Our Region's Business - Year Up Pittsburgh

Year Up alums in Rhode Island share their career paths in the banking industry at Citizens with Providence Business News. Citizens and Year Up executives share their thoughts on the success of the program and its partnership.

The partnership between Bank of America and the Year Up job training program has become a successful endeavor, according to representatives from both organizations.

Recent backlash caused by a fractured political climate has led some CEOs to reconsider their environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, with 59% of CEOs surveyed by KPMG saying they planned to pause or reconsider their ESG efforts from Q4 2022 into Q2 2023. And yet 70% of those same CEOs say that ESG programs improve financial performance, up from 39% the prior year. This shouldn’t be a political issue. The business case for continued, increased investments in ESG policies is clear. To CEOs who are thinking about stepping back at this stage, I say you aren’t acting in the long-term best interest of your shareholders.