Year Up Bay Area Announces Positive Outcomes from a $1.5 Million Grant From Salesforce.org to Connect Low-Income Youth with Technology Careers
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) January 31, 2017 -- Building on its history of successful student outcomes, the workforce development nonprofit Year Up Bay Area (YUBA) formally announced the positive outcomes of a $1.5 million grant from Salesforce.org today.
This investment has allowed YUBA to continue delivering its innovative job-training program to more than 400 local young adults in 2016, and over 100 young adults at other Year Up sites in the U.S. The grant also supported the launch of an initiative to ensure the long-term success of YUBA graduates, and the development of a strategy for scaling YUBA’s reach and impact in the near future.
“At Salesforce.org, we’re committed to providing opportunities for underrepresented youth in the communities where we live and work to gain exposure and experience in computer science that will help them be successful,” said Ebony Frelix, Senior Vice President of Philanthropy & Engagement at Salesforce.org. “We’re proud to support Year Up Bay Area and the incredible work they’re doing to connect young people with career opportunities.”
Year Up is a national nonprofit organization tackling the workforce opportunity gap by training low-income young adults and placing them in internships at companies like Salesforce. Year Up Bay Area, launched in 2008, is one of fourteen Year Up sites across the country and currently serves more than 400 students each year at campuses in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
YUBA’s recent graduation ceremony, which took place on January 28, 2017 at the Oakland Marriott, included a special thank you from YUBA staff for Salesforce.org’s continued support of the Year Up program, its students and graduates. In recognition of the grant, YUBA named the participants in one of its San Francisco Learning Communities “Salesforce.org Scholars.”
At the graduation, 168 young adults (ages 18-24, without college degrees) received certificates from Year Up recognizing their successful completion of the yearlong program. Loretta Penn, former President of Spherion Staffing Services and founder and President of PECC, LLC, an executive coaching and consulting company, delivered the keynote address.
Ninety percent of the young adults in YUBA’s previous graduating class, who completed the program in July 2016, were employed or attending college full-time within four months of graduation, earning average starting salaries of $48,000/year. YUBA continually updates its curriculum in response to market demand, and recently launched a new data analytics track in collaboration with nine corporate partners. The first class of students who complete this training will begin their internships in February 2017, preparing, reviewing and analyzing data for Business Intelligence and Marketing teams across industries.
Since 2008, YUBA has helped 1,883 of talented young adults gain professional and technical skills in areas such as Information Technology, Quality Assurance, and Cybersecurity. Learn more about YUBA by following us on Twitter @YearUpBayArea 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 3,600 students annually across 18 sites in Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Providence, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Woodbridge, & Wilmington (DE). To learn more, visit http://www.yearup.org, and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter: @YearUp
About Salesforce.org
Salesforce.org is a nonprofit social enterprise with a mission to empower its community of stakeholders to accelerate impact in a whole new way. It impacts thousands of organizations and the millions of people they serve by delivering the world’s best nonprofit and educational technology solutions at affordable rates. It also inspires employee giving by matching their donations and driving volunteer engagement in the community. And it leverages a unique self-sustaining model to generously re-invest the revenue generated back into the community through strategic grants focused on education and workforce development.
Since 1999, Salesforce technology has powered more than 30,000 nonprofit and education institutions; Salesforce and its philanthropic entities have provided more than $137 million in grants; and Salesforce employees have logged more than 1.8 million volunteer hours around the world.
Salesforce, Salesforce.org and others are among the trademarks of salesforce.com, inc. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
© 2017 salesforce.com, inc. and Salesforce.org. All rights reserved.
Roberto Zeledon, Year Up, http://www.yearup.org, +1 (857) 305-9995, [email protected]
Share this article