Sixty-nine New Haven Promise scholars met with Yale hiring managers on Thursday afternoon at the first event to bring together Promise scholars and potential Yale employers.

The event held at the Yale University Art Gallery marked a new partnership between New Haven Promise – a program that provides college scholarships to qualified New Haven students – and Yale’s New Haven Community Hiring Initiative, which connects local residents with open positions at the University.

During the event, the attendees, who represented 27 wards, 14 in-state colleges and 11 different New Haven public schools, had a chance to meet with different Yale hiring managers in small groups.

By partnering with the Yale Hiring Initiative, New Haven Promise aims to encourage Scholars to remain or return to New Haven after graduating from college.

“Yale views this as not just a way to provide opportunities back to the young folks of New Haven,” Promise Executive Director Patricia Melton said in a press release. “But as a way to connect with the best and the brightest the City has to offer and to improve the stability of the city and spur economic growth in every neighborhood.”

New Haven Promise was founded in 2011 as a collaboration between the City of New Haven, Yale University and the Community Foundation.