With a goal of developing minority youngsters into successful community leaders and college graduates, The Greater Baltimore Urban League (GBUL) held the second session of its Saturday Leadership Program (SLP) last month.
Through SLP, the Urban League expects to establish a citywide program that brings together underrepresented students every month from all over Baltimore to learn essential skills necessary to thrive in higher education and in their communities. The program addresses an urgent need to bring struggling children from low-income families the literacy training, academic support and self-esteem cultivation necessary to succeed academically.
Launched in September, SLP offers an evidence-based curriculum that covers a range of subjects, such as social awareness, civic engagement, anger management, health literacy and college preparedness.
Program participants range from eighth-graders to high school seniors who are privy to workshops facilitated by the Greater Baltimore Leadership Association (GBLA), the Young Professionals auxiliary of GBUL. The GBLA Young Professionals also take the participants on college tours and introduce them to potential role models. Some of the nine universities in Maryland that partnered with the program include Morgan State University, Coppin State University, Towson University and Goucher College, which is also where many of the subsequent SLP sessions will be held.
“The Saturday Leadership Program is the Greater Baltimore Urban League’s answer to the question many Baltimoreans have been asking for years: ‘What about the children?’” explains Jerome R. Alexander, the newly appointed GBLA Director of Youth Development. “Through this program, we have the unique ability as young professionals to reach back and guide our younger population to leadership, encourage positivity, and to embrace a better life.”
The president and CEO of GBUL, J. Howard Henderson, shared Alexander’s enthusiasm for the program.
