The following article was submitted by LEAP:
Judy Sirota Rosenthal Photo
Stephen Wizner and Shefau Dabre-Rufus.
New Haven residents mingled with Pulitzer-winning journalists, law professors, and local high school students over hors d’oeuvres and chilled Thursday, Feb. 28. The 2019 LEAP Year Event annual fundraiser brought together over 500 community members to support Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership (LEAP), a local nonprofit that provides free after-school and summer programs to over 1,200 young people from low-income neighborhoods in New Haven.
The event raised a record $200,000 from sponsorships, event ticket sales, and individual donations to help grow LEAP’s programs and services despite state funding cuts.
The evening began with a cocktail reception and book signing at Hopkins School, where LEAP honored Stephen Wizner, the William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He has been committed to ensuring high quality legal services for low-income families and been a LEAP board member for decades. The reception was followed by dinner at one of 31 homes and restaurants in the Greater New Haven area. Each of the dinners was hosted by a local family or business and included a guest of honor. The guests of honor are world renowned experts and talents who kicked off discussion in their field of expertise.
“There’s so much wrong with the world; it feels good to do something right,” said Wizner. Tai Richardson, a former LEAP student who is now a member of the LEAP board, presented Wizner with an award designed by local artist Susan Clinard.
Judy Sirota Rosenthal Photo
Clifton Watson and Zelda Roland.
Clifton Watson, Wesleyan University’s director of the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships, was LEAP’s keynote speaker.
“[LEAP] pushed me to think differently about the things that were within my capacity,” he said. “[It was] powerful, transformative work that was happening in that space across generations of Black and Brown New Haven. This was the experience that jump-started my career.”
Watson worked as a high school counselor the summer LEAP was founded in 1992, and eventually became a full-time staff member at LEAP before moving on to lead other organizations for young people. “I learned by way of my experience at LEAP that whenever you organize across sections of folks — really represented in this room — folks from various backgrounds, and encourage and support intergenerational dialogue and collaboration around a really clearly identified mission, you have a beautiful thing with infinite possibilities,” he said. “This work I think has been so beautifully embodied in LEAP’s 26 years of service and work, and has everything to do with how I approach my current work and will continue to be the gospel of LEAP that I spread wherever I go.”
Stocky Clark, retired executive director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, led reception-goers in raising $18,000 in a bid-down auction. These funds will pay for seven counselors to train and work eight weeks during the summer, which will allow 70 children to be able to attend LEAP’s free 6‑week summer camp.
