Amplify Chicago is a wealth-building pathway integrating career, leadership, and entrepreneurship for 20 to 26- year-old young men and women from underserved communities that have been disproportionately impacted by violence, criminal activity, economic disruption, and educational disinvestment.
Founded under the umbrella of The Academy Group, Amplify is fueled by the same unwavering belief that talent is ubiquitous.
Through Amplify, talent are equipped with:
Strong sense of agency and belief
Deep knowledge of how to generate wealth and how the economy works
Concrete skills to succeed in careers
Commitment to social and economic justice
Unmatched connections to mentors, internships, professional job and entrepreneurship opportunities
Harvard economist Raj Chetty says that, for white Americans, achieving the American dream is like climbing an income ladder.
“If you’ve climbed up in one generation, that’s basically where you’re going to start the next generation, and then you can climb up further.”
But for black Americans, and black men in particular, “it’s like being on a treadmill, where even after you’ve climbed up in one generation, there are tremendous structural forces that make it highly likely you’re going to fall back down in the next generation and then you have to make the climb again.”