For over three decades, LEAP (Leadership, Education, Athletics, in Partnership) – a New Haven-based organization – has provided literacy, arts, athletics, and leadership programming to young people across the city.  A group of Wesleyan students – some working with JCCP volunteer groups, others leading educational initiatives in their hometowns – visited the organization and met with its staff to learn more about its history and to see its programming in action.

 

 

This “Career Trek,” co-sponsored by the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships and the Gordon Career Center, appealed to students who were generally interested in “how community-based organizations like LEAP translate values like equity, mentorship, and youth empowerment into day-to-day practice,” said one participant.

 

First-year student Makayla Kidd hoped that “lessons from LEAP…” would continue to “shape [her] approach to building relationships and creating enjoyable academic environments for students.”  Lois Amponsah, founder of the Wings of Change and recipient of the 2026 Davis Projects for Peace Award, was drawn to the similarities between her Ghana-based project and LEAP’s track record of creating space where “young people feel capable of leading, building, and shaping their futures.”

 

 

Students were greeted by the organization’s development and communication staff as well as team members from LEAP’s curriculum development unit, followed by tours of LEAP facilities by site coordinators. Founded by educators, students, and community activists to address the historic disinvestment in young people of color in New Haven, in 1992, LEAP currently works in seven neighborhood-based sites (and 2 community centers) across the city – employing college and high school student counselors/mentors to teach younger students in literacy, the arts, and athletics.

 

 

This Career Trek was intended “to underscore how community and civic engagement prepare students for work in the nonprofit sector and beyond,” said Clifton Watson (Jewett Center, Director), “and that some of the best practices students observed during site visits can be applied to their current work.”

You can learn more about LEAP here and stay tuned for future Career Trek opportunities!