Citi Foundation Commits Big to Help Young People Succeed

3/28/2017

Citi Foundation has committed $100 million to expand their Pathways to Progress initiative, aiming to connect 500,000 young people to training and job opportunities within the next three years. The initiative launched in 2014 across 10 U.S. cities and has already helped over 100,000 young people become career-ready. The additional funding will allow them to have a further reach by building on existing programs and engaging in new partnerships.

Pathways to Progress was developed to help reduce youth unemployment and improve the quality of the youth workforce. According to Citi CEO Michael Corbat, "The playing field isn't level for all young people and Citi wants to help change that." So far, 9,000 low-income youth were able to take part in entrepreneurship training camps and business plan competitions, resulting in the start of 132 new businesses. Over 10,000 participated in ServiceWorks, a program that prepares young people for college and jobs through volunteer work.

Next up, Pathways to Progress will work with Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship to expand start-up training for young entrepreneurs. They will further engage with programs like Management Leadership for Tomorrow's Ascend program, which helps first generation, low-income students complete college well prepared for the workforce. "Young people consistently say they want to pursue careers that allow them to contribute to important societal issues, and I firmly believe that matching that ambition with the skills provided through Pathways will benefit all of us when they enter the workforce," says Corbat. LEARN MORE

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