FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Award celebrates academic, community achievements and positive community impact
MINNEAPOLIS (May 22, 2025) —The Jeremiah Program (JP), a nonprofit that disrupts generational poverty two generations at a time, announced its inaugural Legacy Award winners at an event held at the Graduate by Hilton hotel in Minneapolis Wednesday, May 21. The award uplifts and celebrates the children (ages 13-25) of JP alumni (JP moms) who are actively building their own legacies and creating positive change in their communities.
“The JP Legacy Award is more than an award — it recognizes young leaders who are carrying forward the values of resilience, determination, and leadership that define the JP community,” said Chastity Lord, JP president and CEO.
The winners are:
- First place: Elijah Moen is the son of JP Alumni Rhea Moen. After a gun-related incident at Roseville Area High School where he is a senior, he collaborated with others to create policy and changes in practices at the school.
- Second place: Leilani Benson is the daughter of JP Alumni Fellow Tiffany Benson. Leilani is finishing her senior year at Cathedral High School in Boston, Mass., where she credits her involvement with sports and other extracurricular activities like Soul Sisters, for being a positive outlet to experience community and make positive change.
- Third place: Tyzjuan “Ty” Sims is the son of 2022-2023 JP Alumni Fellow Lavasha Smith. A senior at Armstrong High School in Plymouth, Minn., Ty enjoys helping his classmates by tutoring them in mathematics and other subjects. He is also a leader in school sports and clubs. With the assistance of one of his teachers, the Kindness Store was established at the school to help spread kindness. Students who help others out can receive tickets to redeem for items, including snacks, at the Kindness Store.
Moen, Benson, and Sims are receiving educational funding through a 529 or peer state program in the amounts of $10,000, $5,000, and $2,500, respectively.
Attendees witnessed — via video highlights and a conversation with Lord, Elijah and Rhea Moen — the transformative impact of JP’s strategic investment in single mothers and their children. The organization’s leadership states that changes are creating a ripple effect of joy, inspiration, and positive change that extends far beyond individual families to strengthen entire communities.
In addition to the live streamed event across JP’s nine geographic regions (Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Brooklyn, New York; Fargo, North Dakota-Moorhead, Minnesota; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Minneapolis, St. Paul and Rochester, Minnesota), the program will be archived on the organization’s website.
About Jeremiah Program: Jeremiah Program (JP) is a national organization whose mission is to disrupt the cycle of poverty for single mothers and their children, two generations at a time. By investing simultaneously in a mother’s vision for her personal and professional goals and the education of her children, she simultaneously reauthors her family’s outcome as well her community’s — proof points matter. In 2024, JP actively served over 2,000 moms and children across nine cities in Austin, TX; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Brooklyn, NY; Fargo, ND-Moorhead, MN; Las Vegas, NV; Minneapolis, MN; Rochester, MN; and St. Paul, MN.
Media Contacts:
Amy Frantti
MRPP & Associates Communications
Mobile: 612.432.5408
amybfrantti@gmail.com
Sonya Goins
MRPP & Associates Communications
Mobile: 612.388.6188
sonyagoins124@gmail.com
