About LEAP
The Why Of What We Do
The need for these programs is paramount:
- Societal inequities cause a growing opportunity gap that disadvantages many students, especially our youth of color.
- Only 38.2% of Massachusetts students graduate from a four-year post-secondary school in four years.
- In 2020, 70% of Massachusetts jobs required a post-secondary degree.
- Two out of three employers cannot find employees with the necessary skills to fill job openings.
- Youth who do not have a post-secondary credential are at higher risk for unemployment and significantly lower lifetime earnings.
LEAP’s Approach to Student Success
Our Model (The How)Social-Emotional
Students develop a belief in themselves and confidence to pursue the future they want. LEAP provides mentoring programs and opportunities for students to build interpersonal skills such as communication and intrapersonal skills such as self-advocacy.
Academic
Students learn in a variety of settings that broaden their academic knowledge. Project-based and experiential learning helps students see the connections between academics and career paths and develop 21st century skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration.
Education & Career
Students participate in education and career development lessons and workshops to help them chart a course for their future. Students identify their strengths and interests and connect them to educational pathways and careers with ongoing support from advisors. With an education and career plan, students get college access help including admissions, financial aid and scholarships.
Social Capital
Students build a supportive network.
LEAP provides students with multiple opportunities to develop their relationship-building skills by connecting with business professionals, peers, alumni, teachers, community members, and career mentors in both formal and informal settings.
Our History
Timeline
LEAP for Education opened up in 2002 under the name Salem CyberSpace as part of NSCAP (North Shore Community Actions Program). NSCAP “hired” Linda Saris (as a volunteer) to set up a drop-in, free, Internet cafe in a low-income neighborhood. It soon became clear that the community needed more than just computers and Internet to make a difference in closing the “Digital Divide.”
As an adult education center, Salem CyberSpace created innovative curricula to help its students bridge the “Digital Divide” and taught Microsoft Office, Quickbooks, and Adobe Creative Suite. Morning computer training programs provided needed office skills for many low-income and unemployed adults. During the recession years of 2008 -2012, Salem CyberSpace trained over 500 adults. In order to focus on youth, it discontinued the adult literacy program in 2013.
Responding to the demand of the community and a meteoric rise in youth participation, Salem CyberSpace became a community academic learning center dedicated to expanding academic and career opportunities for low-income, youth ages 11 – 18. STEM was (and continues to be) an important component of LEAP’s academic enrichment programs.
Responding to the growing numbers of immigrant youth in Salem, EL Street was conceived as an immersive way to improve student’s oral skills and to expand vocabulary through service learning.
With a growing number of high school students approaching college age, LEAP responded to the need for college access services for first-generation-to-college students by starting the College Success Program.
LEAP partnered with the Salem Public School district to provide after-school and summer programming, called Expanding Horizons, to middle school youth with a federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grant.
On the heels of the positive outcomes from our Salem College Success Program, the Department of Higher Education provided funding to expand the program to Peabody and Gloucester. The program in Gloucester was closed in 2016.
In July 2014 LEAP for Education, Inc. incorporated as a non-profit corporation in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and changed the name from Salem CyberSpace to LEAP for Education. On May 31, 2015 separated from NSCAP.
In order to address the declining numbers of low-income males and males of color in college, LEAP launched its first mentoring program, Brothers for Success. In 2018, Sisters for Success began.
LEAP opened the first teen-only youth center at its new location at Shetland Park offering academic support, enrichment, mentoring and civic engagement programs.
From 2016 to 2019, Gloucester Public School district contracted with LEAP to write improvement plans for its high school and middle school 21st Century Community Learning Center programs and oversee the implementation of the plans. LEAP discontinued its contract with the high school in 2017 and middle school in 2019.
LEAP expanded its focus to Career Services, recognizing that post-secondary success is more likely when students have identified one or more career pathways that match their interests while still in high school.
In-person work placements and internships were identified for youth from Gloucester and Salem, helping them build career skills and gain experience for their resume.
Salem State University contracts with LEAP to provide college access and readiness services for high school students enrolled in Salem High School’s first early college program.
LEAP partnered with the Lynn Public School district to open an after-school and summer program called Dream MORE with a federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grant.
In 2020, LEAP created the Business Partner Network, a partnership between LEAP and area businesses to bring career information and opportunities to its students.
In 2021, LEAP initiated a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Advocacy initiative to ensure an organizational culture that respects the unique needs, perspectives and potential of its staff, volunteers, students, families and community partners.
Since 2002, LEAP has served over 3,000 students in Gloucester, Lynn, Peabody and Salem.