Citi Foundation's Pathways to Progress $100 Million 3-Year Global Fund Expansion

Citi Foundation’s Pathways to Progress Expands Globally with a Three-Year $100 Million Commitment to Prepare 500,000 Young People for Today’s Competitive Job Market Nairobi March 8, 2017 – Citi announced a global expansion of the Pathways to Progress initiative led by a Citi Foundation investment of $100 million to connect 500,000 young people, ages 16-24, to training and jobs over the next three years. This is the largest philanthropic commitment in the Citi Foundation’s history. Pathways to Progress launched in 2014 with a $50 million effort that helped more than 100,000 young people across 10 U.S. cities become career ready through first jobs, internships, and leadership and entrepreneurship training. “The playing field isn’t level for all young people and Citi wants to help change that,” said Citi Global CEO Michael Corbat. “Mentors, internships and exposure to a variety of career opportunities help young people get a foot in the door and provide the foundation they need to thrive in their careers – those are the things Pathways to Progress helps provide to those who might not have access to them otherwise. Young people consistently say they want to pursue careers that allow them to contribute to important societal issues, and I firmly believe that matching that ambition with the skills provided through Pathways will benefit all of us when they enter the workforce,” he said.

Pathways to Progress aims to help reduce youth unemployment in key cities around the world and improve the quality of the youth workforce. Globally, the youth unemployment rate is three times higher than the adult unemployment rate, which reflects a gap in the skills and networks many young people currently possess and what is required by employers or needed to successfully launch an income-generating business. “TechnoServe is proud to partner with the Citi Foundation on the Smart Duka program, which has helped hundreds of young shop owners in Nairobi to learn new skills, improve their shops, raise their incomes and create new jobs. With small shops accounting for a large percentage of consumer packaged goods sold in Kenya, business training for these entrepreneurs plays a key role in boosting the larger economy," said Alice Waweru, a senior business manager at TechoServe, Nairobi.

The expansion also includes a commitment to have 10,000 Citi employees volunteer to serve as mentors, coaches and role models to young people and support their career progress. “Citi in partnership with the YALI Regional Leadership Center (RLC) East Africa and Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF) will carry out a business development services project targeting youth in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The project will provide need-based business skills and tools for youth entrepreneurs to drive efficiency and enhance market growth in their businesses,” said Maggie Kamau-Biruri, YALI Partnership Director.

Global Youth Survey 2017: Economic Prospects & Expectations in conjunction with the expanded Pathways to Progress investment, the Citi Foundation also released the results of a survey of young people that will help inform the focus of its programs and partnerships. The study, conducted by Ipsos, found that despite political, economic, and social upheaval, young people around the world are optimistic about their career prospects, but face the reality of limited skills and opportunities. Key survey findings include:

 · Despite uncertainty and change across the globe, 70% of young people are optimistic about their career prospects. Optimism is even higher in cities across developing markets and the fact remains that worldwide 71 million young people are looking for work.

· More often than not, there is a mismatch in the jobs the youth have and what they want to do. Globally, 55% of employed young people are currently working in an industry that they don’t aspire to work in.

· 78% of young people believe internships/apprenticeships are critical for success; however, 60% say there aren’t enough of these opportunities.

 · Three out of four young people are willing to work long hours and take risks to achieve their career aspirations.

 · Youth have the entrepreneurial spirit but are not starting businesses. Nearly 70% of young people surveyed aspire to be entrepreneurs, yet only 6% are actual entrepreneurs at present.

The global youth survey polled more than 7,000 young people ages 18-24 in 45 cities across 32 countries on all the continents except Antarctica between November 2016 and January 2017.