Pride Event Recap

Thank you One Year Up for joining the YUProud Staff Resource Group for our second annual Pride Event, Rage & Resilience: Take Action, on Thursday, June 22! We were able to create space to share the multidimensionality of our rage, lived experiences, and celebrate the joy we cultivate through resilience, and the love and belonging that is fostered in our community. You can find a recording of our event here and the awesome playlist curated by Alexis Hall, Student Services Manager.

Don’t forget to take action and contact your elected officials by the end of pride month and share your action in the YU-Community Channel in Slack – you can find more details here.

For those who want to learn more, check out the Degreed Pathway, Transgender Day of Visibility & PRIDE @ YU.

On Thursday, June 22, 2023, the YUProud Staff Resource Group host Year Up’s second annual Pride Event.

A big thank you to the following folks who served on the planning committee for the event: Alexis Hall; Aric Townes, Operations Manager; BA Thomas (they/them), Director of Enrollment Solutions; Blamey (they/them), Associate Director of Program; Bree Davidson (she/her), Internship Services Manager; Dr. Onllwyn Dixon, Director of DEIB; Emily Bunting, HRIS Analyst; Jose Arias-Ruiz, Enrollment Manager; Lauren Peachy, Associate Director of Marketing, PR and External Communications; Lee Roberts (they/them), Staff Learning Manager; Luis Cabrales – Vasquez (he/they), DEIB Manager; Sarah Hanke, Director of Projects and Planning; and Victoria Fear, Associate Director, Corporate Engagement.

If you are a part of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual + (LGBTQIA+) community, or questioning, and would like to join the YUProud SRG, please contact Aric Townes or Lauren Peachey.

Juneteenth Celebration Recap

Thank you One Year Up for joining the National Black, African American, and Pan-African (BAAPA) Staff Resource Group, for our third annual Juneteenth celebration! During this event, we were able to foster space for community building, empowerment, and learning. A big thank you to Michael Baldwin, Manager, Training and Instructional Design; Gina Allen, Director of Operations, Grads of Life; Sean Bell, Director, Training Solutions; Nadine Sylvester, Site Director New York | New Jersey; Isaac Buwembo, Deputy Chief of Staff; Dr. Onllwyn Dixon, Director of DEIB; Tiffany Brooks, Program Manager; Clifford Smith, Enrollment Manager; and Karen Chancellor, Employment Placement Manager, who served as planning committee members. You can view the recording here. You can also view the video montage and historic reading of Still I Rise by Maya Angelou here.

On Thursday, June 15, the Year Up Community gathers online to celebrate Juneteenth.

Learn about our Staff Resource Groups.

It’s Social Work Month

Social Worker Month is also celebrated in March. The National Association of Social Workers has identified the theme as “Social Work Breaks Barrier.” Our Student Services staff go above and beyond daily to ensure our young adults’ lived experiences are recognized and validated.

In the #YU-Community Channel on Slack shout out the social workers of Year Up who are breaking barriers. Here are graphics and Zoom backgrounds to use throughout the month.

Let’s Celebrate the Women of Year Up

Women’s History Month is celebrated throughout March. The Women’s History Month theme for 2023 is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories”. The National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA) shares, “Throughout 2023, the NWHA will encourage the recognition of women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling…This timely theme honors women in every community who have devoted their lives and talents to producing art and news, pursuing truth, and reflecting society decade after decade.” This year’s theme is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories.”

In the #YU-Community Channel on Slack shout out the women of Year Up who tell our stories. Let’s honor Year Up’s talented storytellers. Change your Zoom background in celebration of Women’s History Month.

Hispanic Heritage Month – Watch the Celebration

This past Wednesday, October 12, we celebrated our first national Hispanic Heritage Month along with our Latinx staff who are helping us to close the Opportunity Divide. We had the privilege of hearing from three Year Up champions, Yvette Vargas, Internship Services Associate Director; Angelys Cazes, alumna Year Up South Florida 2019, and David Heredia, Gerald’s little brother and the inspiration for Year Up, along with other engagements that further our knowledge and understanding of the Latinx heritage. You can join the celebration on our Year Up Community Slack Channel. The HHM Celebration Team did a great job! Thank you to the organizing committee – Lucia Angeles, Director, Talent Solutions Designer; Janet Luna, Student Services Senior Manager; Raquel Rodriguez, Director, Talent Solutions; Yvette Vargas, Angelica Novo, Employment Placement Manager; Crystal Brito, Associate Director, Pipeline Management; and Luis Cabrales-Vaquez, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Manager.

You can find the recording here.

Yesterday, our National YU Proud Staff Resource Group (SRG) hosted our first annual Pride Celebration and they gave a wonderful overview of the historical context for Pride month. I was grateful to hear the personal experiences and stories shared openly and with courage by our colleagues – thank you. I’d also like to thank the planning committee – Lauren Peachy, Senior Marketing Manager, PR and Events; Luis Cabrales-Vasquez, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) Manager; Kim Amyouny, Director, Enterprise Operations; Aric Townes, Operations Specialist; Lee Roberts, Staff Learning & Development Specialist; Dr. Onllwyn Dixon, Director of DEIB; Drew Jacobsen, Senior Operations Manager; and Adam Esmaeel, Site Director; along with many others – that did an outstanding job orchestrating this event from the personal reflections, to the trivia, to the discussion groups, and to the music which created a joyful atmosphere throughout our time together. I’m truly grateful that our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning+ (LGBTQ+) staff members are more able to be their authentic selves. I appreciate we still have a long way to go, and I am thankful that we are moving in the right direction.

I also want to wish you a Happy Pride Month. June marks the observance of Pride Month – an opportunity to celebrate, learn, and commemorate the accomplishments of our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer+ (LGBTQ+) staff, students, and community members. I hope you’ll take the time to do some digging to raise your awareness about their stories of oppression and overcoming discrimination and hate. Some of our core values are to strive to learn, engage and embrace diversity, and respect and value others. Those values speak to who we aim to be as an organization and I encourage each of you, as individuals, to do so as well. To continue your knowledge journey, check out the Library of Congress site

Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month began as a week-long celebration signed into observance by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. The week began on May 4 to include the 7th and 10th. May 7 commemorates the first recognized arrival of a Japanese person to the U.S. and May 10 marks the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, to which many Chinese workers contributed. The week was extended to a month in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush as a celebratory month of the accomplishments and contributions of the API people. In
2009, President Barack Obama updated the name of the month to what it is today to help to bring attention to the cultural identities of both the Asian and Pacific Islander communities in our country. To quote Yuri Kochiyama, a Japanese American political and civil rights activist, “Remember that consciousness is power. Consciousness is
education and knowledge. Consciousness is becoming aware. It is the perfect vehicle for students. Consciousness-raising is pertinent for power, and be sure that power will not be abusively used, but used for building trust and goodwill domestically and internationally. Tomorrow’s world is yours to build.”

Join us in celebrating our amazing API staff and students by posting your love for and support of them on the # yu-community channel on
Slack. Year Up would not be here without their hard work. Learn more about APIA Heritage Month here and here.

Dear Year Up,

Happy Friday! I hope this note finds you well. This month we seize the opportunity to recognize, applaud, and learn great lessons from a group of people whose accomplishments throughout history deserve to be celebrated – women. I’m thrilled and moved to see that many of you have taken our Chief Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Officer (DEIB), Ronda Thompson up on her challenge to celebrate the women of Year Up who have made a difference in your lives by posting on the # yu-community channel on Slack. I’m so proud to work at an organization whose progress is driven in so many ways by the many women who work here – constituting both a majority of our staff and also a majority of our leadership. Your shoutouts regarding the incredible impact these amazing women have had on our young adults are well deserved and inspiring. Similar to a message we delivered during Black History Month, we can honor our teams by not limiting these efforts to a specific month. Let’s all “call out with gratitude” much more regularly and year-round…it is so deserved!

Be well,

Gerald