On January 16th, we celebrated Martin Luther King Day with service, scholarship, and professional activities at the Boathouse Cafe.

We were featured in the National College Attainment Network Newsletter! Check it out!

Our students created accounts on DoSomething.org, a global non-profit focused on youth and social change. Then, they participated in one of the available social action activities offered by the site:

1) Advocating for the expansion of access and improvement of mental health resources in their school by emailing elected officials

2) Reviewing and sharing with a friend the DoSomething Vibe Check Guide of mental health tips and resources (which includes resources and tips to help with self-reflection, how to communicate your mental health needs to others, and ways to support your peers on their own mental health journey)

3) Reviewing STEM resources to envision themselves in a STEM future, or writing to school administrators to advocate for a more equitable and robust STEM curriculum

The beauty of Do Something is that it allows young people to pursue small, manageable social action tasks in areas they choose (mental health, voting, volunteering to clean a community, etc.) AND all students who complete these tasks are entered into a lottery for a small scholarship ($2,000).

So MTB's students made a small difference on an issue they care about, added their voices to a social justice cause, and took a small step towards a possible scholarship that could make their higher education goals more attainable.

College Student Leaders Evelin, Lizbeth, and Ashley and Program Resource Fellow Reka also led students in work on cover letters, resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and vision boards.

What a great way to spend MLK Day!

Congratulations, Melissa!

We congratulate College Student Leader Melissa Reyes for her work at LOGRO on the community organizing to change LGBTQ+ invisibility in Passaic. Using the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index criteria, Melissa examined the lack of a comprehensive plan to include LGBTQ+ residents in Passaic city services and programs. She studied how LOGRO, LANF, and Passaic’s GSA clubs enable residents to have agency in navigating systemic erasure, think about alternative futures, and create new realities.

Through the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact at Dartmouth College, Melissa received crucial feedback as well as financial support for this work. She was part of the inaugural ImpACT Winterim Leadership Intensive cohort, where she learned about how other non-profits tackle social problems. As part of this cohort, Melissa shared her work at Dartmouth College and placed top 3 for her project! She also presented her findings to Passaic residents.

Melissa’s work illustrates how higher education not only enables first-generation students like Melissa to thrive. When students like Melissa rise, they lift so many others. Even away at Dartmouth, Melissa is working to move Passaic forward.

Understanding Cappex

Right now, we are diving into a tool called Cappex for college searches, scholarship searches, and understanding the expected net cost or real cost of attendance for college.

Here’s a family-friendly discussion (less than 15 minutes, in Spanish) that you can watch for reference.

This is particularly useful in terms of understanding what may be confusing about how the list or sticker price of a college (sometimes $75,000 or more) doesn’t reflect what a student will actually pay and how a private college can sometimes be cheaper than a community college!

Coming Soon

Saturday, February 4th

Full Group Meeting, Zoom, 10-11 am

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