BOSTON, Aug. 31, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Year Up Professional Resources, PBC (YUPRO), was honored with a 2021 American Staffing Association Elevate Award for the second year in a row. This national awards program recognizes the most innovative and effective work-based learning programs to train, upskill, and reskill temporary and contract employees.
YUPRO was honored for its OnRamps@Work Apprenticeship Program, which serves as a bridge between skill development and full-time employment for traditionally underrepresented young adults. Following strong employer demand, the 26-week paid apprenticeship launched in January 2021 with 122 participants, 88 percent of whom had lost jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The next cohort, which began in July 2021, will serve more than 250 apprentices.
The program provides professional development, including both soft and hard skill development opportunities, as well as community-building and access to free and reduced cost social assistance programs. Apprentices earn an hourly wage of $18.50 or higher, receive one-on-one support from a career coach, and participate in a weekly professional development series on career advancement topics such as "Building a Relationship with Your Manager."
"At the height of the pandemic, YUPRO faced our social mission head-on with our client partners to design a program that would allow for our primarily BIPOC talent to secure and sustain career-boosting employment at a time of major layoffs, hiring freezes, and high rates of unemployment that disproportionately impacted Black and Latino Americans," said Michelle Sims, CEO of YUPRO. "We created OnRamps@Work to meet the challenges of the moment. The program allows our talent to grow and develop on the job with multiple layers of support to ensure their success, while providing our employer partners with the opportunity to benefit from skills-based hiring that enables more inclusive talent practices."
"We are excited to join the ASA in celebrating YUPRO's great work for the second year in a row," said Gerald Chertavian, Founder and CEO of the nonprofit Year Up. "By providing graduates of the Year Up program and other workforce development programs with robust support to advance their careers, YUPRO is critical to our mission of ensuring economic and racial justice for Black, Latino, and other underrepresented talent in corporate America."
For more information about YUPRO, visit YUPRO.com.
For more information about ASA and the ASA Elevate Awards, visit americanstaffing.net.
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About Year Up Professional Resources, PBC
YUPRO is the nation's leading Opportunity Talent Placement Firm and connects forward-thinking companies with diverse talent that drives long-term business success. YUPRO is a Public Benefit Corporation and a wholly owned subsidiary of Year Up, Inc., a leading non-profit workforce development organization, and upholds a shared social mission to close the Opportunity Divide. YUPRO utilizes a proprietary coaching program to place and support Opportunity Talent as they secure jobs where they earn fair and equitable market wages and experience continuity of work in a professional role.
About the American Staffing Association
The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry. ASA and its state affiliates advance the interests of the industry across all sectors through advocacy, research, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. For more information about ASA, visit americanstaffing.net.
Media Contact
Michelle Sims, YUPRO, 713-817-1879, [email protected]
SOURCE YUPRO
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