Blueprints/Peer Leader Program Awarded Federal Grant

The Blueprints/Peer Leader Program was recently awarded a grant from the Federal Office of Minority Health. The Blueprints/Peer Leader Program was one of just six programs nationwide that were awarded this highly competitive, five-year grant. 

The Blueprints/Peer Leader Program serves students who live within the boundaries of the Chester Upland School District and who had one or more research-identified risk factors for school dropout prior to joining the program. The program will serve a set group of 40 young people from 8th grade through high school graduation and launch into college or post-secondary training.

The Blueprints/Peer Leader Program is built on the Crozer Wellness Center’s Peer Leader Program, which was established in 1996 as a peer education program. Today’s version of the program offers a much broader range of activities designed to support youth on their path to graduation and healthy behavior. Currently the program operates via a partnership between Swarthmore College, the Crozer Wellness Center, and the College Access Center of Delaware County, with support from the Chester Upland School District and area charter schools. The Federal Office of Minority Health is Blueprints’ primary funder (grant to Swarthmore College), along with the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (grant to Crozer Wellness Center).  Partners each lead certain areas based on their expertise, with activities between all sites planned to reinforce one another.