Jerome Walker Email & Phone Number

Year Up United is a national 501(c)3 workforce development organization connecting opportunity talent (18-29) to in-demand technical and professional career pathways that lead to economic mobility. We serve a little over 4k young adults annually and over 40,000 young adults across the United States since our founding in 2000. Our goal is to help young adults move from minimum wage to a living wage through holistic career development and paid work-based opportunities that lead to successful job placement. I support Year Up United Talent Networks team. We are locked in on driving workforce innovation through flexible and scalable partnerships. We believe joining or convening ecosystem partnerships with higher education institutions, non-profit training providers, K-12 systems, youth-serving organizations, and employers can collectively close the opportunity divide.

Greater Philadelphia Area

- Teach Two fully remote asynchronous 14-week required seminar courses designed to inform and enhance professional development for College of Liberal Arts (CLA) students- Establish meaningful student learning outcomes for courses- Collaborate with faculty and staff on flexible career development best practices - Surface new trends in professional development to enhance student learning and curriculum relevance

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

My success in this role largely contributed to preparing College of Liberal Arts (CLA) students successfully for internships, employment, and graduate school through successful one on one coaching, programming, and successful employer relationships. I Launched and led the "CLA Senior Career initiative" that led to a 25% increase in one-on-one appointments amongst seniors 2018-2019. The "CLA Senior Career Initiative" assisted in Increasing NACE: First Destination Survey landing data from 48% in 2018 to 59% in 2019.I also assisted in updating the student professional development course curriculum which led to curriculum updates, built-in tech software in interviewing and resume writing, and increased course offerings.

My day to day work largely consisted of ideating provider and employer relationships/partnerships for four high schools in the Philadelphia Promise Zone. Additionally, I managed staff, youth career immersive programs/internships, and programming budgets of $10,000-75,000.My success in this role contributed to my ability to collaborate across my organization and with funder partners to drive change during a pandemic. My strategic vision was grounded in innovative programming models, local college/university partnerships, and provider partnerships.Highlights in this role consisted of program outcomes which led to 70% retention in virtual/hybrid programs and an 85% completion rate for all programs offered. I led project teams for Youth Workforce RFP contracting and selection process which resulted in funded contracts with local businesses and university partners. I also laid the foundation for scalable and repeatable partnerships to provide unique and consistent career immersive experiences throughout the school year. This effort was designed to increase promise corps career pathway student enrollment, program visibility and student and school value.

In this role, I worked closely with traditional and non traditional students by jumpstarting their path in higher education and identifying academic programs/certificates that assisted in their academic and career goals. I wore two hats as an advisor and program manager. I assisted the Director of Transfer Services and Dean of Student Success Services implement a new advising process for 10,000 transfer students for 5 campuses. Led monthly cross training transfer advising best practices and supported new hires. The advising model developed increased transfer students served and led to the launch of the Transfer Student Success eLearning course for faculty and staff which I spearheaded with the Director of e-learning. The highlights I am most proud of were creating a successful business case to increase the 2015-2017 UNC-Charlotte passport cohort budget. Ideation and design for an improved orientation, advising, registration process, and developing course based learning networks for over 200 students. I created scale strategies by expanding zip codes/counties served that led to a 50% participant increase, 20% diversity increase, and 70% matriculation to UNC-Charlotte.

Charlotte, North Carolina

- Designed a college success transfer curriculum to enhance meaningful student learning outcomes for 8-week in-person and distance courses- Collaborated with English Department, Transfer Resource Center, and Career Services to edit and redesign 2nd edition textbook: College Transfer Success: Making A Smooth Transition- 80% of first-year/first semester students were retained and persisted after completing the course.

Shippensburg, Pennsylvania

In this role, I served as an integral part of multicultural recruitment by providing a vision and strategy to recruit underrepresented students from Philadelphia. I executed an end-to-end admission process for attracting students from the Philadelphia tri-state area. I managed admissions-related programming and budget for “Mi Casa Su Casa” and admissions-sponsored visit programs “Setting Your Sails” for prospective and admitted students.The success in my role led to an increase of the underrepresented student population by 18% during 2013-2014 and 7% during the 2012-2013 academic year.

I wore many hats in this role which largely focused on managing and guiding student leaders and their respective organizations. I designed and facilitated diversity and personal development seminars and workshops. I oversaw and oriented NPHC and Multicultural Greek-lettered sororities and fraternities in community outreach, organizational management, and leadership development.My success in this role led to a successful collaborative program partnership with the office of academic success. I developed and managed the “Talented Tenth” cohort program for first-year African American Male Students who entered the university through the Academic Success Program (ASP). 40% of students who completed this persisted to their sophomore year during the 2012-2013 academic year and 65% persisted to their sophomore year during the 2013-2014 academic year.

Master'S Degree, College Student Personnel Services

Bachelor'S Degree, Sociology