Offering a way back to hopes of college – A program targets some promising young people whose lives hit a bump on the path to higher education.

Boston’s downtown pedestrian mall teems with young adults, many on their way to or from a minimum-wage job. But sandwiched between the RadioShack and the Burger King there’s a fifth-floor suite where better jobs finally seem within reach for a couple dozen 18- to 24-year-olds.

They may not have dared to imagine that before they found Year Up, which offers college-level technology classes, professional and personal development, and paid apprenticeships. Participants must be high school graduates or have GEDs – and some even have a few college courses under their belts – but what largely defines them is a desire for higher education that has been thwarted by circumstances.

By Stacy A. Teicher | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

http://yearup.org/

Full Story: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1221/p11s01-legn.html?s=hns