Seattle, Washington, January 16, 2015 – In order to bridge the growing skills gap in science,technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Samsung and Year Up Puget Sound announced today the launch of an immersive training program for local urban young adults. The program will equip them with the skills and technology to attain careers in software engineering and website development.

“At Samsung, we are dedicated to providing the essential tools, resources and access to our technology to encourage, inspire and enhance the communities we serve,” said Gregory Lee, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics North America. “With the growing need to fill STEM-related jobs with qualified professionals, we believe our joined efforts with Year Up will help address this critical issue.”

Beginning in March 2015, students at the STEM-focused Learning Community at Year Up Puget Sound will gain software coding skills through an immersive, customized curriculum and computer programming language courses. Students will also receive Samsung laptops to hone their coding skills, as well as a year-long subscription to GitHub. Year Up will provide students with technical and professional skills training, and a six-month internship at a local corporate partner firm.

“Employers in Puget Sound and across the country are in need of diverse, motivated STEM talent,” said Lisa Chin, Executive Director of Year Up Puget Sound. “This pilot will leverage Samsung’s understanding of businesses’ technical-talent needs and our innovative, scalable solution to workforce development challenges. We’re excited about expanding our curriculum to provide our students with access to careers in the quickly-growing fields of software engineering and web development.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2018, 71 percent of new STEM jobs will be in computing. By 2022, there will be more than 200,000 open jobs for application software developers, while employment for software developers is projected to grow by 22 percent.

Year Up is a national nonprofit organization that provides urban young adults with a career-focused education in high-demand professional industries. Founded in March 2011, Year Up Puget Sound instructs more than 160 young adults each year, with 85 percent of graduates employed and/or attending college full-time within four months of completing the program.

About Year Up Inc.

Year Up’s mission is to close the Opportunity Divide by providing urban young adults with the skills,experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Year Up achieves this mission through a high support, high expectation model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, internships and college credits. Its holistic approach focuses on students’ professional and personal development to place these young adults on a viable path to economic self-sufficiency. Year Up currently serves more than 2,100 students a year at sites in Atlanta,Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Providence, San Francisco Bay Area,the National Capital Region, and Puget Sound (Seattle). To learn more, visit www.yearup.org or www.youtube.com/yearupinc.

 About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies, redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, cameras, digital appliances, printers, medical equipment, network systems and semiconductors. We are also leading in the Internet of Things space through, among others, our Digital Health and Smart Home initiatives. We employ 307,000 people across 84 countries. To discover more, please visit our official website at www.samsung.com and our official blog at global.samsungtomorrow.com