Launching in Washington, DC with Support from Capital One and the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, Alliance will Work to Close Racial, Income and Opportunity Gaps through New Collaborative Approach
WASHINGTON (PRNewswire) April 7, 2022
Continuing to develop innovative solutions that connect under-represented talent to high-quality jobs, the workforce development nonprofit Year Up announced today that it is joining Per Scholas, Capital Partners for Education (CPE), Genesys Works and New Futures in The Talent for Tomorrow Alliance, with the five nonprofit organizations co-located in a new office space at 609 H Street, NE, in Washington, DC. With initial funding from Capital One and the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, the Alliance will support participants through their higher education and career journeys.
"By working together, the Alliance addresses a larger social justice issue around the inequitable distribution of economic opportunity in the DC metro area," said John Galante, Managing Director of Financial Services at Year Up. "The Alliance will leverage each nonprofit's strengths and will work purposefully to close racial, income and opportunity gaps by developing a new collaborative paradigm that invests in a diverse and skilled talent pipeline to drive growth in the region."
In 2018, Year Up and Per Scholas came together to provide participants in their National Capital Region sites with in-demand technical and professional training as well as training in specific industry certifications. With support from Capital One, the partnership was expanded to include CPE and New Futures to offer participants college coaching and scholarship assistance. Genesys Works then joined the Alliance to provide internship experience for high school students.
The Alliance has already proven to expand employment outcomes for young adults. On average, students who only attend Per Scholas or Year Up earn $20-$22 per hour, while those who attended both programs and gained an industry certification earn $32 per hour.
"Capital One is proud to be an inaugural program investor in the Year Up and The Talent for Tomorrow Alliance", said Kerone Vatel, Head of Community Impact and Investment at Capital One. "This partnership, and the proximity of these five groups operating in the same building, should promote increased wage earning potential for young adults in the DC metro area. The early results of this partnership are promising, and we look forward to affording more young adults this opportunity."
Capital One has hosted more than 270 Year Up interns and has hired more than 130 Year Up graduates to date.
The Talent for Tomorrow Alliance partners are:
- Capital Partners for Education (CPE), which provides one-to-one mentoring for low-income high school students in DC to help prepare them for college and their career.
- Genesys Works, which supports high school seniors for college readiness and workforce training with a summer technical and professional skills bootcamp and a yearlong paid internship program.
- New Futures, which provides scholarships and other support for students to pursue post-secondary education.
- Per Scholas (National Capital Region), which advances economic equity through rigorous training for tech careers and connects skilled graduate talent to leading employers.
- Year Up (National Capital Region), which provides a yearlong, college accredited workforce training program and professional internships for young adults (ages 18-26).
Beyond working with young adults, the Alliance also raises awareness and educates employers on more inclusive hiring practices and the importance of a diverse workforce. In addition, the Alliance will serve as a model for other cities in how nonprofit workforce development organizations can collaborate to empower diverse talent to launch professional careers, ensuring financial security for themselves and their families.
Nationwide, 80 percent of Year Up graduates are employed and/or attending postsecondary education within four months of completing the program, with average starting salaries of $44,000/year. In May 2021, the federally-sponsored Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) follow-up evaluation of Year Up showed that in the four years post-program, young adults randomly assigned to Year Up earned 30-40 percent more compared with similar young adults in a control group — the largest sustained impact on earnings reported to date for a workforce program tested in a randomized controlled trial.
About Per Scholas
Per Scholas is a national organization that has been advancing economic mobility for 25 years. Through rigorous training, professional development, and robust employer connections, we prepare individuals traditionally underrepresented in technology for high-growth careers in the industry. We partner with leading employers to build more diverse talent pools, directly connecting our graduates to new career opportunities at businesses ranging from Fortune 500 companies to innovative startups. With campuses in 17 cities, Per Scholas has trained more than 14,000 individuals in tech skills, building bridges to careers in technology. To learn more, visit PerScholas.org.
Capital Partners for Education
Since 1993, Capital Partners for Education has provided one-to-one mentoring and college and career success programming to low-income students in the Washington D.C. – area. We currently support more than 500 students who are enrolled in 17 Washington, D.C. – area high schools and more than 80 colleges and universities across the country. Our mission is to support students in the academic middle through high school and college, so they can graduate with the skills and experiences needed to thrive in sustainable careers. To learn more, visit www.cpfe.org.
About Genesys Works
Genesys Works provides pathways to career success for emerging young professionals from historically excluded communities starting their senior year in high school through skills training, meaningful work experiences, and impactful relationships. Our program consists of 8 weeks of technical and professional skills training, paid internships with major companies, college and career coaching, and alumni support to and through acquiring professional credentials and/or college. Our goal is to build career opportunity and economic equity in every community so that all people, regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, have equitable access to career opportunities leading to sustained economic mobility. Since its founding in 2002, Genesys Works has grown to serve thousands of students annually in Houston, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington's National Capital Region and New York City, and is looking to rapidly expand into 100 cities in the next ten years. To learn more, visit genesysworks.org.
About New Futures
New Futures invests in our Scholars' bright futures through a deliberate combination of scholarships, academic and career advising, opportunities to build networks and skills, and a lot of heart–all along the path through community college and into rewarding and in-demand careers.
About Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation is headquartered in McLean, Virginia. Its subsidiaries, Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. We apply the same principles of innovation, collaboration and empowerment in our commitment to our communities across the country that we do in our business. We recognize that helping to build strong and healthy communities – good places to work, good places to do business and good places to raise families – benefits us all and we are proud to support this and other community initiatives.
About the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation
The A. James & Alice. B Clark Foundation partners with grantees who build practical, immediate and concrete connections between effort and opportunity, and focuses its investments in the following areas: educating engineers to solve society's toughest problems, improving the lives of veterans and their families, and providing members of the DC community the best opportunity to thrive. Learn more at clarkfoundationdc.org.