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Year Up Receives Grant from Truist Foundation to Create Career Pathways for 2,400 Students

Dec 2, 2024

Three-year investment will support the delivery of Year Up’s new, centralized Banking & Customer Success and Application Development programs across the U.S. 

Boston, MA – March 5, 2024 – The national workforce development organization Year Up announced today that it has received a $1 million, three-year investment from Truist Foundation. The funds will support the delivery of Year Up’s new, centralized Banking & Customer Success and Application Development program models in markets nationwide, including in cities aligned with Truist Foundation’s impact areas such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Pittsburgh, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. 

“The first step to economic mobility is often securing a job with family-sustaining wages,” said Lynette Bell, president of Truist Foundation. “By investing in Year Up’s innovative and efficient approach to building career pathways for young adults, Truist Foundation is helping ensure more young people across the country have access to training and experience that equips them to succeed in high-demand financial services and IT roles.” 

To date, Year Up has served more than 1,000 students through the Banking & Customer Success and Application Development programs, with plans to serve an additional 2,400 young adults in the next three years.  

“Truist Foundation’s support will enable Year Up to increase the number of students enrolled in our new centralized training programs, providing greater access to meaningful careers in IT and financial services for young adults without four-year college degrees,” said Ellen McClain, CEO & President of Year Up. 

Students enrolled in the Banking & Customer Success program will receive three months of role-specific training, which will include a virtual, centralized training component that will allow them to learn with peers across ten Year Up sites and that ensures consistency for corporate partners who host interns across several regions. Students will then be placed in a three-month work-based experience with a financial services employer.  

The Application Development program provides students with six months of training that blends synchronous and asynchronous learning content, and leverages centralized, virtual delivery for both technical and essential skills training. In this multi-site model, students learn alongside peers at nine Year Up sites before being placed in a six-month work-based learning experience at a local company.  

Nationwide, 80 percent of Year Up graduates are employed or attending college within four months of completing the program, with average starting salaries of $52,000/year. In May 2022, the federally-sponsored Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) follow-up evaluation of Year Up showed that in the six years post-program, young adults randomly assigned to Year Up earned 30 percent more compared with similar young adults in a control group — the largest impact on earnings reported to date for a workforce program tested in a randomized controlled trial.  

About Year Up Inc. 

Year Up is a national 501(c)3 workforce development organization committed to ensuring equitable access to economic opportunity, education, and justice for all young adults—no matter their background, income, or zip code. Year Up utilizes a high-expectations, high support model where students learn in-demand technical and professional skills to help them effectively navigate a modern work environment. Year Up has served more than 43,000 young adults across more than 20 markets since its founding in 2000 and has been voted one of the "Best Non-Profits to Work For" by The NonProfit Times. To learn more, visit https://www.yearup.org/, and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.  

About Truist Foundation  

Truist Foundation is committed to Truist Financial Corporation's (NYSE: TFC) purpose to inspire and build better lives and communities. The Foundation, an endowed private foundation established in 2020 whose operating budget is independent of Truist Financial Corporation, makes strategic investments in a wide variety of nonprofit organizations centered around two focus areas: building career pathways to economic mobility and strengthening small businesses to ensure all communities have an equal opportunity to thrive. Embodying these focus areas are the Foundation’s leading initiatives – the Inspire Awards and Where It Starts. Learn more at Truist.com/Foundation.