Gerald Chertavian Quotes

When it comes to expanding opportunity, businesses and young adults are not the sources of the problem - they are a substantial part of the solution.

As we say at Year Up all the time, investing in our young people is not just a matter of economic justice. It's good business sense.

It's not always the case that doing what's right is also doing what's smart, but when it is, the question of 'what to do' should be pretty simple.

Our young immigrants have a lot to offer. They are motivated and hard-working, and in many cases have already contributed significantly to our society - by excelling in school, by volunteering in their communities, or by serving in the military.

I was taught very early on how you treat people is actually what matters.

I've never been afraid to make a polite ask to someone.

Many of our students say, 'We wish we had a mentor in high school. We wish we had someone we could spend more time with, who paid more attention to us, who I could sit down with and talk to when I had a problem.' So relationships are critical.

At Year Up, we have helped thousands of students rise from poverty into a professional career in a single year.

Mentors provide professional networks, outlets for frustration, college and career counseling, general life advice, and most importantly, an extra voice telling a student they are smart enough and capable enough to cross the stage at graduation and land their first paycheck from a career pathway job.

The millennial generation and a growing number of employees are looking for more than just a paycheck. If a nonprofit could make that easy for me, they are doing me a favor. It's not just a one-way value exchange; it is an internal morale building opportunity.

The saying in business is that, 'You hire for skills and you fire for behavior.' And one would argue that in order to move up in career, to be promoted, to take on additional responsibility, in many ways that's linked more to the attitudes and behaviors that you carry rather than what you know technically about a given subject.

Many training programs and often schools focus on just a skill or a kind of work competency. That's only half the equation.

One can fall into the 'soft bigotry of low expectations.'

At Year Up, our students - low income 18-24 year olds - come to us having already faced substantial obstacles in life. They are not in search of a handout; what they want most of all is the ability to take ownership of their own futures.

The Opportunity Divide doesn't just keep our students disconnected from the mainstream economy; it prevents our businesses from growing.

You can learn what you want to learn through hard work. And a good employer will teach you what you want to learn as long as you show the right attitude and behaviors.

Years ago, as I was beginning my professional career on Wall Street, I volunteered as a Big Brother in New York City.

Businesses are no longer receiving the cost savings from outsourcing that they once did.