We are so excited to receive the Walmart Grant to scale our program in January 2017. It’s great to have the support of the Walmart Foundation behind Year Up and our young adults - Year Up Baltimore Executive Director, Roland Selby
Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) November 15, 2016
Recognizing Year Up’s innovative, proven approach to providing low-income young adults with in-demand skills and a pathway to professional careers and higher education, the Walmart Foundation announced today that Year Up Baltimore will receive a State Giving Award of $25,000.
“The Walmart Foundation is proud to support Year Up as they work to create meaningful and valuable opportunities for young adults in our community,” said Erik Hingst, Director of Public Affairs & Government Relations for Walmart. “It is so vital that today’s youth be given not only the motivation and education to dream big, but also the tools needed to achieve those dreams. We commend Year Up for expanding their positive impact in our community and are pleased to work together to empower young adults to succeed.”
The Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program plays an essential role in the Foundation’s mission to create opportunities so people can live better.
“The Walmart State Giving Award will help us grow to serve twice as many students next year,” said Roland Selby, Executive Director of Year Up Baltimore. “We are so excited to receive the Walmart Grant to scale our program in January 2017. It’s great to have the support of the Walmart Foundation behind Year Up and our young adults.”
Year Up Baltimore is a nonprofit workforce development program that provides urban young adults with six months of technical and professional training in areas such as business operations, IT and cyber security, followed by a six-month internship at top companies like Symantec, Johns Hopkins, and Morgan Stanley.
Year Up Baltimore currently serves 80 young people each year in partnership with Baltimore City Community College, and plans to serve 160 students starting next year. As students work towards completing a degree, Year Up Baltimore provides them with professional development and work experience, preparing graduates to launch a meaningful career in growing industries. Since 2010, Year Up Baltimore has helped hundreds of talented young adults from Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia launch professional careers. Nationwide, 85 percent of Year Up graduates are employed or attending college fulltime within four months of completing the program, with average starting salaries of $36,000/year. Learn more about Year Up Baltimore by following us on Twitter @YearUpBaltimore and on Facebook.
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 3,000 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.
About Philanthropy at Walmart
By using our strengths to help others, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation create opportunities for people to live better every day. We have stores in 28 countries, employing more than 2.2 million associates and doing business with thousands of suppliers who, in turn, employ millions of people. We are helping people live better by accelerating upward job mobility and economic development for the retail workforce; addressing hunger and making healthier, more sustainably-grown food a reality; and building strong communities where we operate and inspiring our associates to give back. Whether it is helping to lead the fight against hunger in the United States with $2 billion in cash and in-kind donations or supporting Women’s Economic Empowerment through a series of grants totaling $10 million to the Women in Factories training program in Bangladesh, China, India and Central America, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are not only working to tackle key social issues, we are also collaborating with others to inspire solutions for long-lasting systemic change. To learn more about Walmart’s giving, visit http://www.foundation.walmart.com.