Year Up Greater Philadelphia Appoints Hassan Charles as Executive Director and Announces New Community College Partner in Wilmington

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Continuing to expand its proven workforce development program, Year Up has appointed Hassan Charles as Executive Director of Year Up Greater Philadelphia (YUGP), effective August 20, 2018. With decades of experience in the corporate, education and public service sectors, Mr. Charles most recently served as Executive Director of Partnerships, Communications and Community Engagement at Baltimore City Public Schools. He welcomed YUGP's new class of students at Orientation Week in Philadelphia and Wilmington, including a cohort of 40 students at Wilmington University's New Castle campus on August 23, 2018.

"Hassan's entrepreneurial drive and deep personal commitment to our mission will ensure that Year Up Greater Philadelphia continues to grow through new corporate and college partnerships," said Garrett Moran, Year Up President. "With strong roots in both Wilmington and in Philadelphia, as well as a rich history of working with top companies, Hassan will help us scale Year Up's impact across the region to reach even more young adults in need of an opportunity—and more organizations in need of their talent."

Earlier in his career, Mr. Charles served in a variety of management roles at MBNA and Wachovia, and then went on to cofound Urban Insights, which became the region's top multicultural marketing agency serving leading brands like HBO, BET, Comcast and Coca Cola.

YUGP provides free job training to talented and motivated youth, ages 18-24, at sites in Peirce College and a new location at Wilmington University's New Castle campus launching this August. Students gain in-demand technical and professional skills in the first semester, then participate in a semester-long internship at a top local company. This June, the federally-sponsored Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) evaluation of Year Up showed a 53% increase in initial earnings for young adults randomly assigned to Year Up compared with similar young adults in a control group—the largest impacts on earnings reported to date for a workforce program tested in a randomized controlled trial.

Participants at both the Peirce College and new Wilmington University locations will earn weekly stipends as well as credits toward their college degrees during their training and internships. YUGP's site at Wilmington University (known as Year Up Wilmington) will connect Wilmington University students who qualify for the program with in-demand job skills and internships at companies like JPMorgan Chase, BNY Mellon, CSC, Exelon, Viola and Blackrock.

Since 2013, YUGP has provided more 375 young adults with marketable skills, creating a pipeline of diverse, motivated talent for more than 15 of the region's leading businesses in areas such as IT, JAVA Programming, Client Services, Financial Operations and Project Management Support. YUGP now serves more than 120 young adults in Philadelphia and Wilmington each year, with 88 percent of graduates employed or attending college full-time within four months of completing the program, earning average starting salaries of $36,000/year. Learn more about Year Up Greater Philadelphia by following us on Facebook and on Twitter @YearUpGP.

About Year Up
Year Up is an award-winning, national 501(c)3 organization that provides talented and motivated young adults ages 18-24 with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Through a one-year, intensive training program, Year Up utilizes a high-support, high-expectations model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, coursework eligible for college credit, and corporate internships at more than 250 top companies. Its holistic approach focuses on students' professional and personal development to enable young adults with a viable path to economic self-sufficiency and meaningful careers. Year Up has served more than 19,500 young adults since its founding in 2000, and will serve more than 4,000 young adults in 2018 across 21 U.S. cities in Arizona, Baltimore, Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Greater Atlanta, Greater Boston, Greater Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, National Capital Region, New York City, Providence, Puget Sound, South Florida, and Wilmington. Year Up has been voted one of the "Best Non-Profits to Work For" by The NonProfit Times for eight consecutive years, and rated a 4-star charity by Charity Navigator for twelve consecutive years, placing them in the top 1% of tracked organizations.

To learn more, visit http://www.yearup.org, and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter: @YearUp

SOURCE Year Up

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