LOCATIONS
atlanta
what's new
who we serve
EVENTS
regional partners
board members
contact us
job opportunities
our team
Boston
New York city 
Providence 
SAN FRANcISCO
Washington D.C. 

Welcome to Year Up Atanta.

 

WHAT'S NEW

Year Up Atlanta was featured in the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Read more

 

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WHO WE SERVE
Year Up serves high school graduates and GED recipients ages 18 to 24 years old from the Atlanta, Georgia area.

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EVENTS

year up ATLANTA RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY
On behalf of our National and Local Boards and the staff of Year Up Atlanta, you are cordially invited to attend the celebration of our Inaugural Year Up Atlanta Class and the opening of our new site in Midtown
class1
DATE: Monday, May 4, 20
TIME: 6:00 pm -  Reception and Tours
7:00 pm - Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
LOCATION: Year Up Atlanta
730 Peachtree Street, NE, Suite 900
Atlanta, GA 30308
RSVP/MORE INFO: Raquel Hackley
404-249-0300 extension 4000
or rhackley@yearup.org

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REGIONAL PARTNERS

  • Kaiser Permanente
  • Printpack
  • Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
  • Aaron's
  • SunTrust
  • Concessions International (an H.J. Russell Company)

If you are interested in becoming an apprenticeship, community, private or corporate foundation partner please contact our Executive Director, Kweku Forstall at kforstall@yearup.org

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BOARD MEMBERS  
GEORGIA advisory board
  • Cecil Conlee - Chairman
    Founding Partner
    CGR Advisors
  • Ann Cramer
    Director of Corporate Community Relations and Public Affairs
    North America, IBM, Inc.
  • Doug Ellis
    Committee Chairman
    David, Helen & Marian Woodward Fund
  • Archie Jones
    Divisional Vice President
    Kenexa Corporation
  • Michael Kay
    Chairman
    Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta
  • John McDonald
    Consultant & Investor

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national Board of Directors
 

national Technical Advisory Board
 

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CONTACT US
Address:
Year Up Atlanta
730 Peachtree St., Suite 900
Atlanta, Ga. 30308

Phone and Fax Information:
Phone: 404-249-0300
Fax: 404-249-0099

For driving directions:
View our location on Google Maps

For general questions, contact:
Raquel Hackley
404-249-0300 x4004
rhackley@yearup.org

For questions about becoming a Year Up student, contact:
P.W. Reed
404-249-0300 x4003
preed@yearup.org

To hire a Year Up apprentice, contact:
Joseph Gerena
404-249-0300 x4002
jgerena@yearup.org

To volunteer at Year Up, contact:
P.W. Reed
404-249-0300 x4003
preed@yearup.org

To invest in or donate to Year Up, contact:
Kweku Forstall
404-249-0300 x4001
kforstall@yearup.org

Media Inquiries, Contact:
Tracy Gibbs
National Director of Marketing
617-542-1599 ext. 1032
tgibbs@YearUp.org

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JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Currently there are no positions open.

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OUR TEAm, atlanta

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Kweku Forstall

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Raquel Hackley
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Joseph Gerena
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Jacqueline "Jaki" Jones
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Luci Ponder
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P.W. Reed
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Kweku forstall
Executive Director
In July 2008 Kweku D. Forstall began serving as the start-up Executive Director of Year Up Atlanta.  From 2000 to 2008 he served as the first Executive Director of Project GRAD Atlanta, Inc., a public-private school reform initiative designed to increase the number of students from inner-city, economically disadvantaged communities graduating from both high school and college.  Prior to Project GRAD Atlanta, Kweku was a Vice President for Community Investments for the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, responsible for assuring maximum impact of donor dollars.  He also served as the first Director of the Office of Community Service at Morehouse College, responsible for helping to instill in students and other members of the Morehouse College community a lifelong commitment to serving others.   Kweku began his career in public service in 1985 as an Attorney with Atlanta Legal Aid Society, where for seven and a half years he represented indigent clients in civil cases, while also managing the office serving Dekalb and Gwinnett county residents.  Kweku was a founding board member of Foreverfamily (formerly Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers), Our Family Table Foundation, and the Inner Strength Mentoring program. He serves as a mentor in the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program and as a member of the Oglethorpe University Center for Civic Engagement Advisory Board, among others. He holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law. Kweku and his wife Adrienne have three daughters – nineteen year old twins and a fifteen year old.

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Raquel Hackley
Office Manager/ Special Projects Coordinator
Raquel joined the Year Up team in the fall of 2008.  She has extensive experience working with young adults from the various positions she's held within colleges, universities, and non-profit organizations. She moved to the metro-Atlanta from California in the spring of 2007.  She was born, raised, and educated in sunny Southern California and worked for many years in the Bay Area of Northern California.  Raquel's passion is serving young people and ensuring that they have information on the most strategic ways to access and navigate post-secondary opportunities.  She works with schools and community organizations to help prepare students for college and helps them with successful college transition, specifically to first-generation college students.  She looks forward to the rewarding opportunity of helping students in the Southeast as she did with students in the west.

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Joseph Gerena
Start Up Site Director
Joseph joins Year Up with a unique set of experiences in the non-profit and private sectors. Joseph began his career in the documentary film industry, working for the Emmy Award winning film company Blackside, as a project coordinator on the "Breakthrough" series. While at Blackside, Joseph volunteered as a teen minister with Boston area youth. This experience was so rewarding that Joseph continued this work as a campus minister at the Berklee College of Music. After the ministry, Joseph began working in the organ procurement field with the New England Organ Bank as the Latino Community Education Outreach Coordinator. He subsequently traded in the winters of New England, for an opportunity to enjoy the blistering summers in Birmingham, AL as a liaison between Birmingham area hospitals and the Alabama Organ Center. In this position, Joseph developed systems and processes for improvement in several Birmingham hospitals. Joseph has a B.S. in Communications from Boston University.

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Jacqueline "Jaki" Jones
Business Communications Instructor
rior to joining Year Up, Jaki was a Writing Instructor at Massasoit Community College in Brockton, MA, where for almost 11 years she taught remedial writing as well as English Compostion I and Composition II She also has worked at City Year Boston as a Program Coordinator and a GED Instructor. Jaki holds a BA degree in English from Simmons College in Boston and a JD from Northeastern University in Boston. She has 3 adult children and one granddaughter. She enjoys going to the beach, writing short stories, playing Scrabble and Taboo, and also listening to soft rock and old school R&B. Jaki believes that "The best way to predict the future is to create it." She is excited to be a member of the start-up team in Atlanta, GA and looks forward to working with young adults to develop their professional communication skills, as well as the ability to pursue their dreams with passion.

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Luci Ponder
IT Instructor
Luci comes to Year Up with 14 years of teaching and corporate IT experience. Prior to joining YearUp, she was an Instructor of Information Systems at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA. She also has worked on the full systems development life cycle for several software companies. Luci is excited to be a member of the start-up team in Atlanta, GA and eager to work with young adults to develop their technical skills. Luci holds a BS degree in Business from the University of Alabama and a MBA in Information Systems from Georgia State University.

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P.W. Reed
Outreach/Admissions Director
P.W. Reed, is a driven leader with over 20 years of experience working in private and non private sectors as a sales trainer, motivational speaker, life coach, consultant, and clinician. Reed as he prefers to be called, has worked with Year Up Since September 2007 as a consultant, interim Director of Admissions, life coach and Student Service Contractor.  He is the former founder/ Chairman of a Christian based non profit organization serving over 5,000 members across four locations, including New Orleans, Hyde Park, Trinidad and West Africa. His ministry has sponsored one of the largest food banks in Boston, Ma., substance abuse centers, adolescent program and children of the night programs.  In the private sector he is the founder of Five Star Consulting, Inc., a Non Profit organization that mentors children and adolescents.  Reed provides treatment and support to athletes and families in healthy living, providing crisis intervention, mental health treatment, preventative health and personal training. Reed has provided over 20 years of sales training and motivational lectures to high schools, college students and sales organizations nationally. He has also worked for more than 10 years in the Junior College/Vocational training programs as Director of Admissions and Educational Director. His educational background is a B.A. in Marketing with a minor in Psychology from Southern University in New Orleans, and Masters Degrees in Psychology and Substance Abuse and Drug Addiction from Cambridge College.   

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"Year Up's dual focus on teaching not only marketable technology skills but also behavioral and attitudinal skills will successfully fill many jobs vacancies."

Nick Gleason
President and Founder, CitySoft, Inc



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