The Long Story
The Ladder is a structured environment of service learning
The Ladder is more than a club for kids who want to become doctors; it is a tool that kids who live or go to school in North Minneapolis will use to change each other’s lives .
The Ladder is a Tool
The Ladder is a tool and the Ladder is a path. It is built with the efforts of the members to support each other and to be the change they want to see in the world.
1. Community
Build a community of learners and leaders.
2. Supportive
Create supportive inter-generational and peer-to-peer bonds.
3. Academic
Bridge the divide between communities and their academic neighbors and create mutual support.
4. Young Members
Link its young members and their families to a viable pathway for capacity building through personal and community enrichment.
Innovative Mentorship Program
1. Skills
Teaching both the skills and the personal characteristics needed for kids to gain experience through medical and community service learning projects.
2. Predictors
Nurturing the character traits that are consistent with predictors of success in the educational process and professional careers.
3. Challenged
Removing the stigma of achievement that can be present for kids in challenged communities by developing social bonds for support and mutual advancement.
4. Infrastructure
Creating an infrastructure of cascading mentorship and service learning in the setting of health career training.