Governor Baker Joins Year Up Boston for Ribbon-Cutting Celebration
Boston, Massachusetts (PRWEB) September 16, 2015 -- Continuing to scale its innovative and effective approach to job training, Year Up Boston is celebrating its expansion and growth with a ribbon cutting ceremony today at 5:30 PM at 45 Milk Street. At the ceremony, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker will speak about Year Up’s success and progress over the years.
“With each incoming class, Year Up Boston has demonstrated its ability to identify the city’s wealth of future civic and business leaders,” said Governor Baker. “I welcome the opportunity to see this exceptional program extend its professional training services to even more of our young adults.”
The ribbon-cutting will also feature remarks from Mike Scannell, State Street’s global head of Talent Acquisition, and Gerald Chertavian, Year Up Founder and CEO. State Street has partnered with Year Up Boston for more than ten years, and has hired nearly 400 Year Up graduates. The company hosts about 100 Year Up Boston interns each year.
“We’re honored that Governor Baker and Mr. Scannell are joining us today to celebrate our new site. Without support from our leaders and from corporate partners like State Street, Year Up Boston would not have been able to achieve such rapid growth and success,” said Gerald Chertavian, Year Up Founder and CEO. “I’d also like to thank the hundreds of Year Up Boston graduates who have proven their value in the workplace and opened doors for more of their peers to join them in redefining what talent looks like.”
At 45 Milk Street, Year Up Boston will occupy a space double the size of their previous location, allowing the site to serve five learning communities. Launched in 2001 with a class of 22 students, the site can now serve 400 young adults each year – up from 320 – as a result of the move. The new space includes modern and flexible classrooms, updated technology labs, new collaborative workspaces, fitting rooms for Year Up’s ongoing “Attire to Aspire” program, and a large convening space for students and staff to gather between classes
“The biggest change is that the new space is more representative of the professional environment that our students will experience during their corporate internships,” said Chertavian.
Launched in January 2001, Year Up Boston currently serves 400 young adults annually, and is building capacity to serve 1,000 students. Year Up Boston students receive six months of technical and professional skills training followed by six-month internships at more than fifty corporate partner firms including State Street, Harvard University, and Partners Healthcare. Eighty-eight percent of Year Up Boston’s graduates are employed or attending college full-time within four months of completing the yearlong program, with average starting salaries of $16.00/hour.
About Year Up Inc.
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. Year Up achieves this mission through a high support, high expectation model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, internships and college credits. Its holistic approach focuses on students' professional and personal development to place these young adults on a viable path to economic self-sufficiency. Year Up currently serves more than 2,700 students a year at sites in Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Jacksonville, the National Capital Region, New York City, Philadelphia, Providence, Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay Area, and South Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.yearup.org or http://www.youtube.com/yearupinc.
Roberto Zeledon, Year Up, http://www.yearup.org, +1 857-305-9995, [email protected]
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