LEAP

LEAP trains New Haven college and public high school students to work with younger children, providing a literacy based curriculum as well as classes in the arts, computer science, swimming, athletics, camping, cooking and team building. 

In LEAP’s summer program, the organization works with children five days a week and places its college student senior counselors to live in public housing developments and other neighborhood housing so they are accessible to children, learn about the neighborhoods’ strengths and weaknesses, and infuse role models in places that benefit from the introduction of college students as neighbors. 

During the school year, LEAP operates six days a week, using four to one child to counselor ratios to help children complete homework, engage in its literacy based curriculum and enjoy a wide range of opportunities in the arts, sports, and science that respect children’s “multiple intelligences” and often are no longer available in urban public schools which must now spend the majority of their time meeting strict standardized testing goals in basic subjects.  (http://www.leapforkids.org)