Empowering Diverse Talent to Launch Careers

Building upon our longstanding support to five nonprofits in the Washington, D.C. area working to advance college access and workforce development, Capital One helped stand up the Talent for Tomorrow Alliance. This organization is the first collaborative group in Washington, D.C. to convene multiple nonprofits supporting workforce development.

This unique collaborative model brings an innovative approach to co-developing solutions for the community through sharing resources and promoting individuals graduating from one program and going on to the next.

The Talent for Tomorrow Alliance partners include:

• Spark the Journey (formerly Capital Partners for Education), which provides one-to-one mentoring for low-income high school students in D.C. to help prepare them for college and their career.
• Genesys Works, which supports high school seniors for college readiness and workforce training with a summer technical and professional skills bootcamp and a yearlong paid internship program.
• New Futures, which provides scholarships and other support for students to pursue post-secondary education.
• Per Scholas (National Capital Region), which advances economic equity through rigorous training for tech careers and connects skilled graduate talent to leading employers.
• Year Up (National Capital Region), which provides a yearlong, college accredited workforce training program and professional internships for young adults (ages 18-26).

After providing an initial investment of $500,000 in 2021 to stand up the Alliance, Capital One renewed support for the Alliance's work with an additional grant of $125,000 in 2022. Since 2007, Capital One has hosted more than 300 Year Up interns and has hired more than 160 of those interns into roles across the company.

The Talent for Tomorrow Alliance also raises awareness and educates employers on more inclusive hiring practices and the importance of a diverse workforce. Additionally, it will serve as a model for other cities as to how nonprofit workforce development organizations can collaborate to empower diverse talent to launch careers.

The Alliance has already proven to expand employment outcomes for young adults. On average, students who only attend either Per Scholas or Year Up earn $20-$22 per hour, while those who attended both programs and gained an industry certification earn $32 per hour.

“By working together, the Alliance addresses a larger social justice issue around the inequitable distribution of economic opportunity in the DC metro area," says John Galante, Managing Director of Financial Services at Year Up. "The Alliance will leverage each nonprofit’s strengths and will work purposefully to close racial, income and opportunity gaps by devel- oping a new collaborative paradigm that invests in a diverse and skilled talent pipeline to drive growth in the region."