Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program Awards $25,000 Grant to Year Up Providence
Providence, RI (PRWEB) September 20, 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 Providence will receive a State Giving Award of $25,000.
"Walmart is proud to support Year Up Providence and the essential skills they provide to young adults in the community," said Chris Buchanan Walmart Director of Public Affairs & State and Local Government Relations. "It is programs like Year Up that help young people get a leg up and reach their full potential."
The Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program plays an essential role in the Foundation’s mission to create opportunities so people can live better.
“We’re so grateful to be receiving The Walmart State Giving Award, as it will help us continue to deliver our research-validated career training programs to 160 local young adults each year,” said Cathy Doyle, Executive Director of Year Up Providence. “The majority of the funding will be allocated to student stipends, which allow our students to ‘earn while they learn’ and spend less time juggling part-time jobs and other external responsibilities. With a weekly stipend, students can focus on their Year Up coursework and professional development. This focus is what leads to ultimate success in retention and employment outcomes at the end of the program.
Year Up Providence is a nonprofit workforce development program that provides urban young adults with six months of technical and professional training in areas such as IT, business operations, and healthcare operations, followed by a six-month internship at top companies like Hasbro, Fidelity Investments, and Providence Equity Partners.
Since its launch in 2005, Year Up Providence has helped more than 1,000 young adults (ages 18-24, without college degrees) gain in-demand technical and professional skills. More than 90 percent of Year Up Providence graduates are employed or attending college full-time within four months of completing the yearlong program, with an average starting salary of $36,000/year. Learn more about Year Up Providence by following us on Twitter @YearUpPVD 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.
Roberto Zeledon, Year Up, http://www.yearup.org, +1 (857) 305-9995, [email protected]
Share this article