Year Up’s mission is to close the opportunity divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential in professional careers through higher education. They try to achieve this through a high-support, high-expectation model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, corporate apprenticeships, college credit, a behavior guidance system and several levels of support. Their intensive training and education program serves urban young adults, ages 18-24, in Boston, New York City, Providence and Washington, D.C. There are 3.8 million youths in the U.S.A. who have not progressed beyond a high school diploma and are neither employed nor enrolled in postsecondary education. Founded in 2000, Year Up believes that a well-designed training, education and support program can make an incredible difference in young people’s lives. Their approach takes four program elements – education, experience, support and guidance – and combines them into a system that emphasizes high expectations for quality work and professional behavior. During their first six months of the program, students attend classes at Year Up, learning technical skills that allow them to succeed in entry-level IT or Investment Operations positions. During the second six months, Year Up students gain experience in apprenticeships at one of more than seventy leading companies. The organization provides students with staff advisors, mentors, and tutors – and each student earns an educational stipend during the program. A signed contract and feedback system guides professional behavior and ensures student accountability. Year Up plans to create a network of sites, serving more than 10,000 alumni by 2016. Ultimately, Year Up’s goal is to create and implement a replication model that will allow us to effectively serve tens of thousands of urban young adults across the country. 
Website: http://www.yearup.org/
Obama visits Year Up:
