Dr. Nefertari Nkenge

“In partnership with Newark Public Schools and Pathways to College, the Scholar Ambassadors initiative fosters the well-rounded, unique college and career preparatory needs of African-American, Latinx and Indigenous high school students — specifically, those students with a history of exposure to trauma and those for whom implications for postsecondary persistence and completion are exacerbated. As an enhancement to our existing offering of a national, 10-month after-school college preparatory program (and thanks to this generous grant funding), up to 250 Scholars at all 6 of Newark's comprehensive high schools, will now benefit from an SEL infused, culturally relevant and responsive "windows and mirrors" career preparatory arm of our rigorous, after-school curriculum. Namely, 2-3 designated Scholar Ambassadors, per 6 comprehensive Newark high schools — will be employed part-time, for 8 months, for 15 hours per month at the rate of $14 per hour. These Scholar Ambassadors will in turn, recruit 10-15 of their peers to our after-school program, and all Scholars will subsequently benefit from the culturally relevant and responsive, SEL "windows and mirrors" curriculum focus. Scholar Ambassadors will ultimately design program activities/events, spearhead a social media marketing campaign and attend monthly professional learning and development sessions designed for them to learn how to: properly budget, save their earnings, open bank accounts, write a resume, interview for professional internships, and earn scholarships all while modeling the balance of academic, career and college preparatory excellence and managing the social demands of holding part-time jobs, which aid in financing their college education.”