2019 -- H 5968

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LC002343

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2019

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

HONORING AND THANKING GERALD CHERTAVIAN, FOUNDER AND CEO OF YEAR

UP, INC., FOR TRAINING AND MENTORING THOUSANDS OF YOUNG ADULTS AND

GUIDING THEM TOWARDS SUCCESSFUL CAREERS AND PROSPEROUS FUTURES

     Introduced By: Representatives Abney, Shekarchi, Kennedy, and Maldonado

     Date Introduced: April 09, 2019

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, Gerald Chertavian, a graduate of Bowdoin College and the Harvard

Business School, has long been interested in mentoring young people, helping them to gain the

training they need to be productive citizens and launch successful careers with America’s top

companies; and

     WHEREAS, More than thirty years ago, as a Big Brother volunteer in New York City,

Mr. Chertavian saw first-hand how numerous talented, motivated, and bright individuals

struggled to succeed because they lacked access to important opportunities due to their race, lack

of income and/or the zip code within which they lived; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Chertavian often thought about what he called the “Opportunity

Divide” that existed in the United States and wrote about it in his application to the Harvard

Business School. After graduating from Harvard and starting and selling his successful software

company in 1999, he decided to do something about it and used the proceeds of the sale to launch

Year Up in Boston in 2000; and

     WHEREAS, Year Up is a nonprofit organization with a mission of training young adults

for the jobs of today and the future and connecting them with successful companies in need of

pre-trained, motivated and diverse adults. Year Up currently serves more than 4,700 young

people each year in 25 cities throughout the United States, including more than 160 young adults

in Providence; and

     WHEREAS, Since its inception, Year Up has worked with more than 24,000 young

adults, providing them with free technical and profession skills training, professional internships,

college level courses, financial assistance and stipends, and mentoring. Nationally, 90 percent of

Year Up graduates are either employed or attending college within four months of completing the

program, and the average starting salary of those in the workforce is $40,000 annually; and

     WHEREAS, Year Up came to Providence in 2005, the first new site after its initial

launch in Boston, and in July of 2018, Year Up celebrated its 1,000th graduate. Year Up Rhode

Island and its talented Executive Director, Ms. Cathy Doyle, work with important companies like

Amica, Lifespan, Citizens Bank, CVS Health, Fidelity and Hasbro to ensure that its curriculum

and training methods are aligned with current local labor market needs; and

     WHEREAS, Year Up Rhode Island alumni, according to conservative estimates, have

contributed 125 million dollars in wages to the Rhode Island economy, working for more than

seventy employers in various information technology and business operations careers. Year Up

graduates have achieved over 95 percent rates of employment outcomes, leading the nation in that

measurement; and

     WHEREAS, Year Up, under the esteemed guidance, direction and leadership provided by

Mr. Chertavian, has an annual operating budget of 170 million dollars and is one of the fastest

growing nonprofits in the United States. Year Up has been recognized by Fast Company and The

Monitor Group as being of the nation’s top 25 organizations using business excellence to

engineer social change, and has been recognized by the NonProfit Times as being one of the top

50 nonprofits for which to work; and

     WHEREAS, Mr. Chertavian has been a Big Brother volunteer since 1985, and was

recognized as being one of New York State’s top Big Brothers. In 2008, he was appointed by

then-Governor Deval Patrick to serve on the Massachusetts State Board of Elementary and

Secondary Education. In 2013, he was appointed by Governor Patrick to serve as Chairman of the

Roxbury Community College Board of Trustees and was reappointed to that position by current

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker in 2016; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and

Providence Plantations hereby honors and thanks Gerald Chertavian, the founder and CEO of

Year Up, for training and mentoring thousands of young adults and guiding them towards

successful careers and prosperous futures; and be it further

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     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mr. Gerald Chertavian, Founder and CEO of

Year Up.

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