CNN's Soledad O'Brien to Moderate LEDA Town Hall: The Voice of Generation Next

LEDA: Leadership Enterprise for a Diverse America, proudly announces its inaugural LEDA Town Hall: The Voice of Generation Next, scheduled to take place Thursday, May 22nd, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the New York City headquarters of Google. Noted CNN anchor and special news correspondent Soledad O'Brien will moderate the event. In partnership with Scoop08, the first national student publication dedicated to the 2008 election, LEDA will conduct national online polls of young and undecided voters, the results of which will be announced at the Town Hall.

The Town Hall will feature six LEDA Scholars, first-time voters, in a dynamic, political dialogue about presidential election issues. In attendance will be: Jake Sullivan, Deputy Policy Director, Clinton Campaign; Dennis Walcott, Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development of New York; and other notable community leaders, politicians, and activists.

"The goal of this Town Hall is to give our LEDA Scholars a platform to have their voices and perspectives heard on some of the key issues concerning their world," said Shirley Tilghman, President of Princeton University and a member of LEDA's Board of Trustees. "These students represent the best and the brightest, and LEDA is pleased to be able to provide this opportunity for this extraordinary group."

LEDA Scholars are gifted and talented high school and college students from states across the nation, who have attended public schools and come from underrepresented economic backgrounds.

ABOUT LEDA:

LEDA is a not-for-profit organization devoted to developing leaders for our nation by helping exceptional public high school students who come from under-served backgrounds gain admission to the country's leading colleges and universities. In the past two years, LEDA has helped 127 students matriculate into top-tier colleges and universities such as Princeton, Harvard, and MIT.

All LEDA Scholars are recruited during their junior year and participate in the Aspects of Leadership program the summer after 11th grade at Princeton University. Aspects of Leadership, is LEDA's signature, transformative seven-week intensive program focusing on problems of principled and effective leadership through the study of specific historical and contemporary issues. In 2007, LEDA secured $3.5 million in academic scholarships for its 79 Scholars. No tuition or fees are ever charged to Scholars for programs and services provided by LEDA. Each LEDA Scholar receives free SAT/ACT tutoring, college counseling and admissions coaching as well as scholarship selection and application support services. Once LEDA Scholars matriculate into college, LEDA continues to provide on-going guidance throughout their academic year.