If your New Year's Resolution is to leave your low-wage, dead-end job and find something better - the nonprofit Climb Hire may be able to help.

Climb Hire just got a $6 million grant to continue its mission to help young workers who are stuck in sectors such as retail, restaurant or gig work find their hidden talents and build skills.

Climb Hire CEO Nitzhan Pelman said the "climbers," as they are called, also learn how to network.

"People make the jump from these blue-collar jobs into middle-class jobs," said Pelman. "Now we have a good number of alumni that are making $70,000, $80,000, $90,000, some even in the hundreds. And when we met them, they were earning below $30,000."

Pelman used her experience working for LinkedIn to create the Climb Hire program.

Climbers take a three-hour Zoom class two days a week for about six months, where they learn to build social capital - because success is often less about what you know than who you know.

They also practice skills such as active listening, how to ask incisive questions, and the best way to request a referral.

Twenty-seven-year-old Ariel Humes spent five years as a Starbucks barista before enrolling with Climb Hire - and now works as a recruiter for GoodRx, a health tech company that helps people get the best deal for their prescriptions.

"It's a community that enhances you in ways that help you lifelong," said Humes. "You'll gain technical skills, you'll gain soft skills, and you'll gain the community to support you throughout."

The initial program is free. Then once the climber gets a good job, they pay Climb Hire back $150 a month for a total of $7,200.

For more information, go to ClimbHire.co.