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WESTFIELD and PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY – November 16, 2023
More Than Bootstraps (MTB), a New Jersey non-profit dedicated to helping low-income, first-generation students access and succeed in higher education, has received a $1,000 grant award from the the PSEG Foundation's Neighborhood Partners Program (NPP). More Than Bootstraps was selected to receive the grant based on its three successful years of working to address the challenges first-generation, low-income students face in getting to and succeeding in higher education. MTB’s partner district, the Passaic Public Schools, serves students underrepresented in higher education: low-income, Latinx, and first-generation.
MTB builds on students’ strengths and the power of near-peer mentoring to create a sustainable pathway to and through college. The organization trains first-generation college students attending institutions ranging from Passaic County Community College and Kean University to Vassar College and Dartmouth to serve as mentors to high school juniors and seniors in the Passaic Public Schools. College student mentors meet weekly with their high school mentees and follow a curriculum of activities focused on personal and professional development, college and financial aid awareness, and communication with families. Once a month, the full group convenes for workshops and guest presentations.
Grants and donations to More Than Bootstraps fund monthly and summer stipends that allow the high school and college students in the program time and space to devote to their professional development and college-going activities while still meeting their financial responsibilities.
“Often, first-generation youth lack access to the necessary resources that help guide them through their academic journeys. I personally understand how that felt when I was a student,” said Maria Spina, manager, PSEG Foundation. “It’s important that programs like the MTB College Access and Success Program are available to uplift young people and provide them support to ease the process, and the PSEG Foundation is pleased to support this initiative.”
“We are enormously grateful for this recognition of our program’s success in improving access and success in higher education for underrepresented first-generation students, the majority of whom are students of color,” said Audrey Fisch, president of More Than Bootstraps. “After three years, we are confident that our innovative model is achieving significant outcomes for our underserved students.”
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