A Year Up -- Connecting Underserved Young Adults to Corporate Jobs

Abstract

It all started with a young boy named David who lived in one of New York City’s most dangerous housing projects. Gerald Chertavian got to know David well through the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization. Over the years Gerald remained a stable mentor in David’s life, when it was time for David to graduate high school, Gerald made a promise that if David maintained grades above a C then Gerald would pay his tuition. David excelled in college and now has a successful career. It struck Gerald that there were many more Americans who have the potential to succeed but lack opportunity. Gerald explains “I saw that our country had incredible young people…they’re often smart, ambitious, hungry, motivated, and incredibly talented. Yet, they have absolutely no idea how to move that talent to productive capacity.” Year Up was created with the idea that potential is distributed equally but opportunity is not.