NJ LEEP Gives Kids a Jump on College

By Zayda Rivera

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July 21, 2008

Keywords: underserved, homeless, law school, four-year college, diversity, NJ LEEP, PSEG

"Go green! Go wind! And get blown away!" declared NJ LEEP student Shatanya Schenck, one of eight students debating the merits of wind versus solar power at the NJ LEEP debate at

PSEG corporate headquarters in Newark, N.J. on Thursday.

Confident and prepared, 15-year-old Shatanya was unfazed by her audience, which included three

PSEG judges, a room full of the company's employees, members of the press and her competitors, the solar team. Her poise and preparation paid off--the judges named Shatanya, a sophomore at St. Vincent's Academy, MVP for her compelling speech and professional delivery.

The debate was the result of a partnership between PSEG and NJ LEEP, the New Jersey Law and Education Empowerment Project. Created in 2006, NJ LEEP empowers urban youth from underserved neighborhoods in Newark, Jersey City, East Orange and Irvington, to perform at high academic levels by building skills through law-related, mathematic and other educational programs. Supporting this program is one way PSEG hopes to develop a diverse pipeline of students interested in careers in the utility industry.

NJ LEEP's intense program requires students from eighth grade through their senior year in high school to attend after-school programs as well as a grammar course on Saturdays. Most of the attendees come from low-income homes and often have to cope with tough family circumstances. NJ LEEP provides a base for confidence building and the achievement of academic success.

"Mimi grew up semi-homeless," recalls Craig Livermore, founder and executive director of NJ LEEP, who modeled his program on New York City's Legal Outreach, Inc. "Every day after school she'd come to Legal Outreach. The program ends at 6 p.m. but she would stay until 8 or 9 studying. Then she'd go home and go out with her mother and sisters until 4 or 5 in the morning collecting cans. She did that every day but she did her work and now she's excelling at Georgetown. Mimi is working for [NJ LEEP] this summer as an intern and she finished her first year at Georgetown with a 3.5 GPA."

A graduate of Columbia Law School, Livermore developed the project in partnership with Seton Hall Law School. Recently, James O'Neal, founder and executive director of Legal Outreach, Inc., as well as Craig's mentor, decided to join in the formation of NJ LEEP.

"Our kids are being trained to go to a competitive four-year college," says Livermore. "In the New York program, 99.6 percent of the students have done that. It's a huge challenge for us to meet, but that's our goal here.

"We do a lot of workshops like professional etiquette, professional dress, dining etiquette, communications skills and getting the kids ready to understand the responsibilities of the corporate environment, and then once they're in they start to see themselves in that environment and believe that they belong there," explains Livermore.

When soliciting law firms for partnership opportunities with NJ LEEP, Livermore found firms, big and small, to be very receptive to the program.

"[They are] very concerned about increasing the representation of diverse communities within the law school and the legal profession," explains Livermore. "That's the idea of pipeline diversity, because skill development as well as other things like character development and exposure--it's so hard to make up for that in college or grad school if the foundations are not laid out. That's really what our focus is. We have a three-fold mantra of skills, habits, exposure."

"My mother told me to join this program because even if you don't want to be a lawyer they still help you in being organized, decide what you want to do; they help you get off the streets and they're nice people," says 15-year-old Victoria Bonners, who's been with NJ LEEP for a year.

"Because of the grammar classes my writing has really improved, and I have something to do on Saturdays besides watching cartoons," says Nicole Rivera, also 15. "I want to be a lawyer, either in intellectual property or employment law."

"So many times I thought about quitting," says Faatimah Jafiq, who wants to be a prosecutor. "It's a lot of work. You want to do things like get involved with extracurricular activities, but because of my schedule we're unable to do that. We have a busy life. But eventually it pays off, it really does. Like right here. We're just so confident."

"I wanted to be a lawyer since I was 4 years old--particularly a defense attorney," says debate MVP Shatanya. "My mentor Joel Taylor was very compelling, and he helped me push forward and so did many others. [NJ LEEP] are partners with a lot of colleges, so it's going to help me get a better advantage."