Since 2005, LEAH has impacted the lives of over 7,000 youth in the Boston area. LEAH provides youth and children with a rich blend of opportunities, experiences, and relationships that support and inspire them to succeed academically and to pursue their STEM career interests.
Our Vision
The LEAH Project's vision is to increase the representation of Black and Latinx individuals in STEM professions. LEAH aims to diversify the STEM workforce by providing youth with paid STEM internships as well as college readiness, and workforce development programming that empowers them to pursue education and career opportunities in STEM fields.
LEAH is housed at Health Resources in Action (HRiA), a non-profit public health organization with a mission to help people live healthier lives and create healthier communities.
“It’s hard to define LEAH in a concise way. We stand for community, opportunity, education and most importantly growth; growth within ourselves with the help of all famiLEAH members
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LEAH Accomplishments
2020 Highlights
110 unduplicated Boston-area High School students filled 184 internship slots in STEM teaching, biomedical research (LEAH Knox Scholars), and general STEM internship placements.
Participating youth in STEM Teaching Internships reached 323 elementary school youth to STEM curricula (this is lower than the past due to COVID and youth not being able to teach at program sites).
100% of LEAH seniors graduated high school.
100% of LEAH seniors applied to, were accepted at, and enrolled in college. All seniors have between 75% - 100% of tuition covered through scholarships and financial aid. Roughly 80% of LEAH youth will be first-generation college students.
At the end of summer programming, 89% of youth reported that they would consider a career in science. Youth also reported that: Knowing science will help me earn a living (85%); Science will be important to me in my life’s work (84%); I am sure of myself when I do science (84%); and, I am sure I could do advanced work in science (80%).
LEAH youth report that they are confident that they can:
Communicate in a professional manner (96%)
Work well with students from different backgrounds (96%)
Respect the differences of their peers (96%)
Include others’ perspective when making decisions (96%)
Youth report their opinions about the LEAH Project on the SAYO-Y, which collects data on youth’s experiences in the program, youth’s sense of competence, and youth’s future planning and expectations. Youth rated the LEAH Project with the follows results:
3.94/4 with “supportive adults present”
3.63/4 with “supportive social environment”
3.86/4 with “youth feel challenged”
3.62/4 with “youth enjoy and feel engaged”