Jayden Carty, a senior counselor at Leadership, Athletics, and Education in Partnership (LEAP) and rising junior at Southern Connecticut State University. Samir Iydroose Photos.
“One, two, three! En-ergy ba-by. Whoo! Yeah. Leap. We go up, we go down,” shouted Jayden Carty, a senior counselor at Leadership, Athletics, and Education in Partnership (LEAP) and rising junior at Southern Connecticut State University. He was talking to a room full of children, ages seven through 12.
They called the words back to him, still a little bit groggy. Carty moved on to repeating the sentences in a silly voice. “Rather than the standard–one regular, one loud, one whisper–I like to be playful with it,” he said.
This is a normal scene at LEAP, which runs year-round programming and summer activities at six sites across New Haven’s 18.7 square miles. On a recent, balmy Tuesday, the organization’s summer camp was in its final days before academic-year programming, providing a portrait of what makes its mix of academic enrichment, sports, and team building work.
“LEAP’s strength is its comprehensiveness, [and] the most important service we provide varies based on the person,” Fernandez said. “Some people are learning English for the first time so the phonics might be the most important for them. Other children learn to swim—kids love to swim and there are also safety implications with the drowning rates of low income people of color. We offer overnight camping too. Mental health resources, role modeling too, maybe homework help.”
LEAP, established in 1992, offers year-round programming, with a summer camp that is five days a week and an after school program that runs Monday through Thursday. During its first years in existence, Fernandez worked as its founding executive director, a role that he held for seven years before a series of leadership transitions.
He returned to the organization in 2014 after the sudden resignation of its then director, Esther Massie. Since he has returned, LEAP has gone from serving 200 youth to “a couple thousand” per year, started running programs at the reopened Dixwell Community “Q” House, and grown its aquatics program from serving 100 youth to a few thousand.
“My favorite part of my job is watching people develop into young leaders, whether those are seven to 12 year olds in swimming classes or [students] speaking in public or whether those are senior counselors navigating college life and mentoring younger people and letting everyone see what is possible,” Fernandez said. “That was what I missed the most about my job.”
In over three decades, the program has been a home to 30,000 youth, including roughly 950 New Haven who are enrolled in the summer program.
While the organization is going strong, it has faced significant financial challenges in the past years, particularly as government funding sources decline under a new presidential administration. Since 2025, federal funding has decreased from 18 to 12 percent of LEAP’s overall revenue. Last year, the organization closed its site at King-Robinson Interdistrict Magnet School in Newhallville, which served about 100 kids, laid off between 10 and 15 staff members, and temporarily suspended its Leaders In Training (LIT) program for 13-15 year olds.
Through private donors, the LIT program has returned, but the Newhallville site remains closed. Rachel Kline Brown, vice president of development and communications at the organization, said the kids served by the Newhallville site were absorbed into other sites, which increased the counselor to student ratio from 1:5 to 1:6.
Kline Brown said that the new counselor to student ratio hasn’t impeded LEAP’s operation, and they still are able to provide the same standard of enrichment as before. A key part of that enrichment is the curriculum administered each morning.
Taylin, a ten-year-old girl who has been involved in LEAP for three years, said that the curriculum, which leans on phonics, is her favorite part of the summer program. She recounted reading Look Out for the Big Bad Fish by Sheridan Cain and Tanya Linch, then making an aquarium out of sand, seashells, fish figurines and water mixed with blue food coloring.
“I liked it and it was very fun,” she said. “I still have a pet to keep and play with if I get bored.”
In addition to the set curriculum, students either have free time or Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) time. DEAR time lasts for a half-hour, with age-appropriate books provided by LEAP. It usually starts at 11 a.m., but the times are sometimes staggered for the different age groups.
Tylon, an 11-year-old boy who has been in LEAP for almost a year, said that DEAR time is one of his favorite things in the program, second to the annual camping trip to Camp Cedarcrest.
“Reading here is much better than reading at home,” he said. “Reading when you want to is fun. But when someone tells you to, it isn’t so fun anymore.”
Carty said that during the summer months (and during the year, although that comes after school) there is also “free time chillin’ in a classroom” or in the gym. In the gym, campers often cluster close to basketball hoops; others laze and loll on the side of the room. The equipment that entertains the campers varies on the day, but volleyball is a favorite option.
11-year-old Heaven, who participated in LEAP for two years, then took last year off and returned this year, said her favorite part of the day at camp was playing volleyball outside.
“I just like hitting things,” she said of her penchant for the sport, then adding that if she stayed home, she wouldn’t have people to play with.
At lunch time during the summer, the city provides lunches, which vary each day (during the school year, all New Haven Public Schools students can receive free lunch at their schools). Alice Vasquez, the cafe manager at the Family Academy of Multilingual Education (FAME) school site in Fair Haven, said that a cheese pizza option on Fridays is the most popular.
“I like making the meatball subs and pizza,” she said. “‘Cause I know the kids are going to eat!”
According to Carty, most counselors get food from elsewhere and return when lunchtime is over. He said he prefers to get lunch from a nearby restaurant, then eat it in the cafeteria with the kids. “I actually like spending time with the [LEAP-ers],” he said.
After lunch, campers can do a wide variety of activities: dancing classes, community service, a visit to a park or a library, or going swimming, at the pool at the LEAP site on 31 Jefferson St.
Nine-year-old Malakai, who has been participating in LEAP for a year, said that his favorite part of the program is swimming. He knew how to swim before starting the program, but wouldn’t have regular access to a pool without the program. His favorite things to do at the pool are “going underwater, holding my breath, and racing my friends.”
Melissa, an 11-year-old and a participant in LEAP for one year.
Melissa, an 11-year-old and a participant in LEAP for one year, said that her favorite part of the program is swimming, with the runner-up being making new friends. She said she took swimming lessons three years ago but forgot how to swim, but learned how to again.
She added that she has learned a lot of cool “tricks” from LEAP, like the backstroke, how to properly dive into the water, and butterfly kicks. “I like backstroke the best, because my face doesn’t need to get wet,” she said.
In addition to these activities during the day, the campers have an overnight camping trip, which many campers really enjoyed. The campers learn about nature, how to put up tents, and cleaning up after themselves, among other lessons.
“We want to let kids know it is their city,” Fernandez said of the offering of overnight camping. “Everything it offers is theirs too. We have partnerships with so many groups; African drumming, the Yale art museums, ballet, Connecticut college, Camp Cedarcrest, and so many more.”
Tylon said he really liked the camping trip, except for the “bugs and the bees.” Malakai said that he also enjoyed the trip, but got “like three bites right here,” and gestured to his right ankle.
“I liked spending time with all my friends at the campsite,” said Torryna, 9. “And the s’mores!”
After their activities, the campers get picked up. Carty walks one camper, whose parents can’t transport him, back home. Carty said that the counselors walk many campers to and from camp.
"I love being here, with the kids and having a concrete impact on their lives… I want to create a space where they can come to chill with me,” he said. “I have an ear to listen, and wisdom to impart.”
This summer’s nugget of wisdom from Carty is to “hold your friends accountable and to hold yourself accountable,” he added. (Last summer’s was “if you don’t know the endpoint, don’t start.") Carty added that on the first three days of camp, he hammered home that “if someone is being weird, or I am, tell them they buggin’.”
The relationships built during this daily routine often transcend a single summer. Former counselor at the Hill South site for seven and eight year old boys and current Communications Coordinator for LEAP Tristin Reeder recalled one camper, Sahid, who was a reluctant reader and a “kooky kid.”
“I would always read comic books while I was on break, and he would come over to me and ask me about them,” Reeder said. “So, I bought a bunch of comic books and I got him to read. It’s the little moments that show how you impact their lives.”
Learn more about LEAP here. Samir Iydroose is a graduate of the 2026 Youth Arts Journalism Initiative and a junior at Hamden High School. This piece is part of the Pincus Family Foundation's inaugural Youth Content Collaborative, through which YAJI students and alumni are able to report on other Connecticut organizations that are generously supported by the Pincus Family Foundation, without which YAJI would not be possible.