Yleana Leadership Foundation Runs 5K to Send Students to SAT Camp for Free
New York, NY — The Yleana Leadership Foundation, an educational nonprofit based in New York City, hosts annual summer SAT camps for underprivileged high school students. On August 1, 2020, the foundation hosted the Yleana Fund Run. 32 Yleana fellows and staff members ran, walked, or biked 5 kilometers in states from California and Texas to Michigan and New York. Yleana raised $1,047.75 raised across 23 donations.
Summer fellows Ally Moralez (University of Michigan), Kate Kopf (Wesleyan University, Erica Lorenzana (George Washington University), and Alanna Walsh (University of Richmond) planned the fundraiser as a fun, safe, and healthy means of uniting foundation team members to bring awareness to and raise funds for Yleana’s mission. Gifts from donors held participants responsible for completing the 5 kilometers and will directly fund operation costs of Yleana’s summer SAT camps.
After completing her run, fellow Ally Moralez said “I am in no way an avid runner. Thankfully, the weather was gorgeous, so many of my friends and family donated in support of my run, and I am very passionate about Yleana’s work, so my motivation levels were off the charts.” Fellow Austin Davis chimed in, “It was great to do something enjoyable - and for a good cause!”
The Yleana Leadership Foundation sees the US’s racial wealth gap (economic/wealth accumulation) as a consequence of the opportunity gap (education). Our mission is to decrease the opportunity gap in order to decrease the racial wealth gap - by making sure students have access to the best resources possible as they enter college, we will change their economic position and ability to accumulate wealth as adults.
Our population is 95% BIPOC, primarily Black and Latinx, with an average family income of $32,829. We partner with high schools and CBOs in Baltimore, Boston/North Shore MA, NYC, and Philadelphia. We are emphatically a non-creaming organization, meaning our actions are directed at slow, incremental change in the thick middle of the curve.