Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential (LEAP)

Learn and Earn to Achieve Poten­tial (LEAP)™ is a mul­ti­mil­lion-dol­lar ini­tia­tive to increase employ­ment and edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for young peo­ple fac­ing some of the great­est chal­lenges on the path to adult­hood. The ini­tia­tive was par­tial­ly fund­ed by a grant from the Social Inno­va­tion Fund, a pro­gram of the Cor­po­ra­tion for Nation­al and Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vice, the fed­er­al agency for vol­un­teer­ing and ser­vice pro­grams, and receives sup­port from nation­al and local philanthropies.

LEAP focus­es on youth and young adults ages 14 to 25 who are in fos­ter care or involved in the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem, or who are home­less. Work­ing with 10 local part­ner­ships in Alas­ka, Ari­zona, Cal­i­for­nia, Maine, Min­neso­ta, Nebras­ka and New York, the ini­tia­tive aims to adapt two evi­dence-based mod­els to meet the needs of these youth, includ­ing sup­port to address the trau­ma they may have expe­ri­enced in their lives.

Learn about LEAP’s ear­ly achievements

Through LEAP, the Foun­da­tion hopes to iden­ti­fy effec­tive strate­gies for help­ing youth and young adults over­come chal­lenges and suc­ceed in school and at work.

The evi­dence-based mod­els we are adapting:

• Jobs for the Future’s Back on Track
• Jobs for America’s Graduates

LEAP Part­ners

• Cen­ter for Alter­na­tive Sen­tenc­ing and Employ­ment Services
• Coali­tion for Respon­si­ble Com­mu­ni­ty Development
• Covenant House Alaska
• The Door
• Jobs for Arizona’s Graduates
• Nebras­ka Chil­dren and Fam­i­lies Foundation
• Project for Pride in Living
• South Bay Com­mu­ni­ty Services
• Uni­ver­si­ty of South­ern Maine

Addi­tion­al LEAP Resources

• Learn and Earn to Achieve Poten­tial Core Elements
• Learn and Earn to Achieve Poten­tial Fact Sheet
• Con­nect­ing to Oppor­tu­ni­ty: Lessons on Adapt­ing Inter­ven­tions for Young Peo­ple Expe­ri­enc­ing Home­less­ness or Sys­tems Involvement
• Lessons from the Imple­men­ta­tion of Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential
• Lessons from LEAP: Mak­ing Edu­ca­tion and Career Path­ways Work for Jus­tice-Involved Youth
• Par­tic­i­pa­to­ry Research Brief From MDRC
• Post­sec­ondary Sys­tems Change: Lessons from Learn and Earn to Achieve Potential