PREPARING YOUTH FOR LEADERSIP SINCE 1968
PROGRAM FEATURES
12-24 months of intensive leadership development training.
LECTURES
BOOK DISCUSSIONS
RETREATS
During year 1, students participate in 6 transformational theme-based weekend retreats.
Things Fall Apart and Malcolm X are just some of the exciting books students analyze during the summer.
Every week, students are exposed to local and national authors, activists, and executive leaders.
COLLEGE TRIPS
Students visit 4-6 competitive colleges, evaluating issues of race, equity, and financial aid.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROJECTS
Leadership techniques are practiced through student led projects and measured for impact.
LEADERSHIP COACHING
All students are aligned with seasoned alumni to guide their development.
ALUMNI PROFILES
Nearly 50 years of cultivating leadership. Here's what some of our alumni have to say...
PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS
We've worked with over 100 high schools since our founding. Below, are some of the more frequent schools that have recommended students to our program.
A. Philip Randolph Campus High School at City College
Academy of Mount St. Ursula
All Hallows High School
Archbishop Malloy High School
Archbishop Stepinac
Aquinas High School
Bishop Loughlin High School
Bronx Science High School
Brooklyn Technical High School
Cardinal Hayes High School
Cardinal Spellman High School
Cathedral High School
Democracy Prep Public Schools
Eagle Academy for Young Men
Erasmus Hall High School
Fieldston School
Fordham Preparatory School
Frederick Douglass Academy
Harlem Village Academy
Hunter College High School
Iona Preparatory School
Loyola School
Marymount School of New York
Monsignor Scanlan High School
Mother Cabrini High School
Mount St. Michael Academy
New Rochelle High School
Notre Dame School
Preston High School
Regis High School
Rye Country Day School
Salesian High School
Stuyvesant High School
St. Agnes Boys High School
St. Catherine Academy
St. Jean Baptiste High School
St. John’s Prep School
St. Raymond High School
The Ursuline School
Truman High School
Urban Assembly Academy of History and Citizenship for Young Men
Washington Irving High School
Xavier High School
We've worked with over 100 high schools since our founding. Below, are some of the more frequent schools that have recommended students to our program.
ABOUT US
We are New York City's premiere organization solely dedicated to the long-term leadership development of Black and Afro-Latino high school students.
Achieving Leadership’s Purpose, Inc. (ALP) was originally founded in 1968 as the Archbishop’s Leadership Project by Terence Cardinal Cook with the mission of cultivating African-American leadership in the Catholic Church, and serving the broader community. Over the years, the program has come to include students of various religious backgrounds and African diasporan origins (African, African-American, Afro-Latino, Caribbean, and Caribbean-American). The Alumni of ALP have gone forth to distinguish themselves at the most prestigious colleges and universities in the nation and to pursue varied and challenging careers. Moreover, the alumni of ALP further develop a sense of urgency for social change and deeper cultural and self awareness.
Father John Meehan was chosen to direct the first group, and tasked with designing a program that would encourage young Black men to pursue vocations in the priesthood. However, he soon discovered that the young men were less interested in joining the priesthood, and more interested in exploring their history and the issues facing their community. Keeping the needs of the youth in mind, by the end of the first two years, the original objective of attracting Black youth to the priesthood was subsumed into an integrated approach to motivate, inspire, and positively encourage young boys to consider roles of leadership within their community.
In the summer of 1985, Fr. Meehan and alumnus Peter Sanders met with Cardinal O’Connor to provide an introductory report on the program started by his predecessor, Cardinal Cooke. Impressed with the program, Cardinal O’Connor decided to keep ALP in the Archbishop’s discretionary budget and felt that the work of ALP could be extended to young women. When a new ALP group was formed in the spring of 1986, it included over twenty Black high school girls and a female co-coordinator, Ms. Taur Orange, making ALP a coeducational program. In March of 2005, ALP incorporated as an independent not-for-profit organization, changing its name to Achieving Leadership’s Purpose, Inc.
Throughout the years, the structure of ALP has remained the same, and has turned out successful individuals committed to serving their communities. They all went through ALP’s unique and rigorous two-year leadership development and training process. Aimed at high school youth of the African diaspora, it seeks to prepare young men and women for leadership roles and responsibilities while fostering a commitment to service. The multi-component development and training process emphasizes critical thinking, presentation skills, leadership dynamics, an appreciation for history and culture, and service to others.
CONTACT US
Achieving Leadership's Purpose, Inc.
PO Box 764
New York, NY 10027
Tel: 646-450-4257