Year Up is a one-year, intensive training program that provides urban young adults, ages 18-24, with a combination of hands-on skill development, college credits, and corporate internships.

During the first six months of the program, participants focus on skill mastery in one of two areas: 1) Desktop Support / IT Help Desk; 2) Investment Operations. Equal emphasis is placed on developing the professional skills required in today’s workplace such as effective communication, leadership, and teamwork.

During the second six months of the program, students are placed in internships with local partner companies. A stipend is provided to all participants throughout the one-year, full-time educational program.

DO YOU QUALIFY? ARE YOU…

• Between the ages of 18-24?
• A High School graduate or GED recipient?
• A low to moderate income resident in the Atlanta, Boston, Providence, New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, or Washington D.C.?
• Interested in learning about Information Technology?
• Familiar with basic computer skills?
• Motivated to conquer new skills?

YearUp RESULTS
We have achieved excellent results to date:

• 100% placement of qualified students into internships
• 83% student retention
• 90% of interns meet or exceed partner expectations
• 87% of graduates placed in full or part-time positions
• $15/hr average wage at placement

“Our experience with the Year Up program has been tremendous. With Michel, we have witnessed, first-hand, the impact that the program has had on the life of a young adult. Michel has added an enormous amount of value to the Commonwealth and we are fortunate to have him as part of our team.”

Peter Quinn
Former Chief Information Officer,
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

HIGH EXPECTATIONS, HIGH SUPPORT
Year Up’s high expectation, high support program provides the technical and professional skills, higher education credentials, and opportunities that are essential for a young adult’s path to economic self-sufficiency.

Our innovative approach takes four elements – education, experience, support and guidance – and combines them into a system that emphasizes high expectations for quality work and professional behavior. A strong structure guides students as they take the needed steps to succeed in careers and post-secondary education.

GREAT TEACHERS ARE CREATING LIFELONG LEARNERS
Year Up’s skilled professionals teach marketable skills and inspire our students. During the first six months of our program, students attend classes at one of Year Up’s learning sites, building the foundation of knowledge and skills in preparation for their internships and beyond. Year Up students are able to earn up to 18 college credits for their class work.

Working with our corporate partners and leading academic institutions, such as Cambridge College, Johnson & Wales and Pace University, Year Up’s team of instructors have built a comprehensive and flexible curriculum, utilizing classroom and project-based learning techniques that allow for group interaction and one-on-one learning. Year Up instructors hold Master’s degrees and have been certified as college instructors. As leaders and advisors in and out of the classroom, Year Up instructors build confidence in our students and challenge them to achieve their potential.

Educating our students means we provide them with both the technical and professional skills needed for academic success and career development. Our focus on academic rigor is strong and consistent. We balance college-level courses with preparation for the practical concerns and issues that our students will encounter on a daily basis.

For more information and to apply go to: www.yearup.org

A Look Ahead to “EcoQuality” for Environmental Sustainability

The link between quality and environmental sustainability

J. R. De Feo and Brian Stockhoff | 03/15/2010

Managing for quality is breaking new ground. Increasingly, organizations are being encouraged to look at the entire landscape unfolding before them from the perspective of a balanced array of outcomes characterized by what authors Andrew Savitz and Karl Weber call The Triple Bottom Line (Jossey-Bass, 2006) of people, planet, and profits.

Quality management has always taken people and profits into consideration; now, a third dimension has been added that encompasses environmental sustainability and stewardship. Once-separate societies have begun to band together ideologically on environmental issues, taking fitful, yet visible and increasingly concerted action to shore up the “quality dikes” that Joseph Juran posited years ago. These efforts appear certain to result in widespread change in legislation controlling aspects of quality we long have taken for granted.

How are organizations being affected by changes in perceived social responsibility? Three major forces must be reckoned with.

First, future legislation likely will mandate action by companies; minimally this will involve monitoring of environmental impact (e.g., greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide emissions), and may extend to active management (e.g., CO₂ “cap and trade”).

Second, shareholders increasingly view environmental stewardship as a factor in deciding to invest, and therefore, demand transparency of internal technologies and business practices that most organizations cannot yet provide. For example, with the belief that corporate sustainability (including environmental dimensions) creates long-term shareholder value, Dow Jones established the Sustainability Indices in 1999, providing the first tracking of the financial performance of leading sustainability-driven organizations worldwide. Another initiative is the Carbon Disclosure Project, an organization that collects and distributes information on behalf of investors and businesses, in the effort to motivate environmental sustainability.

Third, customers progressively show interest in the life cycle of the products and services they purchase, perceiving that overall quality is based on the environmental impact of product and process design, manufacturing process, production operations, supply chain, and final disposal (end-of-life). This cradle-to-grave life cycle plays into consumer purchase decisions, and an organization’s bottom line.

How should organizations best respond? Several methods and tools are available today. These include:

ISO 14000 environmental management system. ISO 14000 is a standard requiring organizations to establish an environmental management system. It is applicable to any business, regardless of size, location, or industry. The purpose of the standard is to reduce the environmental footprint of a business and to decrease the pollution and waste a business produces.

Life-cycle assessments. This is a cradle-to-grave analysis of the environmental effects of a product or service caused or necessitated by its existence, from birth to death. Not limited to greenhouse gases (see carbon footprint below), it encompasses many forms of damage such as ozone depletion, desertification, and resource depletion. The objective of a life-cycle analysis is to encourage informed and appropriate choices by providing fair comparison of products and services in terms of negative environmental impact.

Carbon footprinting. As defined by the Carbon Trust, a carbon footprint (or profile) is the combined total of all greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, event, organization, or product. Frequently this is reported as “CO₂ equivalent” with carbon dioxide used as a convenient, common currency. A carbon footprint, therefore, need not be strictly confined to CO₂ alone. This is an expansive definition, and includes many sources over which an individual or organization has varying degrees of control.

Energy audits. An energy audit is an inspection and analysis of the energy flow through a building, process or system, carried out to improve energy efficiency and reduce overall consumption. While energy audits are not new (efficiency long has been an issue in corporate accounting offices), the “pollution” factor is gaining in prominence as a driver.

Juran intuitively made the connection between quality and environmental sustainability, but didn’t give it a name. In recognition of his contribution, the Juran Institute refers to this as “EcoQuality.” EcoQuality is not a replacement for designing a product and service that must be “fit for purpose,” rather, it is an extension on what “fit for purpose” will mean in the future.

The Juran Institute believes that customers, of their own volition and through social pressure, will create a new landscape for quality and performance excellence, a new zone of quality that incorporates the dimension of environmental sustainability in partnership with the management of quality. In alignment with the Juran Trilogy, EcoQuality is intended to enable clients from all industries to respond to demands from customers, regulatory agencies, and shareholders on the issue of accountability in producing products and services fit for ecological use.

100 percent of first senior class at all male, all African-American Englewood academy is accepted to universities

The entire senior class at Chicago’s only public all-male, all-African-American high school has been accepted to four-year colleges. At last count, the 107 seniors had earned spots at 72 schools across the nation.

Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago Public Schools chief Ron Huberman surprised students at an all-school assembly at Urban Prep Academy for Young Men in Englewood this morning to congratulate them. It’s the first graduating class at Urban Prep since it opened its doors in 2006.

At last count, the 107 seniors gained acceptance to a total of 72 different colleges, including Northwestern University, Morehouse College, Howard University, Rutgers University and University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and DePaul University.

Huberman applauded the seniors for making CPS shine.

“All of you in the senior class have shown that what matters is perseverance, what matters is focus, what matters is having a dream and following that dream,” Huberman said.

The school enforces a strict uniform of black blazers, khaki pants and red ties — with one exception. After a student receives the news he was accepted into college, he swaps his red tie for a red and gold one at an assembly.

The last 13 students received their college ties today, to thunderous applause.

Ask Rayvaughn Hines what college he was accepted to and he’ll answer with a question.

“Do you want me to name them all?”

For the 18-year-old from Back of the Yards, college was merely a concept–never a goal–growing up. Even within the last three years, he questioned if school, let alone college, was for him. Now, the senior is headed to the prestigious Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. next fall.

Hines remembers the moment he put on his red and gold tie.

“I wanted to take my time because I was just so proud of myself,” he said. “I wanted everyone to see me put it on.”

The achievement might not merit a mayoral visit at one of the city’s elite, selective enrollment high schools. But Urban Prep, a charter school that enrolls using a lottery in one of the city’s more troubled neighborhoods, faced difficult odds. Only 4 percent of this year’s senior class read at grade level as freshmen, according to Tim King, the school’s CEO.

“I never had a doubt that we would achieve this goal,” King said. “Every single person we hired knew from the day one that this is what we do: We get our kids into college.”

College is omnipresent at the school. Before the students begin their freshman year, they take a field trip to Northwestern University. Every student is assigned a college counselor the day he steps foot in the school.

The school offers an extended day–170,000 more minutes over four years compared to its counterparts across the city–and more than double the number of English credits usually needed to graduate.

Even the school’s voicemail has a student declaring “I am college bound” before it asks callers to dial an extension.

Normally, it takes senior Jerry Hinds two buses and 45 minutes to get home from school. On Dec. 11, the day University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana was to post his admission decisions online at 5 p.m., he asked a friend to drive him home.

He went into his bedroom, told his well-wishing mother this was something he had to do alone, closed the door and logged in.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” he remembers screaming. His mother, who didn’t dare stray far, burst in and began crying.

That night he made more than 30 phone calls, at times shouting “I got in” on his cell phone and home phone at the same time.

“We’re breaking barriers,” he said. “And that feels great.”

deldeib@tribune.com
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune

OPAL offers systems management and strategic planning services that promote operational excellence and continual improvement.

Opal is dedicated to helping our customers reach their highest goals and position themselves to be competitive in their respective markets.

With experience in an extensive variety of industries and international compliance systems, we offer professional services that assist businesses in reaching their full potential.

We advise, train, encourage, empower and motivate customers to plan and implement business systems that mature and expand their business.

How Can We Help You?

Opal’s consulting and coaching services include, but are not limited to:

• Change Management
• Quality Planning
• Supplier Evaluation & Control
• ISO 9001 Systems Implementation
• Personal Branding
• Commercial Branding
• Internet Marketing

Opal has over 15 years experience building partnerships in a number of disciplines and industries including medical, semiconductor, global logistics, manufacturing, retail, chemical and pharmaceutical, construction and many more.

We look forward to making you and your organization part of our history.  Look towards your future – - You’ll find OPAL quality systems management right there with you.

Contact us today.  We look forward to hearing from you.

This month we are profiling Laura Denktash. Laura has embarked on an amazing journey that is sure to make her a very successful women in the very near future. Her courage and tenacity strikes me as “amazing” and I am very excited to share her story with you. Laura’s story is the epitome of patience and faith.

Over the last 12 months Laura has launched a number of projects:

• Archangels & Aura-Soma Color Therapy
• Cookbook Advertiser! A place to advertise your cookbook!
• Cookbook Author’s Boot Camp – 7-Week Laser Coached Program!
• Cookbook Coach – Get your Cookbook done!
• International Association of Cookbook Writers – IACBW – Membership Site
• Online Virtuosity – Create a powerful Online Presence
• The Radiant Cougar Woman – New Cookbook
• The Rose Cookbook at The Rose Diva

Here’s Laura’s story…

I like anniversaries….On March 2, 2010 it will be exactly one year since I was laid-off from my corporate job. And what a year it has been. Let’s face it…getting laid-off is not easy.

But… I decided to take the “high road.” First off, I had to be honest with myself. I knew in my heart I wouldn’t be getting another job. I had way too much going on to do that. There was too much at stake. I believe getting laid-off at the time I did was God’s way of freeing me to do my best work. And I accepted the challenge, along with the responsibility. What was to come was truly amazing…

All I had to do was BELIEVE. Not always an easy thing to do when money suddenly becomes very tight. Not always easy, when you’re doing all the work yourself. Not always easy, when you sometimes wonder….What am I doing?

But…I now had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted…Everyday…at exactly the time I wanted to do it. How liberating!

Being an entrepreneur is very challenging. It’s a HUGE responsibility, and not for the faint of heart. But when you truly embrace the freedom it offers, and allow yourself to create…

You can even “shock and awe” yourself. Yes…I exploded onto the scene. I’ve even exceeded my own expectations. I’ve gone from being LAID-OFF to LAUNCHING AN EMPIRE!!!!

I’m mentioning this because I’m hoping I can encourage and inspire you to believe in your dreams to a fault. To believe with so much commitment and conviction, that you begin doing things almost without thinking.

It’s as if you are on “automatic pilot.”What it’s really called is…Being GUIDED. GUIDED by the true source; the very source of creative energy. The ESSENCE.

I never would have been able to accomplish what I have over this past year had I still been employed at a JOB. And let’s not forget how much I have learned and grown. WOW!

Why? Because… never once did I say “no.” Never once did I doubt that if I had an idea…then it must be so.

I truly believed and continue to believe that if I get an idea, that I am capable of achieving it simply because I’ve been given the idea.

Because the ideas…Come from the SOURCE. It’s that simple. When you embrace this type of possibility thinking…You become unstoppable.

I have yielded to the SOURCE, and I eagerly await my next instructions.

Would you like to learn more about Laura Denktash and her endeavors? Go to www.lauradenktash.com

By Deirdre Mercedes – Opal, Quality Systems Management

Big company executives are finding out, too late, that the large consulting firm that they hired is wasting money, time, and resources as they cause a lot of confusion and tension within the organizations that they are supposed to be helping.  They complete the job but it’s usually past the due date and at a cost above the original agreement.  Here is one example of “Surprise Me” budgeting:

I spoke to an executive who found that his company was paying for his consulting firm’s “most experienced people” to commute to his facility from multiple states and abroad?   During a very expensive SAP implementation, he was paying for airfare, hotels and car rentals.  He never got the real number but his staff reported no less than 25 people commuting from out of state.  He had his administrative assistant analyze the cost and he came up with the following weekly figures:  Airfare/round trip (from shortest reported distance) = approximately $250; Hotel = approximately $150; Car rental, parking fees, gas = approximately $150.  These estimates were conservative.  If just 15 people are commuting from out of state for 50 weeks, these costs add up to $412,500.  The cost rises to almost $700,000 if 25 people are afforded this privilege.

Why did this executive start to question the travel quandary in the first place?  About 8 months into the project, his staff members started complaining about the level of service that the consultants were providing:

• Key individuals were not available in person, by phone or email on Monday mornings because they were traveling
• Key individuals were not available in person, by phone or email on Thursday afternoons because they were traveling
• Key individuals were not available in person all day on Fridays because they were working from home.

To make matters worse, the consultants bragged about their travel exploits while interacting with staff members.   The staff members heard rumors that there wouldn’t be profit sharing checks next year and the consultants were telling stories about traveling to multiple states and abroad.

In Part II of  “Companies Selling Confusion & Waste”, we will explore ways to ensure that you choose the right management consulting partner.  Please stay tuned…

There is a dangerous trend in the ISO consulting arena. Executives are spending their entire quality budget on inadequate quality systems implemented by unscrupulous or inexperienced ISO consultants. When it’s too late, the executives figure out that what they actually exhausted time, money and resources on is not a quality system. They spent it on a stamp that reads “ISO Certified” and a consultant who didn’t do much past making himself a cup of coffee every time he came to visit.

Some time ago, I met with the owner of a company and discussed his desire to be ISO 9001 certified. Ultimately, he went with the other guy and I wished him well. About a year later he called me in to talk about his current situation:

He received his ISO “Stamp”. (Ok… good)

The “consultant” was also his ISO surveillance auditor. (Yikes…conflict of interest)

After the consultant bestowed the “stamp” upon the company he convinced the owner that he needed to come to visit once or twice a month to audit & review the processes. The owner was so proud of his accomplishment that he called the FDA in to approve his system. The FDA Auditor quickly informed the owner that he found no evidence of a quality management system. (…Woops)

These consultants not only give professional service providers a bad name, they also give ISO 9001 a bad reputation. There are people out there who are desperate. They’ll waste your money and your time and they will cause a lot of confusion within your organization. Consider the following when hiring any consultant:

• Start by getting a good understanding of what you actually need. Many consumers start the process by paying for a consultant to tell them what they need because they’ve done zero research. It’s worth a few hours of searching the internet and benchmarking to establish an initial list of objectives before you start spending the big dollars.

• Document a plan in coordination with your consultant. Don’t let the consultant define goals for you because he/she might be redefining your (established) budget in the process. Ensure that the consultant’s proposed deliverables are aligned with your goals. This is very important!

• Set a budget and stick to it. Inform the consultant that you will not exceed the budget. This is where the monthly goals come in handy.

Every consultant/customer relationship should be a partnership. Unfortunately, these days, it takes extra steps to ensure that you are getting the most “bang” for your buck. Protect yourself. Protect your business. Protect your future.

By Deirdre Mercedes

OPAL was founded in 1994. The OPAL Team has worked with organizations in the fields of aeronautics, manufacturing, medical device, semiconductor, global logistics, retail, chemical and pharmaceutical.

We are experts in every aspect of the quality systems implementation process from preparing and managing certification plans to maturing systems and facilitating continuous improvement.

For over 15 years we have worked with companies to accomplish major successes in the following areas:

• System Implementation & Compliance to ISO 9001, 14001, 18001 & 13485 standards
• Systems Integration
• Corrective & Preventive Action Systems
• Customer Satisfaction Programs
• Quality Audit Programs
• Disaster Recovery & Continuity Plans
• Training Programs
• Development of Technical Training Content

OPAL, Quality System Management has been awarded contracts by transnational conglomerations and industry leading corporations.

Past clients include, General Dynamics, Applied Materials, Port of Oakland, Alameda County Public Works, Extron Logistics, Mainetti USA, Medical Device Resources, Protech Materials, City of Richmond, and many more.

We look forward to making you part of our history.

By Laura Denktash

I like anniversaries….On March 2, 2010 it will be exactly one year since I was laid-off from my corporate job. And what a year it has been. Let’s face it…getting laid-off is not easy.

But… I decided to take the “high road.” First off, I had to be honest with myself. I knew in my heart I wouldn’t be getting another job. I had way too much going on to do that.

There was too much at stake. I believe getting laid-off at the time I did was God’s way of freeing me to do my best work.

And I accepted the challenge, along with the responsibility. What was to come was truly amazing…

All I had to do was BELIEVE. Not always an easy thing to do when money suddenly becomes very tight. Not always easy, when you’re doing all the work yourself. Not always easy, when you sometimes wonder….What am I doing?

But…I now had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted…Everyday…at exactly the time I wanted to do it. How liberating!

Being an entrepreneur is very challenging. It’s a HUGE responsibility, and not for the faint of heart. But when you truly embrace the freedom it offers, and allow yourself to create…

You can even “shock and awe” yourself. Yes…I exploded onto the scene. I’ve even exceeded my own expectations. I’ve gone from being LAID-OFF to LAUNCHING AN EMPIRE!!!!

I’m mentioning this because I’m hoping I can encourage and inspire you to believe in your dreams to a fault. To believe with so much commitment and conviction, that you begin doing things almost without thinking.

It’s as if you are on “automatic pilot.”What it’s really called is…Being GUIDED. GUIDED by the true source; the very source of creative energy. The ESSENCE.

I never would have been able to accomplish what I have over this past year had I still been employed at a JOB. And let’s not forget how much I have learned and grown. WOW!

Why? Because… never once did I say “no.” Never once did I doubt that if I had an idea…then it must be so.

I truly believed and continue to believe that if I get an idea, that I am capable of achieving it simply because I’ve been given the idea.

Because the ideas…Come from the SOURCE. It’s that simple. When you embrace this type of possibility thinking…You become unstoppable.

I have yielded to the SOURCE, and I eagerly await my next instructions.

Would you like to learn more about Laura Denktash and her endeavors?  Go to www.lauradenktash.com