Programs
Voices Beyond Borders
A pen pal program connecting students in our New York programming with scholars in Leaders Beyond Borders. Together they build friendships, sharpen English language skills, and grow as young leaders.
About the program
A pen pal program that builds leaders across borders
Voices Beyond Borders is a pen pal program that connects students participating in our New York programming with scholars in Leaders Beyond Borders in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Through letters, guided exchanges, and structured projects, students build authentic friendships across cultures while practicing the communication skills of confident young leaders.
The program is built around three focus areas: English language learning, where students strengthen reading, writing, and conversation; pen pal relationships, where they build sustained one-on-one friendships across geographies; and leadership development, where they grow the voice, empathy, and follow-through that define a young leader.
For many participants, Voices Beyond Borders is the first time they correspond with a peer outside their neighborhood, the first time they share their story with someone halfway across the Americas, or the first time they realize their lived experience is something worth writing down. We meet students wherever they are, in English or in Spanish, in classrooms or on screens, and help them turn voice into leadership.
What it builds
Skills students take with them
Public speaking
Students practice presenting in front of peers, building the steady delivery and presence that translate to any future classroom or stage.
Storytelling & narrative
Workshops in personal narrative teach students how to shape their experiences into stories that move and inform an audience.
Cross-cultural literacy
Pen-pal exchanges with peers in NYC, DR, and PR build genuine curiosity about how others live, learn, and define community.
Confidence & self-expression
A supportive cohort gives students permission to take up space with their ideas, opinions, and questions, in English or Spanish.
Leadership through voice
Students learn that leadership begins with being able to say what they believe, listen to others, and bring people along.
Media literacy
Students examine how stories are told in different media and cultural contexts, and develop the judgment to tell their own well.
Inside the program
Voices Beyond Borders, in pictures
By the numbers
The reach of a student voice
Geographies connected, New York City, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, through one shared cohort.
Languages of correspondence and conversation, English and Spanish, with built-in support for emerging bilingual students.
Age range of students served, with grade-aligned prompts and developmentally appropriate dialogue.
Of participating cohorts produce a student-led showcase, live, recorded, or written, that families and educators can attend.
Bring Voices Beyond Borders to your school
Educators, school leaders, and community partners can bring the program to their students as a virtual, hybrid, or in-person cohort. Enrollment opens for the upcoming term, tell us a bit about your school and we’ll be in touch.
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