Citi and the Citi Foundation have announced a three-year, $100 million commitment to expand a job skills-building initiative aimed at enhancing economic opportunity in underserved communities.
The funding will enable the Pathways to Progress initiative — which was launched in 2014 with the goal of equipping underserved youth with the skills and networks needed to succeed in a rapidly changing economy — to provide ten thousand young adults over the next three years with opportunities to gain work experience and develop their careers at Citi. As part of the commitment, Citi will strengthen its in-house work experience programs, which include summer internships, full-time analyst and associate roles, and on-campus programs and opportunities through the Citi University Partnerships in Innovation & Discovery (CUPID) Program.
In the United States, the initiative has served approximately a hundred thousand Black and Latinx youth over the past three years; going forward, it will put a greater focus on employment skills and entrepreneurship programs serving communities of color. Efforts in North America include expanding the Citi Foundation’s partnership with NPower, with an additional $4 million investment; an additional $1 million investment in its partnership with Echoing Green; and a new partnership with Public Allies aimed at offering young adults of color the opportunity to serve in grassroots nonprofit organizations and enroll in skills-building and leadership programs.
The latest commitments will bring the foundation’s total investment in Pathways to Progress to $300 million by 2023.
“COVID-19 has exacerbated the existing wealth and opportunity gaps facing communities of color and other communities disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, making an already uneven playing field that much worse in terms of employment and job prospects,” said Citi CEO Michael Corbat. “With our expansion of Pathways to Progress, we are maximizing the training resources and opportunities we can provide to hardworking people and ensuring that everyone has equal access to jobs and the economic opportunity and security that comes with them.”
Source: PND
