A Year Up Helping Young Adults Move from Poverty to Professional Careers in a Single Year

“[Chertavian] demonstrates that with hard work and the right supports … young adults can overcome even the toughest of circumstances.” —Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO, Harlem Children’s Zone

There are many good jobs in America—and many urban young adults eager to take them—if they can bridge the Opportunity Divide that strands many motivated workers at the bottom of the job ladder.

In 2000, Gerald Chertavian, a successful technology entrepreneur and banker, dedicated his life and business expertise to founding Year Up, an intensive one-year program that provides otherwise stranded young adults with training, mentorship, internships, and ultimately real jobs. Following a single Year Up class from admission through graduation, A Year Up lets students share – in their own words- the challenges, failures, and personal successes they experience during the program. It is the inspiring story of a pioneering program that is bridging the Opportunity Divide, with results that can fuel our economy and revive the American ideal of equal opportunity for all.

Gerald Chertavian is the founder and CEO of Year Up. Gerald’s commitment to working with urban youth spans more than 25 years. He is on the Board of Advisors for the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative and is an Emeritus Trustee of Bowdoin College and former Board Member of The Boston Foundation. Gerald has received honorary doctorates from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and Mt. Ida College. He lives in Cambridge with his wife and three children.