History of I-LEAD>
As part of the Signature Initiative of The Goldman Sachs Foundation, in April of 2000, Bank Street College of Education was awarded a two year $1.2 million dollar grant to create a college preparatory program to prepare underrepresented youth attending four Catholic high schools (Aquinas, Cardinal Hayes, Cardinal Spellman, and Rice) for admission to selective colleges and universities.
The awarding of this unprecedented generous grant was the beginning of a partnership between The Goldman Sachs Foundation and Bank Street College of Education that was based on the shared recognition that many talented inner city youth have an untapped potential to become leaders and to succeed at rigorous academic work. To tap this potential, The Goldman Sachs Foundation and Bank Street College created The Institute for Leadership, Excellence and Academic Development (I-LEAD). The intent of I-LEAD is to provide a nurturing environment, offer challenging academic courses and leadership development, and provide young people with an opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills.
For the first four years, The Goldman Sachs Foundation was the sole funder of I-LEAD, providing over 2.4 million dollars. The Goldman Sachs Foundation also invested resources to hire an external evaluator to determine the effectiveness of I-LEAD. By choosing to invest these resources, The Goldman Sachs Foundation provided Bank Street College with the unique opportunity to focus on developing an effective academic and dynamic leadership program rather than focusing its energies on fundraising.
Entering its fifth year, I-LEAD is now serving over two hundred scholars having expanded to two additional schools (Academy of Mount St. Ursula and All Hallows). The lives of our students have been enriched by the generosity of The Goldman Sachs Foundation. Currently, all alumni are completing their first year of college with 66% attending highly selective colleges.
In 2004, The Goldman Sachs Foundation began to transform its role with I-LEAD from being the sole funder to becoming the founding parent of this program. The Foundation awarded I-LEAD a one-year transition grant of $600,000, introduced the I-LEAD program to the Altman Foundation and co hosted (with The Altman Foundation) a funder's breakfast in May.
We are currently in the process of diversifying support; most recently we received a two-year grant from the Altman Foundation.
On behalf of all the scholars and Bank Street College, we thank, recognize, and appreciate the generosity and commitment of The Goldman Sachs Foundation.
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