NENI

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The National Educational Network Inc. (NENI), a 501 c3 non-profit in Edison, NJ, was established in 2005 and reorganized in 2014. Over the years, NENI (pronounced nen-ee) has provided a variety of services, including: providing assistance during Hurricane Sandy, delivering holiday toys to needy children, providing college prep workshops to teens and their parents, providing tutoring programs for at-risk youth at the Edison Job Corps in partnership with the NAACP Metuchen-Edison Area Branch, and a Saturday summer enrichment/career exploration camp. 

 

NENI became a state-registered provider of professional development for the New Jersey Department of Education in 2006. NENI also provides workshops for businesses, child care providers, teachers, students, parents, community leaders, and faith-based leaders.

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Examples of Past and Present Programs:

· Journalism/Literacy:

NENI also provides literacy programs for children (prek-12) and adults of all ages. Programs include basic literacy, computer literacy, financial literacy, and journalism.

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A pilot virtual journalism /literary magazine program was held for a 5th grade troop of NJ Girl Scouts, right after the initial COVID19 shutdown for Spring Break in March 2020.

The elementary school girls interviewed a female detective, took photos and added captions, wrote poetry and stories. The curriculum was developed by NENI's very own Dana Wilson (in partnership with C. Ron Allen, Editor of the Boca Raton Tribune and Executive Director of KOP, a 501(c)(3) non-profit). Ms. Wilson has more than eight years of journalism experience at Dow Jones, The Star-Ledger, The Lansing State Journal and the Boca Raton News. The two journalists (Ms. Wilson and Mr. Allen) guided the scouts as they earned badges. The three-day program has since expanded into a weekly online student-led news program. 

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· Juneteenth: Juneteenth is a federal holiday, celebrating the end of slavery in the US.  Annual cultural heritage programs were held in partnership w/ the Metuchen-Edison NAACP. Past programs included:

• Musical performances (including Gospel singers, African dancing and drumming, ballet dancers, and Capoeira, an African-Brazilian martial arts dance)

• sports tournaments

• indoor/outdoor festivals

• health /vendor fair

• voter's registration / civic participation

• Black history presentations by college history professors

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· Saturday Summer Camp (grades 5-9): A career development program was held at First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens, a large African-American church in Somerset County.

NENI also hosts several other virtual programs including:

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• the National Executive Directors (NED) group, a nationwide peer group of 550+ Executive Directors on Linked In.

• Living While Black USA, which addresses Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion issues in the African American Community. This group was created after the murder of George Floyd that sparked worldwide protests against police violence)

• Grants for Newbies is a Facebook group that provides free information on grants for for-profit and non-profit businesses. The FB site also includes information about grants for homeownership and college grants and scholarships.  Grants for Newbies is also a room/podcast on Clubhouse, another social media platform. NENI is planning on expanding the program to become a website.(https://www.facebook.com/groups/grantsfornewbies) The domain www.grantsfornewbies.org is under construction.

• Financial Literacy (coming soon)
   

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