Working Together to Empower All Young People to Own Their Futures

New Partnership with Intuit Helps Teens Develop Career and Financial Readiness Skills

At the start of the 2018-19 school year, Intuit and VE launched a new partnership to provide QuickBooks Online and Design for Delight to every VE class in the U.S. As part of its efforts to mentor VE students, Intuit invited students from James Logan High School in Union City, California to connect with business leaders at its QuickBooks Connect event in San Jose, where Intuit CEO Brad Smith shared his leadership and business insights with VE students.

HSBC Enables VE Program Expansion to Prepare More Students for Careers

HSBC and VE have been working together since 1999 to prepare students for meaningful careers. Through this partnership, HSBC has provided job readiness training support, direct funding to schools, and support for VE’s Youth Business Summit and HSBC employees have served as competition judges and classroom mentors. In 2018, HSBC made a $750,000 two-year grant to support the expansion of VE’s program to an additional 150 U.S. schools. The grant also lays the groundwork for VE to expand into additional school districts at a critical moment when business and educational institutions are eager to implement effective strategies for preparing students to develop meaningful careers.

New York Life Foundation Bolsters VE’s Commitment to Middle School Students

With support from the New York Life Foundation, VE launched the VE-JV Career Academy, a two-year program that enables 7th and 8th graders to develop technology and entrepreneurial skills by starting and managing business ventures. The Career Academy also engages students in competitions and both after-school and summer activities that build 21st Century skills in business, communication and technology. In addition to providing financial support, New York Life hosts business pitch competitions for VE-JV students and its employees serve as classroom mentors. As of 2019, the middle school program serves 3,000 students from school districts in New York City, Los Angeles, and Broward County, Florida.

Deloitte’s Longtime Partnership with VE Generates a Multitude of Opportunities

VE’s 18-year partnership with Deloitte has had a profound impact on every facet of the program. Deloitte employees conduct an ongoing classroom mentorship program with weekly classroom visits to New York City VE firms, regularly participate as VE competition judges, host VE events, such as an annual CEO Day during which top Deloitte executives interface with the CEOs of VE’s New York-based firms, and offer pro-bono consulting work, which has included the creation of the VE Career Readiness Framework and recommendations for strengthening VE’s talent strategy and performance management system. Over the years, more than 50 VE students have started their professional careers at Deloitte as a direct result of this partnership.

Adam Yafei, Class of 2007

Adam Yafei attended Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, New York, where he participated in VE and served as the Chief Financial Officer of his VE business. Through financial adversity, family loss, and other challenges, Adam learned the importance of hard work, persistence, and living life to the fullest.

Now an Audit Senior at Deloitte & Touche LLP, Adam credits his participation in VE and his Business Plan Presentation team as the catalyst for pursuing his current career with Deloitte. Adam currently mentors VE students, passing along the same kind of support and knowledge that he received during his years in the program.

James Logan High School Students

At the start of the 2018-19 school year, Intuit and VE launched a new partnership to provide QuickBooks Online and Design for Delight to every VE class in the U.S. In addition, Intuit has provided mentorship to students, invited students from James Logan High School in Union City, California to connect with business leaders at their QuickBooks Connect event in San Jose, and Intuit’s CEO Brad Smith shared his leadership and business insights with VE students.

Bellevue East High School’s VE program No Coast Soap

Bellevue East High School started their VE program at the beginning of the 2018-19 school year and are running the first VE program in Nebraska.

“For the first time this school year, students can take a business course where real-life work, will get them an A.”