WESTFIELD and PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY – September 22, 2022.

More Than Bootstraps (MTB),  a New Jersey non-profit organization, has received a $15,000 operating support grant from the Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development (CHPRD), a Division of Programs in the New Jersey Department of State.

More Than Bootstraps was selected to receive the grant based on its work addressing the challenges first-generation, low-income students face in getting to and succeeding in higher education. MTB’s first 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 the monthly stipends that allow the high school and college students in the program some time and space to devote to their professional development and college-going activities while still meeting their financial responsibilities. The grant from CHPRD will help support these monthly stipends during AY 2022-2023.

The Center for Hispanic Policy, Research and Development was established in 1975 to address the needs of the Hispanic community. The CHPRD provides financial support and technical assistance to primarily Hispanic community-based organizations throughout New Jersey. CHPRD promotes a new model of community development that is “focused on making real impacts in people’s lives while helping community based organizations achieve greater self-sufficiency.”

“As we enter our third year of programming with high school students in and college students from Passaic, we are enormously grateful for this significant grant support from the CHPRD and the recognition of our program’s contribution to 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. “We hope to secure additional grant and donor support and expand the numbers of students served in Passaic as well as expand the program to other districts.”