Giving Compass' Take:

• PACE evaluated the Year Up program, offering technical training and internships to low-income, urban youth, and found the program achieved high levels on multiple measures. 

• How can philanthropy help this program scale up? What could a program like this do for your community? 

• Learn more about Year Up.

This report provides encouraging evidence on the implementation and early impacts of Year Up—a national sectoral training program for urban young adults aged 18-24 with a high school diploma or equivalent. Operated by an organization of the same name, Year Up provides six months of full-time customized training in the IT and financial service sectors followed by sixmonth internships at major firms. The full-time program provides extensive supports— including weekly stipends—and puts a heavy emphasis on professional, as well as technical, skills. Employer payments to Year Up for interns financed 59 percent of the program’s $28,290 per participant cost.

The program placed 99 percent of L&D completers in internships and generated $22,404 in revenue from employers for the average intern. Averaged across all participants (including those dropping out before internships), this revenue financed 59 percent of the program’s $28,290 per participant cost. Foundations and private donors provided the vast majority of the balance, and only two percent of operating funds came from public agencies. Four months after graduation, 83 percent of graduates were employed. Of those working, 89 percent were employed full-time, 88 percent were in an occupation relevant to their Year Up’s training, 41 percent had jobs with their internship sponsors, and 77 percent were earning $15 per hour or more.