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The Lasallian Educational Opportunities Center (LEO) stands on a graffiti-scarred corner in Oakland, California. Outside LEO, drug dealers, gangs, prostitutes and gun shops circle the block. Inside LEO, computers, quiet study halls, mentors and books on every conceivable subject are accessible to all.
Each afternoon, middle and high-school students arrive from schools in the city's most neglected neighborhoods. They write poetry, conduct research online, solve math problems and explore other cultures on CD-ROMs. Whenever possible, they leave their neighborhood to visit museums and aquariums, see plays and hear music.
Ever present, and the most valuable part of the LEO experience, is the nurturing staff. Troubles at school, peer pressure, family problems—whatever the topic, teachers and older students stand by ready to give encouragement, direction and love. Someone is always there to listen, which can be the deciding factor for a child struggling to make positive choices and stick with them.
At the end of each day, a van drives the students to their homes.
This van passes everything that is dangerous and desperate about
their neighborhoods, delivering the kids one by one to their
doors and reminding them that new dreams can thrive in the tough
soil of the inner city.
"What goes on here is transformational. No one goes out unchanged. Students discover that what seemed to be immovable obstacles are in fact entirely movable. Our students prevail in spite of every social evil and injustice that routinely kills hope in this city."
—Brother Dan Fenton, teacher
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