More Than Bootstraps Announces New Advisory Board Member: Cassandra Crawford

(PASSAIC, NJ) — The New Jersey non-profit organization, More Than Bootstraps (MTB), announced the addition of Cassandra Crawford to the MTB Advisory Board. Advisory board members provide expertise and guidance to MTB as it builds a community of first-generation, underrepresented students who empower each other to access and succeed in higher education.

A senior graphic designer who has been working in the field of design and branding for over 14 years, Cassandra has a passion for social welfare and community impact. She has worked with more than 15 nonprofits across the country, many on a volunteer basis, and contributes her time and skills because she believes in the collective power of community. Cassandra also likes to spend some of her free time crafting goods that are donated to local animal sanctuaries.

Cassandra understands firsthand the complexities of navigating higher education as a first-generation college student. She notes, “As the first person and still the only person in my family to go to college, I didn’t know anything about what it meant or what the experience would be like. I ended up making a lot of decisions I would do differently if I were able to talk to my past self. An organization like More Than Bootstraps would have made my college experience less stressful and far more impactful for my future. We tell students that they need college degrees, but we don’t set them up to successfully deal with everything that college entails. MTB’s work directly impacts student success so that they have better experiences than I did.”

“We are thrilled to have Cassandra join our board,” said Audrey Fisch, president of More Than Bootstraps. “Cassandra has already contributed enormously to our organization through her design work on our Impact Reports and through supporting one of our student design interns. Cassandra’s work is invaluable in helping to tell the story of the achievement of the students in More Than Bootstraps.”

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.

More Than Bootstraps is a nonprofit created by educators seeking to level the playing field and remove some of the substantial barriers that first-generation college students encounter in accessing and succeeding in higher education. More Than Bootstraps employs a near-peer mentoring model to create a community of success. College students from the community return to guide their younger peers in the community through the college search, application, and assimilation process. These leaders, working as a mentoring cohort, in turn strengthen their own college-going identities and improve their own chances of success in higher education.

Students are selected based on their desire to attend college and their commitment to the program rather than grade point average or test scores. All students in the MTB program receive stipends, laptop computers, and access to emergency resources to help them with the many non-tuition expenses of higher education.