Leaders was founded in April of 2000 by Dennie Butler-MacKay. At the time, Dennie, a licensed social worker, was working in the Boston Public Schools via a community mental health agency. In the early pilot years, the program provided service to one new section of the Freshmen Health classes at Brighton High school; maintaining a connection with each of these groups of approximately thirty-three students, through graduation. On average, there were approximately 125 students enrolled per year. By the time the 1st set of thirty-three freshmen were about to graduate only seven entered school in the fall for their senior year and of the seven, only five walked the stage in June. The long term relationship with these students provided an opportunity to really scrutinize the kinds of problems that needed to be addressed in an effort to bolster school retention efforts. These included poor decision making and anger management skills, as well as low self esteem. Dennie and her team of social work interns focused on these areas via individual and group support, and made themselves available for teacher consultation and crisis intervention. In three years, the newly piloted high school program increased freshman-to-senior retention by 400%.

An agency was established that focused on developing a model of service offered by a nonprofit that would augment, not replace, the work of dedicated teachers and providers in the school. In the school year ‘2000-2001’ Leaders of Tomorrow, Inc. began its work.

Achievements

Leaders of Tomorrow has established a strong training program for graduate level clinical and macro social workers. We have developed sound relationships with most of the local schools of social work. However, our program is usually populated by interns from the Boston University School of Social Work and Smith College’s School of Social Work. The program hosts an average of six interns a year who in addition to staffing the program will bring a level of resources, scholarship and cutting edge research to Leaders.

Approximately 50% of the students in the Jackson Mann and nearly 75% of students at Brighton High are from other Boston neighborhoods. Taking this into consideration, the agency developed comprehensive programming that serves the needs of all students and their families. For example, Leaders has coordinated an Annual Camp Fair traditionally held in February. This event showcases a variety of summer programs and community agencies to parents of the Boston Public School community. Local community vendors donate dinner, and local businesses donate raffle items to offer to families in attendance. In the past two years, Leaders has had as many as 200+ people coming to the tables of as many as 28 summer programs and 7 community agencies.

One of the greatest accomplishments for Leaders has been its ability to be woven into the fabric of the schools it serves. Leaders is a key service provider at Brighton High School, and the Jackson Mann School; two of the Boston Public Schools in the Allston Brighton area. Most notably, Leaders has been able to establish a strong presence within many of the school forums where instructional practices, day to day procedures, policies and scheduling, school climate issues, and students of concern, are discussed. This allows Leaders to be at the table when issues of planning, and policy making, as well as early detection and intervention concerning student issues, take place.