Updates on MENTOR Newark Interns

Screenshot 2025-09-04 at 12.17.16 AM.png

Jaden Stuckey

Lincoln University - PA

-Prince Exhibit

-Heritage Hall

-Central HS Peer Mentoring

-National Summit Participant

Princess Olivia-Clarke

North Carolina A&T

-Prince Exhibit

-Heritage Hall Fellow

-Summer Intern

-NBOE CTE Peer Mentor

Madison Turner

University of Conneticut

-Summer Intern

-Heritage Hall Fellow

-NBOE CTE Peer Mentor

Screenshot 2025-09-04 at 11.00_edited.jpg

Mmsoma Nwosa

Howard University

-Legislative Intern for U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)

-Science Park - Trillium Mentee

-Heritage Hall Fellow

-Summer Program Manager

-HBCU Mentor

The NBOE Partnership

MENTOR Newark launched its first contract with the Newark Board of Education (NBOE) in 2020, focused on providing professional development, training, and capacity building for mentoring to all Newark high schools.

Since then, the partnership has grown significantly:

Renewed three times, most recently in January 2025 for an additional two years with a 16% increase over last year’s contract.
Launched multiple new mentoring initiatives in collaboration with district leaders, principals, and partners from the corporate, higher education, and nonprofit sectors.
Created Newark’s first-ever Director of Mentoring Services position in July 2024, in partnership with NBOE and partialy funded by an appropriation from the office of Senator Cory Booker (D - NJ)

This ongoing collaboration continues to strengthen the citywide mentoring ecosystem and expand innovative mentoring opportunities for Newark students.

Professional Development

MENTOR Newark will provide ongoing professional development related to the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring to designated school based mentoring coordinators, mentors, mentees and other identified school staff.

Training

MENTOR Newark provides training, including Mentoring 101 to all prospective mentors and other training related to specific topics related to school based mentoring to all mentors.

Capacity Building

Our goal is to share resources, corporate, community and higher education partnerships with schools. Introducing new experiences and opportunities to Newark students through episodic and longer term unique mentoring opportunities

Mentoring Connector

The Mentoring Connector is the only national database of mentoring programs. The Mentoring Connector is a free service that helps quality youth mentoring programs across the country recruit more local volunteers while greatly increasing visibility for their organizations.

Newark Board of Education Professional Mentoring Services Contract Overview

Annual Amount (2024–2025 & 2025–2026): $70,000
Increase: +$10,000 from prior years ($60,000 annually before FY 2024–2025).
Payment Schedule: Typically split into 6 installments (≈ $11,666.67 each, if evenly divided).
Renewal Date: Contract set to expire and come up for renewal in December 2026.

Upcoming Events

In partnership with the Newark Board of Education’s Office of Mentoring Services, MENTOR Newark has launched a monthly MENTORING ROUNDTABLE series. These meetings give community mentoring program leaders space to share opportunities and challenges while receiving ongoing professional development and capacity building from MENTOR Newark. All community mentoring program leads are invited.

As part of our commitment to exploring HBCU culture, MENTOR Newark has been hosting regular meetings and events with HBCU alumni organizations. These gatherings create meaningful opportunities for students to engage with HBCU graduates and students—both formally through mentoring and informally through community connections.

Participating schools include Morehouse College, Delaware State University, Lincoln University, Howard University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Benedict College, and others.

MN25-03 YMCA Family Movie-048_edited.png

Family Movie & Game Night

YMCA NEWARK

In July 2025 we launched a family mentoring activation called Family Movie & Game Night in partnership with the YMCA of Newark. Each event welcomes 10 YMCA-families to come to MENTOR Newark for a safe, joyful evening featuring multi-age board games, karaoke, family-friendly movies, refreshments, and complimentary family portraits (makeup provided by our Glam Squad).

Throughout the night, our high school peer mentors work closely with the young people while trained parent mentors support the adults—strengthening family bonds, building community, and modeling positive mentoring relationships in a relaxed, welcoming environment. Families are selected by the YMCA Newark team.

MN25-03 YMCA Family Movie-090_edited.png

MN25-03 YMCA Family Movie-075_edited.jpg

MN25-03 YMCA Family Movie-096_edited.jpg

The MENTOR Newark office has also become a Hub for community events and mentoring activations.

Partners here include:

- HBCU Alumni organizations - School Parent Committes - Halsey Street Festival

- Divine 9 Organizations -NJPAC Performing Arts programs -Brownmill

- Local Community groups. -The Dodge Poetry Festival. -Newark Arts

MN Shop Opening-Fresco-0307 (1)_edited_edited.jpg

MNwk-NJPAC Backstage-Fresco-0065_edited.jpg

MN-EA Devils-Fresco100 (1)_edited_edited.png

Mentoring in the Community

MENTOR_Newark_RGB_white letters_Horizontal (3).png

September 2025

MN25-02 Trillium Battlefield-Fresco-1061.jpg

MENTOR Newark is intentionally cultivating a dynamic, evidence-based mentoring culture across New Jersey’s schools and community organizations. Guided by MENTOR's Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring and strengthened by local partnerships, we ensure that mentoring is not just available, but impactful and sustainable.

At the heart of our work are three core values: JOY, PURPOSE and OPPORTUNITY.

Through these values, MENTOR Newark is shaping a statewide mentoring ecosystem that elevates best practices, empowers practitioners, and ensures that every young person has access to a supportive mentoring relationship.

Impact in the Schools

The work of MENTOR Newark is best reflected in the growth and sustainability of quality mentoring programs across the schools we serve—directly impacting the lives of students.

Featured Schools (clockwise): Science Park High School, West Side High School, High School of Global Studies, Arts High School, Newark Vocational High School, Eagle Academy for Young Men of Newark, University High School

MN25-02 Trillium Battlefield-Fresco-1407 (1) (1).jpg

National Recognition for MENTOR Newark

In January 2025, at the National Mentoring Summit in Washington, D.C., the work of the Newark Board of Education’s new Director of Mentoring Services and MENTOR Newark was featured for the first time on the national stage.

Highlighted in both a two-hour workshop and a plenary session.
Showcased through a short film "A Newark Story" and panel discussion capturing the impact of the partnership over the last six months.
Shared “A Newark Story” with more than 2,000 summit attendees - mentoring professionals - from around the nation.

This recognition underscored Newark’s leadership in building innovative, evidence-based mentoring systems for youth.

NBOE

CTE PEER MENTORING

In February 2025, MENTOR Newark launched a Career and Technical Education (CTE) initiative that brought middle and grade school students into our space to learn directly from our high school interns. With the support of consultants from McKinsey & Company, the interns designed and facilitated hands-on workshops that highlighted the foundational skills used to co-create and sustain our space.

The student run workshops introduced middle and grade school students to:

Graphic Design – understanding design principles and creative tools.
Hospitality – building welcoming, community-centered environments.
HBCU Culture & History – celebrating and learning from the rich traditions of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

In just four months, our student interns:

Engaged over 1,000 younger students in afterschool workshops.
Facilitated 44+ interactive workshops.

This initiative not only provided early exposure to CTE pathways for Newark’s youth, but also strengthened peer-to-peer learning by positioning high school interns as teachers, leaders, and cultural ambassadors.

Fee for Service – NBOE CTE Workshops
The Newark Board of Education’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) Office included this activation in a CTE grant that compensates MENTOR Newark at $998.00 per session.

Schedule: Three sessions per week (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM).
Workshops: A total of 44+ workshops per program cycle.
Revenue: $998.00 × 44 sessions = $43,912.00 total revenue per cycle.
Cycle Dates (Spring 2025): February 4, 2025 – May 22, 2025.

The Newark Board of Education has approved renewal of this program for the upcoming semester (September 2025 – December 2025), continuing with the same structure and fee schedule.

Building Mentoring through Arts & Culture

In an effort to build strong relationships and present Newark students with a variety of innovative mentoring opportunities, MENTOR Newark has partnered with leading arts and cultural organizations. Current partners include NJPAC, Dodge Poetry Festival, Newark Arts, BrownMill, Newark Alliance, Newark Symphony Hall, and others. Together, these partners bring creativity, culture, and mentorship to young people across the city. One highlight of this collaboration is the annual partnership with the Dodge Poetry Festival. Each year, festival participants lead a series of free poetry workshops at MENTOR Newark. These workshops are guided by trained and talented poetry mentors who not only nurture creative expression but also model the power of storytelling, communication, and mentorship. Students have the opportunity to explore their voices, build confidence, and connect with mentors through the art of poetry.

MENTORSPACE

MENTORSPACE: Newark’s Hub for Mentoring Organizations
MENTORSPACE is a local hub designed to support school-based and community-based mentoring organizations across Newark, New Jersey. It provides a collaborative environment where mentoring professionals can access training, professional development, and shared workspaces that can be scheduled for organizational use.

By participating in MENTORSPACE, mentoring organizations commit to:

Registering their programs on the Mentoring Connector – the only national database that connects young people with quality mentoring opportunities.
Engaging in training grounded in the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring (5th Edition) – the nationally recognized industry standard for building safe and impactful mentoring relationships.
Joining monthly Mentoring Roundtables – a space for local practitioners to exchange ideas, share best practices, and strengthen the mentoring movement in Newark.

Through these shared commitments, MENTORSPACE helps build a stronger, more connected ecosystem of mentoring organizations dedicated to empowering Newark’s youth.

MENTOR Newark is excited to welcome our partners to our new offices in downtown Newark.

The new offices also introduces a new partner to the MENTORVERSE - NJEDGE, The premier source of networking, cyber infrastructure, cloud, technology solutions and services to advance research, education, and economic development. While Heritage Hall served us well, our new space—with 8 offices, two boardrooms, and a large common area—gives us the increased capacity to:

Professionalize our operations with a dedicated, modern workspace.
Offer co-working opportunities to local mentoring nonprofits through MENTORSPACE.
Host community activations and episodic mentoring with partners such as the Dodge Poetry Festival, NJPAC, YMCA Newark, and the Newark Board of Education.
Collaborate with HBCU alumni associations, Divine 9 organizations, and others to celebrate and share HBCU culture through mentoring and events with Newark students.
Provide a unique shared community classroom where local mentoring partners can explore the Elements of Effective Practices for Mentoring and other essential best practices.
Read more on the NJEDGE website.