ASPIRA of New York & Fleet Bank Partner To Develop Youth Leadership.

ASPIRA of New York and Fleet Bank today jointly announced their partnership to help encourage youth leadership at a reception held at Fleet’s executive offices located in midtown Manhattan. Fleet presented ASPIRA a grant of $25,000 to benefit the expansion of the ASPIRA Leadership Clubs located throughout public schools in New York City.

“At Fleet, our mission is to empower people for the future. Our partnership with ASPIRA mirrors that vision, because we believe that there is no greater investment for the future than that of unprecedented opportunity for our children,” said Leo Gonzalez, Fleet Executive Vice President, Consumer Banking. The ASPIRA Club provides a forum for youth to become aware of their culture and community while developing their critical thinking and problem solving skills and advancing academically. “The ASPIRA Club allows students to gain a sense of belonging and familiarity as well as providing an opportunity for each individual student to express his/her views while learning to appreciate the opinions of their peers”, said Hector Gesualdo, Executive Director for ASPIRA. “In our experience, the ASPIRA Club is one of our most effective tools in combating the high school dropout rate because the Club structure allows students to develop skills that enhance their self-esteem and empower them to make positive decisions in their lives.”

As part of the partnership, Fleet employees will volunteer their time to work with the high school youth participating in ASPIRA Clubs throughout the City assisting the youth in developing financial literacy and management skills as well as serving as mentors and exposing them to careers in finance and banking. Founded in 1961, ASPIRA of New York was created by Puerto Rican community organizer Dr. Antonia Pantoja to combat the exorbitant dropout rate affecting Puerto Rican high school youth throughout the New York City Public School system. ASPIRA develops the leadership capacity of its youth by engaging them in weekly after school leadership club meetings guided by the ASPIRA Process of Leadership Development: Awareness, Analysis, Actio