(PASSAIC, NJ) -- More Than Bootstraps (MTB), a New Jersey non-profit organization, has received a $20,000 gift to help support MTB's college access and success program in Passaic, New Jersey. Over the next twenty years, the gift will fund $1,000 per year of stipend support for one MTB College Student Leader.

The gift honors Laurie K. Meyers and Robert J. Salberg, whose lives were tragically cut short. Both valued the opportunities provided by higher education. In loving memory of Laurie and Robert, one College Student Leader, who has been personally touched by illness or family illness or who is pursuing a degree in healthcare, will be designated a Meyers Salberg Fellow.

Now completing its fourth year of programming, MTB employs a near-peer mentoring approach to address the challenges first-generation, low-income students face in accessing and succeeding in higher education. Working with underrepresented students in Passaic, NJ, the organization matches high school students with near-peer mentors – graduates of the Passaic Public Schools currently enrolled in institutions from Dartmouth College to William Paterson University. Led by their college student mentors, MTB High School Fellows follow a curriculum that focuses on education about higher education and financial aid, communication with families, holistic student development, and the promotion of student well-being and agency.

“We are enormously grateful for this gift and the recognition of our program’s contribution to increasing access to and success in higher education for first-generation college students,” said Audrey Fisch, president of More Than Bootstraps. “It is an honor to be entrusted to create the Meyers Salberg Leader Fellowship. We know the recipients of this gift over the next twenty years will honor the memory of Laurie K. Meyers and Robert J. Salberg.”

Grants and donations to More Than Bootstraps fund the monthly stipends that allow the high school and college students in the program some time and space to devote to their professional development and college-going activities while still meeting their financial responsibilities. Interested donors are invited to visit the MTB website: www.morethanbootstraps.org/donate. Funds may be designated to support the Meyers Salberg Fellow or MTB students generally.