HIGH SCHOOL LEADERS TO CLEAN CITY STREETS
AS A WAY OF GIVING BACK TO THEIR COMMUNITY

New York, July 28, 2004--This summer sixty students are participating in a three-week residential institute at Manhattan College. Students take four courses: Writing, Biomechanics, Constitutional Law and Leadership Development. During the last week of the institute, students will spend a day performing community service.

On Thursday, July 29, starting at 10 a.m., three groups composed of twenty students each will clean up the following street sites in the Bronx:

Site 1: 176th between Jerome and Davidson Avenues (Community Board 5)

Site 2: 175th Street between Grand Concourse and Clifford Place (Community Board 5)

Site 3: Heath Avenue and Bailey Avenue (Community Board 5)

Background: A group of highly motivated students from six inner-city Catholic high schools are participating in a college preparatory program that prepares them for admittance to top-tier colleges and universities. The program has as one of its goals to help these youngsters develop the skills necessary to become future leaders in their respective communities. Founded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation and based at Bank Street College of Education, students from Aquinas, Cardinal Hayes, Rice, Cardinal Spellman, All Hallows, and Mount St. Ursula High Schools are selected after a lengthy and rigorous nomination and application process.

The program's goal is to enlarge the pool of young people in a position to receive the rigorous education necessary for success in a global economy. The program, known as I-LEAD (the Institute for Leadership, Excellence, and Academic Development), affords opportunities for participants they might not otherwise have had, including but not limited to travel abroad, enrichment programs, Saturday and summer workshops and activities, and intense one-on-one guidance.

Students are offered accelerated academic and cultural enrichment activities designed to expand and strengthen their academic skills, help them explore colleges, pursue career interests, and develop a foundation in and awareness of key leadership principles.

"I-LEAD enables our students to expand their horizons and develop their creativity," says Bank Street's Richard Rivera, the Director of the program. "The new limitations on affirmative action make it increasingly more difficult for inner-city youngsters to achieve their potential. Programs such as I-LEAD simply help level the playing field. Our young people are given the opportunity to work hard to achieve their goals. They understand that with all these opportunities comes the responsibility to give back to their communities. We selected sites in the Bronx because that's where are kids are largely from."

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