Seizing Every Opportunity

Founded in 1963 to create a more equitable society by closing the academic and career opportunity gaps for motivated young people from underserved and/or underrepresented communities, Seizing Every Opportunity is one of New York City’s oldest high-school-to-college mentoring organizations. It runs a series of programs, including its oldest and signature Scholars program that prepares low-income students for admission to and successful completion of undergraduate programs at nationally competitive colleges. Other programs are focused on mentoring outstanding nationwide college students of color for internships, providing underrepresented students of color with exemplary pre-law academic training and internships with top law firms, and creating networking and training opportunities for professionals from underrepresented communities in alternative finance. It also runs a leadership institute that allows alumni to benefit from peer mentoring along with a range of resources from the organization’s partners. Seizing Every Opportunity also has recently launched its Challenge to Lead campaign, a comprehensive education and engagement program for program alumni and their peers that is crafted to ensure that informed voices are represented in various public and private forums where policies that affect the wellbeing of communities of color are vetted. This award provides the organization general operating support to further its mission through a range of activities.