | ||
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One of Year Up's greatest strengths is understanding how to work with employers. They have designed their model so that it is demand drive, ensuring that the training they provide to students will prepare them for success in the workplace. A second strength is their commitment to data and measurement. They use salesforce.com to track progress on numerous metrics and integrate data for continuous improvement. | ||
Impact |
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This is an effective program that is being looked at as a model by the White House Policy staff. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Program Design |
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The organization sometimes recruits and accepts youth that are already in school or the job market indicating that they might not need Year Up to be successful. Year Up has experimented with trying to serve youth who don't have their GED or HSD. It seems that this has been challenging, but is important to consider how to best support high need youth that don't have other opportunities. I understand that there are plans for rigorous evaluation, but don't know the status of their research and evaluation efforts. | ||
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They could benefit from longer term career services - to help people develop careers based on their aspirations and life ambitions (not just the skills they can perform). Long term fulfillment leads to long term career success. | ||
Target Audience |
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I would like to see more service delivery and experimentation with high need populations. | ||
Collaboration |
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They could use greater integration with other players in the field; they are testing more cost-effective models and exploring viability in new sectors. | ||
Impact |
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They could improve placement rates and alumni relations. | ||
Program Focus |
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They could improve by helping people drive diverse career choices--they are starting to move in that direction. | ||
Scalability |
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One area for improvement would be figuring out how to make the model more scalable. Currently, the program operates in 8 cities. They are experimenting with housing the model in a community college, which could provide a scaling mechanism. | ||
Leadership
Gerald Chertavian
Founder and CEO
Founder and CEO
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
with your request.