Hi there. This is Cindy Lu with CHRO Partners, and I'm joined with Ashton Jeffries with YearUp.org Ashton's associate director of corporate engagement. And today we're going to talk a little bit about how HR leaders can get involved in really narrowing the, what do you call it? Opportunity. Yeah. So the opportunity to divide yes. Opportunity. Right. Okay. Um,

so yeah. Tell us a little bit about yourself, Ashton, and then we'd love to hear more about your organization. Yeah, definitely. Um, so again, Ashton's, Jeffrey's with YearUp.org, um, all my life I've thought that, uh, my goal was to help people, um, and serve others in help them attain their goals. Um,

one of the things that I believe is that everyone deserves a right to, uh, provide for them fit in their families, as well as provide for themselves. And the company that I actually worked for now, um, actually gives, um, young adults in the, all over the country. Um, the ability to do that. Yeah. So what YearUp.org is,

what is the company that I worked for? What is it? Um, Europe is a workforce development program. We're a national nonprofit. We have about, uh, 24 locations in 18 cities throughout the United States. We're in a lot of the large metropolitan areas. Um, and what we do is we believe we try to close the opportunity to buy. We know that there's about 12 million jobs,

um, lower entry level jobs, and there's about 6 million opportunity. Youth is what we call them. Um, and we believe these opportunity youth are young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 who are actually looking for an opportunity. Um, we believe that they have the skills, um, and that they can actually add value to a lot of the companies,

but they just don't have that opportunity. And they haven't been provided those opportunities, um, to actually add that value. So we believe we can actually bridge that gap. Um, and the way we bridge that gap is by providing them this one year intensive, uh, this one year intensive program, um, we're in the first six months of our program.

Um, what we actually do is we actually, uh, teach them soft skills, um, as well as we develop partnerships with the local community colleges in the area. So your up teaches the, the soft skills, other programs, such as communication, how to provide feedback, um, writing emails, navigating corporate culture, talking about microaggressions as well as when we partner up with the local community colleges.

Uh, we they're teaching them the technical side of things. Um, and the students are able to actually pick different pathways, which you and I would probably consider as majors. Um, so here in the Dallas Fort worth area, we have an information technology pathway. Um, so financial operations, sales, uh, sales and customer service support, business operations and software development.

Um, and through all of this process, we're just up skillset. We're building up their skill set to eventually provide them the opportunity to increase their W2 over, um, over a course of time is what is our goal. Yeah, that's, uh, that's pretty amazing. I just think there's such a need in fact today, um, because he came out with a COVID-19,

um, student learning in the U S it's called the hurt, could last a lifetime, and they were talking about how, for example, in 2009, if we would have closed this, they call it the, um, um, let's say achievement gap, right? That today's GDP today's us GDP would be 426 billion to $705 billion higher. Wow. If we would've closed that gap back in 2009,

it's crazy. Right. And so not only is it kind of a feel good thing to do, but, um, makes dollars and cents too, right? Yeah, definitely. And definitely in that's what we try to do. So like, and at first part of that program, as we were teaching them soft skills, we're also developing relationships with corporate and corporate America,

where we're asking for these companies to actually give us internships or make an investment for internships. Um, and in these, these internships actually turn into, uh, the whole objectives. They turn into actual jobs that pay the students, a livable wage, which is for us in the Dallas Fort worth area is about a little bit above $37,000 a year. Um,

and that's based on performance. So we'll, you know, in our organization, we believe in high support, high expectations. So all of our students, um, actually have coaches that are staff like myself. Um, and we coach the students about like just on life in general, as well as things outside of Europe. Um, one of the things that we've noticed is that you,

you know, there's a holistic, we gotta do the holistic aspect of it. Um, you gotta make sure that they have housing yet to make sure that they have food on the table. You gotta make sure that they have children, that they have daycare. Um, so one of the things that we've done there is that we have on staff at all of our locations throughout the United States.

We have student services, which all of our students services, people are actually licensed social workers. Um, so they help them with that aspect of things. Um, and then also while they're doing internships and they're learning throughout this year, uh, we do a lot of different things that prepare them, um, to find jobs or just put in just preparation,

uh, to overcome challenges that they may face. So we'll have guest speakers, like on Fridays, we bring in a guest speaker every morning, we'll have a topic of the week, or let's just say, it's perseverance and we'll bring in someone, um, and allow the email speak on perseverance and what they've overcome and what they've persevered in their life.

Um, in the PR we do this over like the, over the whole year. Um, as well as we put our students, we bring our students together on Fridays and we have a feedback circle where students are able to actually give feedback to staff, as well as their peers that they've worked with throughout the week, which teaches them that something that,

you know, that I know that I never learned in my corporate careers. Like, how do you give your boss feedback? Or how do you accept feedback? Cause some people cause perceive it as criticism, but how can you give it in a way that's actually a gift? And that's one of the things that we think about a year up is that feedback is a gift that you can actually grow from it that it shouldn't be being said.

It shouldn't be said in a condescending manner, but it actually should uplift you and propel you to be better. So a lot of our students definitely are always asking for feedback on how to get better. And when they do Sounds like some adults could use that kind of training too. Yes, definitely. That's something that we definitely share, not with our students,

but with R and D employees and the staff across the country. Yes. Yeah. So I'm going to ask you, um, how people can get involved, but also want to hear a couple of success stories. Maybe people you've coached or kids that you, you know, can tell us about and what's happened with their, you know, lives and internships and careers.

Yeah, definitely. So, um, I'll give you a couple of like, just a couple of numbers. So in year up in dialysis, we've been open for about four years now. We've helped about 475, um, students, um, year to date in the Dallas area. Um, um, Nani, we have a 94% graduation rate. Um,

and also our students right now year to date are making about the average student that goes to our program. That's being between the ages of 18 and 24 that do not have a college degree are actually making about $39,000 a year. And so that's really something that we're really, really proud of. Um, also the other thing is too, once they graduated our program,

um, 72% of the students that are graduated, our program are actually have full time, year up related jobs in the term, which is key. The key terminal is year up related. So we want you to graduate our program and absolutely go to a job that is associated with those pathways that we talked about. Now don't get me wrong. We want our students to,

I mean, we understand that everyone can find job, that job finding a job is difficult, right. Um, and we don't want them to go back to the job that they had before. If they were working in a fast food restaurant, we actually don't want them to go back and start working in corporate America and some capacity over another. So 72.

So 72% of, uh, over the past four years of all of our students are working full time, year up related jobs. Um, That's amazing. Great, great numbers Is, it is really, I know I really get emotional and I've gotten emotional about some of the students that I've helped. Um, so one of my last, he, um,

was kind of an introvert. Didn't talk a lot, but was very, very smart. Um, and throughout the program, we had to help him get comfortable with being uncomfortable and stretching herself. A lot of the times when we would go into a Friday feedback, he would pull me to the side, but I asked him, what is this, why are we doing this?

I don't see the point in it. And I was like, listen, trust the process. Right? It's a long process. Trust the process. Um, we actually awarded him his internship cause we kind of made sure that like we researched, we threw out the process of learning about the student. We assess their skills, we give them performance reviews,

give them feedback, written feedback. So they understand. And in that process, we're learning the student. And also we're learning about our corporate partners who are offering these internships and we match them together. So that there's a good cultural fit. Right. A good person. Now that you fit in, in that process, we had mashed into a company.

We had matched them to one of our partners and he was like, no, I don't want to go there. That's not what I want to do. And I was like, listen, trust the process. We, this is tried and true. It's working. Um, and our company has been around since 2000 and we have a big success rate across the country.

So I'm like trusted. Well, it ended up happening. He didn't want to do the internship, but he ended up doing everything that we asked, trusting the process, following directions, stretching herself, coming to stepping outside of his comfort zone. And he earned a job. Um, I, I see job that pays him well over $40,000 a year.

Um, and he, and he was our at graduation. He was a guest speaker, I mean, um, and he shared, like, he talked about how he pushed against us in the beginning, but at the end it definitely worked out for him and he saw the growth in itself. Um, and like I say, and he also had a child it's actually in the program.

And now, I mean, he ex he shared that he was actually making more money than his actual parents, um, which is amazing, right? Like that's a, like that, brain's like in the moment I was like, I'm not crying, you're crying. Like no one, you know, just because it was emotional to see him change. And we have housing stories,

like thousands of stories like that across the globe, across the United States and what, and just the young adults that we help. Um, and we're just right now looking for volunteers, right. Um, volunteers to come speak to our students about perseverance, courage, share the challenges that they faced in their lives. Cause a lot of times our students are seeking information,

but don't know how to find it. Right. Um, and we want to put the right people in front of them, um, that can actually share the experiences that can actually, maybe it's a networking experience there. Right. And you're able, wants to choose graduate. You're able to share your network with them or teach them something throughout the process.

Um, so we're looking for guest speakers. We're also looking for volunteers for our mock interviews and helping our students find, um, find jobs. Um, we're also looking for resume workshops that we complete. Um, and we actually do interview where, uh, we actually do networking events to teach our students how to be master networkers, like city Lily's right.

Like I love it. Um, but like things like that or what we're looking for and engaging our young adults that we actually work with. So, um, cause our goal really truly is to close the opportunity to vibe and actually create eight, the environment where our students can actually be successful. I love it. I love it. And there's accountability and you know,

it's not like everybody just gets a handout. It's what did you call it a hand up, right. Yeah. So good. So good In our program. I mean, one of the things that I like to tell people about our program that is crazy is it's free and we actually pay our students. We saw our students actually earn a stipend, an educational stipend throughout the entire program.

Um, and then like that stipend is based on some, like a merit system too. So we kind of, there is an accountability piece of what they're doing. Yeah. And so the companies, the companies are paying for the interns so that they can get paid, which they haven't showed anyways. Um, yeah. How, how have things changed with,

uh, COVID-19 and internships? Are they going on? Are they sort of remote internships or how how's that working now? Yeah. So a great question, Cindy. Um, we are, so our whole organization has gone online, right. Um, and in the corporate engagement space right now, we've been talking to a lot of our corporate partners about virtual internships and what that looks like.

So a lot of our companies are saying, Hey, you know, your direct services and you're teaching your students how to you teach in your interns, how to be successful from a face to face basis. Now, what does that look like? Um, when you're going virtual online, when these internships are 100% for our work, 100% virtual? Well,

one of the things we did was we started changing our, of our curriculum. The mission hasn't changed, just the way that we go about the mission has changed. And it actually has opened up to a broader array of ideas and more people than just what we were dealing with locally in Dallas. Um, and so what we've done is we were bringing in,

uh, corporate partners and volunteers, like what we're looking for to talk about how do you build relationships virtually, right? How do you sell yourself through an internship online? Or like, what is it like to speak up? So, you know, when you're in first time and you're on your first job and your first corporate experience, it's easy to turn to your left and talk to your colleague or in turn to your right and say,

Hey, like, can you help me with this? Well, now you're at home, someone's giving you a project. And what does that look like? How do you work on that project? How do you navigate through the challenges that you may face? They're not knowing how to complete the work well, we're teaching our students how to do that. Like it's going deeper into research and trying to figure out answers,

um, teaching them how to speak up, um, really teaching them about that feedback aspect of like, Hey, listen, this is a lot for me right now. Like, well, how can we navigate this? Um, and time management, that's huge. Something even prior to Kobe that we had to teach our students, but now, you know,

you're having a little bit more free time, um, and a lot more free, free MIS and being at home and working. And what does that look like? How do you get rid of the distractions of everyday life and what's going on so that you can focus on what your, what your, your end goal, which is covering your internship into a job.

Right. Right. And you've gotta be able to anchor to some kind of goal, right. To constantly be thinking about that. I also like what you said earlier about how, um, when you're coaching people, it has to be holistic. It can't just be just about the job because there's other things at play. Um, um, did we talk about that when we were prepping?

Or did you mention that already? I mentioned that I just mentioned that. No. I mean, the holistic aspect of it is that we know that students can focus on a job when you have to focus on you can't focus on your internship or completing your education or going and taking these classes at the local community college, if you're worried about how you're going to eat,

right. Or if you're worried about who's going to pay your rent or where you're going to stay, or how are you going to feed your child? Well, we believe that's why we, we set up different themes to assist in with our students in doing that. Um, we've developed a lot of, uh, community, uh, relationships with community based organizations,

um, to actually provide those services as well as our licensed social worker. Um, like working with the Lu since our students are enrolled in a local community college. Um, and here in Dallas, you know, one of the harder things is, um, transportation, right? Most of the jobs, most of our internships are far North. Most of our students are living in downtown Dallas,

right. Or are not close to ongoing North. So one of the things is that w if you're enrolled in a local community college, you gave free access to dark, right. And you get free access to public transportation. So that is really, um, one of the things that we try to, you know, utilize, we utilize some of the other resources throughout just to support our students.

Like I say, we believe in high expectations, but also high support. Yeah. This is amazing Ashton. I mean, with all that's going on in the world today, um, what a positive way to affect lives and, you know, really get people focused on creating, you know, income and skills and things that, um, are really at the root cause of all the,

you know, challenges that we have today, um, as well as others. But I think that, um, we're going to have an audience across the country. That's going to be really interested in getting in touch with you. What's the best way to get in touch with you? Is there link we can provide in the show notes? Or do you want to share your email or how do you want it to handle that?

Yeah, so you can definitely look, I'll share my email. Um, I'll share the, our Europe website, which is up like Y E a R U p.work. Um, and there, there are a lot, there are several links where you can link up with the, uh, the actual, our actual department where the centers within that area within your metropolitan area,

um, as well as you can reach out to me and I can forward it off to some of the different locations or different people, uh, in those different cities. And it's, uh, my email address is Ashton. So it's a, Jeffery's AJ E F F R I E [email protected]. Again, that's aJeffrey@yearup.org.

Um, and you can reach me there as well as the year up.org, www.yearup.org website. And we're definitely, there is opportunities there and you can fill out the forms. Um, and I love to have people that we love to connect with you and talk to you about how we can change those communities. Yeah. And I think with everything that you know about online internships,

a lot of the HR folks are struggling with that. Right. So you would have a lot to share with them as far as what you see across other organizations and what they're doing. Yeah. So one of the things that we believe that we've got we have is we have a source to an untapped healing hit well hidden talent pool, right? Then there's that we have a lot of people that are there,

that we can bring to you that can actually add value and actually from a, um, so there's a study on out that we've done our own research that I'd definitely be love to share is that our students, once they go into an organization, they're there for years longer than do your average pipeline. And one of the reasons why they're there is because you've actually given them a chance,

no one has given them a chance to actually prove themselves. And you've taken that opportunity. And now they're going to be dedicated to you, right? They're going to be dedicated to giving back to you, to adding and staying there, as we know, from the HR perspective to onboard somebody. And then for them not to stay cost a lot of money,

what we're saying, like with our program, where we match up with our interns to your, to, to those jobs and those job descriptions that we try to do it intentionally. Right. But we don't try. We do do it intentionally with the objective of actually having those interns convert into the convert into long time jobs. And sometimes we, we definitely understand that it doesn't always work out like that,

right. From budgetary perspective, since of COVID that even though there may be internship opportunities, they may not be able to curve, uh, convert into a full time job, or it may not work out, but we definitely also have employment placement teams. Um, so their main objective is all they do is help our students who have finished our program actually find employment opportunities so that their whole job is dedicated to teaching them their jobs,

uh, choosing how to build jobs, there's tools such as LinkedIn profiles, uh, how to conduct interviews and things like that. Um, and they're dedicated to finding our students employment, uh, our students employment opportunities. That's amazing. Well, Ashton, thank you so much for sharing the stories with our, um, community. And, uh, I'm hoping that you get lots of emails from people and,

uh, wanting to connect. Alright, well, so we'll also include your LinkedIn profile in the show notes as well. All right. Thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity. Okay.