While Year Up has impacted the lives of many young professionals by providing them with the training and resources needed to succeed in their careers, a large majority of Year Up interns are left struggling to survive on a $150/week stipend while completing their full-time internship. Many are left to seek additional jobs to merely survive and pay essential bills. Many are parents with no support to seek additional finance or childcare.

Full-time interns expected to work no less than 35 hours a week at their demanding corporate job, are also expected to survive on the $150/week stipend provided by Year Up. Given the nonprofit organization is targeted toward young adults facing hardships, it would be safe to assume most do not have thousands of dollars on reserve to support bills for 6 months.

Today, 4/5/23, Year Up announced that they will be increasing the stipend to $525/week for future interns. However, this does not apply to current interns who are left figuring out how to avoid eviction or keep the lights on for the remainder of their internship (est. 4 months).

The right to be paid a living wage for full-time work is a fundamental human right. Raise current Year Up Intern stipends to $525/week.