GREAT LEAPS FOR HIGHER LEARNING INC
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Mission Statement
Great Leaps, Inc., is an innovative after school program designed to ignite a passion for higher learning and professional development among students. This dynamic initiative offers a comprehensive curriculum that bridges academic excellence with real-world skills, including workshops on critical thinking, leadership, and career exploration. Participants engage in hands-on projects, mentorship from industry professionals and collaborative learning experiences that prepare them from success in college and beyond. By blending rigorous academic challenges with practical, career-oriented training, Great Leaps, Inc. After School CAP Program, equips students with the tools they need to excel in their future endeavors and become confident, capable leaders in their chosen fields.
About This Cause
Great Leaps for Higher Learning, Inc. is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that infuses the New York State Common Core Standards and rigorous academics into a rich college-based initiative. Our students augment their knowledge acquisition by developing an understanding of the connectivity between Mass Communications and Mass Media. They learn how to identify, discuss and experience the impact of mass communications and mass media, and its relationship to core subjects and in all content areas including English Language Arts. Our students focus on mass communications and mass media and utilize all components of their AP honors and college coursework to launch their college careers. Our students are selected and enrolled into the St. John’s University College Advantage Program with direct access to college classes and instructed by college level educators. This exposure enhances the lives of our students by building discipline, confidence, drive and ambition.. The targeted student population primarily exists within the Northeast section of the Bronx, New York and all activities are conducted within the confines of the aforementioned area within the Bronx, New York with periodic excursions to St. John’s University basketball games and visits to Broadcasting Networks (Ex. CBS, ABC, MSNBC, etc.). The Great Leaps for Higher Learning, Inc. mission leverages our current successes to influence school districts, companies and philanthropic entities such as NYC Department of Education ($30,000), St. John’s University ($30,000), Federal Grants (www.grants.gov) and legislative entities/political affiliates (i.e. Bronx Borough President, NYS Bronx legislative members and member items) to produce additional funding and support to augment our efforts and sincere interest in developing our youth of the Bronx, New York. Lastly, we utilize our resources and connections with high-profile athletes (professional and collegiate), professional sports teams (New York Yankees and New York Knicks) as well as local businessmen to develop a sound fundraising venture in New York City. In the cold, wintry conditions of 2022, while collaborating with other nonprofits, we grew to understand the needs of our students and how NYC public schools were seemingly not equipped to educate the whole child - mentally nor socio-emotionally during the Post Covid Era, due to limited school funding. Students struggled with the academic component in their classrooms, were low performing on New York State ELA Standardized Testing and struggled with academic and social issues, as well as college entry. Most of the students we were addressing continued to struggle, while their parents grappled with understanding complex technological student academic data and if their children were, in fact, ready for college . We realized at that point that Great Leaps, Inc. needed to act as an advocate between the parent/student, school and college/university to ensure a quality education through early access to college courses would be an effective and viable option for our students' overall success. At Great Leaps, Inc., our mission is to serve as a premier provider of early college access for high school students, enabling them to take college-level courses and earn college credits while still in high school. Our goal is to elevate academic achievement through a comprehensive approach that includes: Small-group instruction and advanced placement in mass communications college courses, Collective student engagement and professional training through interactions with industry leaders in the mass communications field, and A structured methodology to develop student leadership skills in a professional setting. We are committed to sparking student interest and fostering professional growth by offering rich, interdisciplinary opportunities. Through active participation and direct engagement with professionals in the broadcasting industry, students will gain meaningful experience and enhance their readiness for both higher education and future careers. Our Program Director develops comprehensive annual goals and short-term objective profiles that guide student progress and instructional planning. These profiles include clearly defined academic benchmarks, methods of measurement, ongoing progress monitoring, and evaluations of growth toward annual objectives. A diverse range of academic assessment tools are employed to ensure a holistic evaluation of student learning. These include: Instructor-created assessments and differentiated tasks Standardized testing instruments Student-generated projects and digital submissions via Google Classroom Performance-based assessment tasks Technology-integrated enrichment activities with industry leaders These methods are selected to reflect both academic rigor and real-world application, accommodating various learning styles and ensuring equitable evaluation. Our curriculum is aligned with college-level expectations and is presented in a syllabus modeled after higher education standards. The course is delivered in partnership with St. John’s University, and students are held to the same academic criteria and grading policies as undergraduate students on a college campus. This includes: Rigorous content standards College-style academic expectations Transparent grading rubrics reflective of university-level coursework Through this structure, high school students gain early exposure to the academic rigor and expectations of postsecondary education, effectively preparing them for success in college and beyond. Additionally, we seek to combat community deterioration in the Bronx, New York which is one of the poorest congressional districts in the country. There are high rates of students dropping out of NYC High Schools for various reasons (ex. student suspensions and incarceration, drug and alcohol use and random group violence in the area). We at Great Leaps, Inc. point towards the goal of contending with these issues and the effects of low-income, socio-economic disadvantage, systemic inequality and impoverished students that need a college-based initiative that provides resources that can improve their current situations. Our efforts are to lessen the burden of single-family homes and particularly support young Black and Brown children. We are currently in our sixteenth year of existence (Est. 2009) operating under 501 (c) 3 statuses. However, we have been working with other nonprofits (ex. Beyond Differences.) for the past three (3) years providing support and consultation for their Belonging in the Bronx Program. During our tenure with Beyond Differences, we have served 1638 students, mostly from Community Boards 3, 4 and 9 sections of the Bronx. We have created opportunities to speak with students (ex. College-Based Seminars with the students at the James Monroe Campus) detailing support plans for student academic success. Our initial early college access program work began in the winter of 2025, at the James Monroe Educational Campus, located near 174th Street and Boynton Avenue in the Soundview Section of the Bronx, New York. The neighborhood consists of large housing projects, low-income residents, inadequate social services and limited resources. Most of our student population lives in low-income single-family homes, in shelters or in foster care. Additionally, most of our parents, guardians and foster parents have not traditionally attended college and their children struggle academically. There is a heavy presence of teen gang activity and violence, drug activity in the neighborhood, and seemingly uncontrolled violence in general (i.e., shootings, assaults and other unspeakable violent crimes). There is a high rate of student suspensions, drop-outs, arrests, and incarceration in the neighborhood. In citywide reports for 2023, NYC Department of Education schools seed to increase the percentage of high school graduates enrolling in post-secondary education or training. The Department is committed to ensuring that all students graduate ready for future success in college and careers. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, post-secondary school enrollment declined slightly to 58.8 percent for the cohort that graduated in the 2020–2021 School Year. The Fiscal 2024 Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report will include data for the 2022–2023 School Year and post-secondary enrollment data for the 2021–2022 School Year. NYC Department of Education additionally seeks to increase the percentage of elementary, middle and high school students taking coursework that prepares them for future success. The percentage of students who successfully completed approved rigorous courses and assessments increased in the 2021–2022 School Year to 73.2 percent in Fiscal 2022, from 69.1 percent in Fiscal 2021. During the 2021–2022 School Year, the percentage of students in the ninth grade cohort who took at least one AP exam in four years of high school increased slightly from the prior school year to 40.7 percent. During the same period, the percentage of students in the ninth grade cohort passing at least one AP exam in four years of high school decreased slightly from the prior year to 22.8 percent though was still higher compared to the pre-pandemic level of 21.1 percent. (https://www.nyc.gov/assets/operations/downloads/pdf/mmr2023/doe.pdf) The student population at The James Monroe Educational Campus is Hispanic (77%), Black (19%), Asian (1%), Native American (1%) and White (1%) students. Our need is to initiate a comprehensive academic, intervention educational program that meets the requirements of the NYS Common Core curriculum and Advanced Placement Honors High School courses that can be transferred as college credits. Our desire will be to continue to serve this population of learners, while fully understanding the seriousness and potential effectiveness of providing a comprehensive instruction for high school students seeking early college experiences; and to acknowledge the statistical reporting that provides evidence of underachievement.