A Boston-based training program for urban youth interested in a career in technology
is expanding to Providence in the fall. Year Up, a nonprofit, offers work-skill
development, college credits and access to local businesses over a one-year,
intensive training schedule.
“We did extensive research with MIT and looked at six cities (near) Boston … and I’m pleased to say that Providence came out as the best expansion site,” said Year Up CEO Gerald Chertavian, who founded the program. “We’re working with a few folks in Providence to build the base of support and work with the community.”
Year Up will rent space downtown and will be open in time for the fall, for the first class of 20 students. Recruitment will begin in late summer, and Chertavian said staff will visit Providence high schools and community organizations for interested students.
Year Up raises money privately and also receives funding for the student stipends and the operating budget through the internships with area businesses. According to Chertavian, 45 percent of the revenue needed to run Year Up comes from businesses.
For the first six months of Year Up, students ages 18 to 24 will apply their interests in technology to courses like introduction to computer applications, computer literacy, networking, business communications and effective writing for college credits. Professional skills courses, like conflict resolution, team building and managing your boss, will be offered, but will not carry college credit.
In the second half of the program, students work with a local business in paid internships. All students are paid a stipend for attending, but the money is earned, Chertavian said.
“If they’re one second late to class, they can lose up to 60 percent of that day’s stipend,” he said. “We’re trying to teach them the skills they’d be expected to have” in the real world. “We expect excellent behavior, attitude and attendance.”
Since Chertavian founded Year Up in 2000, the program has grown and serves 120 students each year in each of its Cambridge and Boston locations. The program also has an 88 percent student retention rate, and 85 percent of graduates have a full- or part-time job averaging $15 an hour.
“We’re getting them on a learning career as well as a working career,” he
said.
