Beginning this spring, Leelanau Investing For Teens (LIFT) will have full-time partnerships with all four public schools in Leelanau County.

LIFT announced this week that it has struck up a formal partnership with Leland Public School, “which will bring full-time afterschool and summertime programming to 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade students starting in June 2025.”

LIFT, which provides no-cost out-of-school-time activities, mentorship, and other programming for middle and high school students in the county, already has ongoing partnerships with Suttons Bay, Northport, and Glen Lake schools. The Leland partnership marks a major milestone for the organization, which started at Suttons Bay Public Schools in 2017 and has been working for years to bring its programming to all four public school districts in the county.

“We are now fully operational in Suttons Bay, Northport, and Glen Lake, for middle school and high school,” LIFT Founder and Executive Director Rebekah TenBrink told the Leelanau Ticker last October. “We are also doing an exploratory year this year with Leland, and our hope is, after this year, we’ll go full time there. That would put us county-wide. We’d be in all of the public schools in Leelanau County.”

Jesus Ledesma, a Leland Public School alumnus, will join the LIFT team as the organization’s first Leland Middle School program coordinator. According to a press release, Ledesma “has already started integrating himself into the school district by chaperoning dances, joining students in the cafeteria at lunchtime, and connecting with school staff and administrators.”

Ledesma and community volunteers will roll out LIFT’s programming to Leland middle school students in June. From there, during the upcoming summer, LIFT will invite rising 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at Leland Public School to participate in three activities each week, “including beach days, kayak trips, picnics, service projects, and more.” Free transportation will be available to get students to and from their homes, “to make these summertime activities accessible.”

Thanks to the formal partnership, LIFT will have a dedicated space within Leland Middle School by the start of next school year, and will offer daily after-school programming for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders for the duration of the 2025-26 academic year. LIFT after-school programming runs until 5:30pm, with snacks provided and activities changing from one day to the next.

“Since 2020, our long-term vision has been to partner with the four public school districts in our area to make our out-of-school programming accessible to 6th through 12th-grade students in Leelanau County,” TenBrink said in the press release. “We are proud to formalize this remaining partnership to make that vision a reality. The school and community in Leland have already opened their arms wide to our organization, and we are so excited to start connecting with its teens, families, and educators.”

While LIFT programming will only be available for Leland middle-schoolers to start, there are plans to roll out offerings to high-schoolers over time.

“We are starting with our middle school students and hope to expand to high school as our middle school students grow with the program,” said Leland Superintendent Stephanie Long

To celebrate the Leland launch and raise funds for the new programming, LIFT will host a "LIFT Up Leland" fundraiser at Dune Bird Winery from 2-4pm on Saturday, May 17. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online or at the door. The event will include a presentation from TenBrink and a live performance from local musician Nik Carman, himself a LIFT alum. Light refreshments will be provided, and drinks will be available for purchase from Dune Bird.