An overwhelming majority of community college students face challenges completing a four-year degree. We share preliminary results from an ongoing NSF-funded project, the Leadership Experience and Advancement Program in STEM (LEAPS), which aims to improve the success of community college STEM transfer students. Programmatic support strategies include a bridge program, team-based mentoring, and professional development workshops. All are strengths-based and emphasize STEM leadership development. Data show that students and faculty are positively impacted by LEAPS, though lessons are still being learned.