Dear Friends and Family:

This is a request for you to please support the National Educational Network, Inc. (NENI). NENI (pronounced nen-ee) was founded in April 2005 in Edison, New Jersey. 

Our Mission:  To enrich and empower our nation's youth, parents, educators and leaders with special attention to "at-risk" populations through grant-funded programs and services.

Funding Goal:  To provide urban / economicaly disadvantaged youth, parents, educators, and community leaders with cultural and educational programming and other community development services at no cost (or at a reduced cost) with the help of grant funding and donations.  We are currently raising funds to provide academic programming for at-risk youth and for economic development programs in the urban "Abbott" districts in NJ.  It is our intention to serve as a national information clearinghouse for education, including parents, educators, child care providers, community leaders and public policy representatives. 

NENI Program Highlights:

TUTORING: We recently received a $25,000 grant from the AT&T foundation for a tutorial program at the Edison Job Corps.  Edison Job Corps is a residential program serving economically disadvantaged youth between 16-25 years of age.

COLLEGE PREP: Our President Dana Wilson served as a guest speaker in June 2008 as part of a symposium for 500 female students at Malcolm X. Shabazz High School in Newark, New Jersey.  NENI also partnered with the Garden State Association of Black Journalists in 2007 on an all-day college prep symposium for urban high school students and their parents.

We have collaborated with numerous NJ organizations including (but not limited to) the Edison Job Corps, NAACP Metuchen-Edison Area Branch (NAACP MEAB), the Middlesex Central Baptist Association of NJ (MCBA),  the Piscataway Civil Rights Commission, the NJ Amistad Commission, and Noah's Ark (a faith-based nonprofit).

We have an online Parent/Family Information Resource Center. This blog http://parentspotlight.blogspot.com/ was funded in part by the Gannett Foundation and includes a variety of information including college scholarships, child care resources, trends in education locally and nationally, educational updates from state officials, announcements about parent workshops, excerpts from educational research studies.

NENI is the proud sponsor the National Grant Advocate Resource Center (www.grantadvocate.com) designed to strengthen the capacity of our urban nonprofit community leaders. I, on behalf of NENI, also created the website for the NJ Chapter of the American Association of Grant Professionals.  I am the founding state secretary of NJAAGP. (http://www.grantadvocate.com/njaagp.htm).

Examples of our cultural programs include serving as co-sponsors of the annual Juneteenth NJ Festival (www.juneteenthnj.com) which includes a youth festival serving more than 500 children and their families, and a gospel festival in partnership with more than 40 NJ churches affiliated with MCBA. 

NENI is a 501c3 organization listed on www.guidestar.org, a free search tool is for donors who want to verify a nonprofit's legitimacy and confirm that your contribution will be tax deductible. 

We will acknowledge you on our firstgiving website (unless you wish to remain anonymous). Thank you for visiting my fundraising page! Donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts. Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!

Yours truly,

Dana Y. Wilson, President and Co-Founder

Steven A. Wilson, Executive Director