Jill van Leesten: 22 Who Made a Difference in 2022
GoLocalProv News Team
Jill van Leesten: 22 Who Made a Difference in 2022
Overseeing all clinical, case management, community health and services, van Leesten helps those who are involved in the judicial process and trying to transform their lives.
She is the woman who quietly works behind the scene to make things happen.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhen GoLocal first proposed naming the Providence Pedestrian Bridge in honor of her late father, Michael, it was van Leesten who skillfully put together the movement to ensure it became a reality. This fall, the bridge's new name was formally dedicated.
That is her skill.
She has a lifetime of work to help those most in need.
Her resume includes Program Director for ‘Breakthrough Atlanta at The Lovett School’ in Georgia, Field Supervisor for ‘Communities in Schools of Atlanta’, and Director of Program Operations for the ‘Bill and Melinda Gates Performance Learning Center with Communities in Schools of Georgia.’
And since she returned to her native Rhode Island, she has served as Director of Recruitment for College Unbound, and Social Service Director for Amos House. She also worked with the Amos House Rhode Island Reentry Collaborative.
Her work and effort for others never seems to stop.
She has been a Youth Facilitator for the International Black Summit, IBS radio show host, and the host of her own Blog Talk radio show called Who Motivates the Motivated. She is the Secretary for the VSU New England Alumni Chapter, Committee Member for Juneteenth RI, Board Member for South Side Elementary, and she is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Theta Phi Omega Chapter in RI.
Her selflessness and quiet leadership is a guide to all of us. She is a woman who made a difference in 2022.