MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle to ‘Anchor’ Our Annual Gala!

We were thrilled that MSNBC anchor and NBC correspondent Stephanie Ruhle served as emcee at this fall’s “Together We Rise” Gala on October 26th. Guests got to see another side of this hard-hitting business reporter: her compassion and advocacy for girls and social justice.

Her work includes sitting on the board of trustees of Girls Inc. NYC, which honored her as one of its Women of the Year in 2016. She also currently sits on the board and advises for “React To Film,” which uses produces documentaries to highlight important issues and encourage youth to become engaged social citizens. A former investment banker, Stephanie founded the Corporate Investment Bank Women’s Network and co-chaired Women on Wall Street to promote women’s professional achievement.

This year’s gala is chaired by Susan and Rodman Benedict, and will honor Frances R. Olivieri and Bobby and Gina Hotaling. We hope you will join us at The Pierre on Thursday, October 26th at 6:30 p.m. for a festive evening. You’ll be able to meet Stephanie and help Leake & Watts support 12,000 of our most vulnerable children, adults, and families. Click here for more information.

Families can be a powerful force for helping court-involved youth redirect their lives. That’s why Leake & Watts is expanding its Juvenile Justice Services to include the Juvenile Justice Initiative Alternative to Placement (JJI), in which Family Court can assign youth to stay at home with our support.

“Our goal is to empower the family to support the child,” says Lisa Crook, director of Leake & Watts’ Juvenile Justice Program.

JJI draws on Leake & Watts’ successful Functional Family Therapy (FFT) model, in which therapists visit families in the home. “We make sure all family members are present to work through issues that have negatively affected the child,” Ms. Crook says.

Other supports include advocating for juveniles in school and connecting them to pro-social activities, as well as connecting families to community resources.

“Families gain the tools to help youth redirect their lives,” Ms. Crook says. “They learn that change is possible.

Click here to learn more about our numerous Juvenile Justice Services.

Twenty brainiac volunteers from Google met their match when they spent time at our Head Start preschool in The Bronx on June 14th. Students learned that maybe they could work for Google when they grow up, and the techies discovered how access to education helps children thrive. A special thanks to board member Chris Ackerman of Google for making this happen.

Interaction with corporate volunteers is so important because it shows children that the world is full of possibilities. Morgan Stanley volunteers are frequent classroom visitors. Our kids also visit corporate volunteers in their workplace. Student council members from one of our Bronx community schools had a chance to visit BNY Mellon’s offices in Manhattan in July.

In August, A.T. Kearney held mock interview sessions with your young people in their offices on the 39^th floor overlooking Times Square. It’s wonderful when our young people can peer out of the windows of a Manhattan skyscraper and imagine themselves working in such a setting one day.

Would you like to arrange a group visit to Leake & Watts for your company? Contact us at development@leakeandwatts.org and we’ll be happy to arrange it.