City News: Daniel Yem, Year Up Apprentice
From the City News interview series...
In August, when most graduating students have moved on from school, are off looking for jobs in their field, preparing to enter college, or relaxing on a summer vacation, a group of young Providence pupils, ages 18 to 24, just received their diplomas on Wednesday, August 1st. Daniel Yem, 23, who came from South Philadelphia to Providence, is one of the twenty-two new graduates of the Year Up program.
The Year Up program, started in Boston in 2002, is a one-year intensive education and apprenticeship program for young, urban adults. It has branches in New York and Washington DC, and in 2005 the program came to Providence. Located downtown, Year Up’s Executive Director Sara Enright believes that in the next five years, thousands more students will transform both the City and the nation by closing what she calls “the opportunity divide” between our youth. She believes that the combination of intensive training and real world work experience in a corporate setting helps bridge that divide while building America’s future workforce.
Sara and Dan caught up with City News shortly after their graduation ceremony at the Westin Hotel.
Why did you decide to enroll at Year Up?
Dan: I chose to join Year Up because I was working a job that had no job advancement. I could not move inside the job. This is an opportunity for me to learn and also get paid at the same time. So it’s a win-win situation for me.
How would you describe your experience at Year Up?
D: My experience was great – never had a negative one at all. Every moment I spent at Year Up, I learned a great deal from all the instructors, all the teachers and I learned more from this experience than I’ve ever learned.
Where was your apprenticeship?
D: My apprenticeship was at West Greenwich at the G-Tech company.
What did you do there?
D: I did everything a normal computer operator would do. I shadowed them. The first and second day I was on my own working, starting my own projects and finishing them off.
What are your future plans?
D: I got hired by G-Tech, and I plan to move within the company as much as possible. I’m thinking about going back to New England Tech for further education.
How old are you?
D: I’m 23 years old.
You know at this age, a lot of your peers have probably already graduated from college and are off working at a job in their field. What is it like for you to start this process later on in your young life?
D: The people that are graduating college now at my age, most of them can’t even find jobs in the field that they (studied) in. That’s why I love Year Up so much because they put us in an apprenticeship. They exposed us to the corporate world and it gives the corporate world fresh talent apart from the graduates from the colleges. Like I said, we spend a year at Year-Up and we have the same opportunities that people spent four years having at universities.
Sara, what makes Year Up valuable to have in the City of Providence?
Sara: Year Up is beneficial in a few key ways. One, it provides outstanding opportunities for Providence young adults to really get their foot in the door. They get six months of intensive training in technical skills, professional skills, and communication skills. Like Dan talked about, they get six months of full time real world, real work experience at a company like G-Tech, like Bank of America, Citizens Bank or CVS. That combination of training and experience and support and guidance along the way is really an unparalleled opportunity for young adults.
At the same time, every employer in Rhode Island is crying out, ‘where is the future workforce? I need people with problem-solving skills, and technical skills, and professional skills,’ and that’s exactly what we’re providing for Rhode Island’s companies.
What do you expect students to take away with them when they graduate, aside from work skills?
S: I think we expect them to gain confidence and most of all gain a sense that they can truly do anything that they set out to do. There are so many young people in this community and across the country who simply can’t see all the opportunities that are out there and don’t necessarily have access to them. So by providing that first sort of foot in the door experience, students are able to see how much is out there for them and how high their potential really is. So our hope is that Year Up is just a catalyst for a lot of future success, and for Dan and all of his colleagues to go on and do big things!
How many classes have graduated since you opened in Providence in 2005?
S: This is our fourth graduating class in Rhode Island.
That’s wonderful. Congratulations. What is the most special thing about this graduating class?
S: Every class is special. It’s hard to put a particular label on it. I think this class is known for its leaders and supporters. There are a number of folks like Dan who have really been leaders in helping their colleagues, guiding and providing that focus on all the great opportunities that are ahead. And they supported one another through a lot of challenges in a lot of ups-and-downs and they’ve really been just a tightly-knit community and strong group together.
Dan, Sara talked a little about young people your age who may not know how to access programs like Year Up, can you tell us how you found out about Year Up and how you’d encourage other young people to do the same?
D: I found out about Year Up through a friend, Ray Martin. Year Up advertises on buses. I mean the best way to recruit people is through word-of-mouth. I’m also on the recruitment team and that’s the best way I do it. I give them the website, they go check it out, and they come join. They experience the program and they like it and they want other people to do it.
Where is Year Up heading in the future?
S: I think the future of Year Up here in Providence is to continue to be a strong program providing great opportunities and creating an alumni base that’s not just Dan and his colleagues but hundreds and thousands more young people to lead their communities.
I think Year Up across this country -- we’ve set out to close the opportunity divide and we’re expanding and are currently looking at San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, and Dallas as potential expansion cities -- I expect that in the next five years, we’ll have close to 10,000 Year Up alumni. And when you have 10,000 young people like Dan who have set out to do great things, and to be real leaders, you start to really create a voice for all those young people who are on one side of that opportunity divide. So our hope right now is to plant that seed for what is a real national change.
Dan, so now that Sara has knighted you as a leader, what are your words of wisdom for other young people?
To do the best in whatever they strive for. To always keep going. Never give up. Your dreams will come true if you work hard enough.
To learn more about Year Up, go to www.yearup.org or visit them in person at their Providence headquarters at 10 Dorrance Street, Suite 1108.
