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In 2000, Gerald Chertavian met his "Little Brother" David Heradia, a ten-year-old boy from an impoverished neighborhood in New York City. Inspired by David's situation, Gerald founded Year Up.

The Year Up program provides underprivileged youth with the necessary technical and social skills for working in the business world. This "corporate bootcamp" offers crash courses in Accounting and IT, college credit, and a stipend of a few hundred dollars per week. In order to produce excellence, the program is very strict on tardy policies and turning in assignments. Every year, a quarter of each class does not make it through to the end.

Year Up is rapidly gaining traction. 60 Minutes recently ran a special on the organization's success. Fortune 500 Companies like American Express, JP Morgan, and Facebook are hiring Year Up interns. As the organization continues to expand, the goal is to eventually train 100,000 people per year.

You can read more about the program in Chertavian's book, available in bulk on Book-Pal.com.