Gerald Chertavian

Many of our students say, 'We wish we had a mentor in high school. We wish we had someone we could spend more time with, who paid more attention to us, who I could sit down with and talk to when I had a problem.' So relationships are critical. ”

When we think about the workplace, people think about hard skills being dominant, but they're not. The employer realizes knowledge will shift quickly, and there's a half-life to knowledge in this world. ”

At Year Up, our students - low income 18-24 year olds - come to us having already faced substantial obstacles in life. They are not in search of a handout; what they want most of all is the ability to take ownership of their own futures. ”

Businesses are no longer receiving the cost savings from outsourcing that they once did. ”

When it comes to expanding opportunity, businesses and young adults are not the sources of the problem - they are a substantial part of the solution. ”

Year Up for me is a year in which the young adults that we serve have an opportunity to move up in their lives and gain the access and opportunity they need to realize their potential. ”

The ABC's are attitude, behavior and communication skills. ”

College today is an expensive option without a lot of economies of scale, right, when you go and live at a college. So you have a system that's increasing its cost base by probably five percent a year. ”

The Opportunity Divide doesn't just keep our students disconnected from the mainstream economy; it prevents our businesses from growing. ”

Many training programs and often schools focus on just a skill or a kind of work competency. That's only half the equation. ”