New Jersey Minority Educational Development - NJ MED

NJ MED (New Jersey Minority Educational Development), a nonprofit 501c3, was formed in 1995, to help develop practical solutions to the problems of minority youth (especially males) development in public education, and to foster higher education and career pursuit aimed at enhancing positive growth within their communities.

From 1996 to 2006, NJ MED worked with the local school district, colleges, businesses, and community support services organizations to increase minority male’s high school graduation rates by 49% and college enrollment by 61 percent.

The program model, the 100% Graduation Rate Program, is now in its final stage of becoming a national evidence-base model, and forming a partnership with the new My Brother’ Keepers Initiative that targets the USA minority male population.

In 2012, NJ MED launched its first national project in support of its America First or Last Movement to help prepare the US workforce for the 21st Century. The project “The National High School Graduation Campaign” focuses on incoming high school freshmen, and asks them to pledge to graduate high school, not become a teen parent, live drug free, become computer literate, and promise to enroll in higher education at the completion of high school.

The following year, 2013, NJ MED launched its World Top 20 Poll project. The project focuses on missing data that prevents children from around the world to have access to quality education and to learn in a safe environment. NJ MED then works with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and links them with a network of communities that are participating in the project, to build schools, train teachers, and provide health care, clean water, and school supplies.

As NJ MED moves forward in the 21st century, they plan to develop new programming, services, and partnerships that support nation’s economic and social equity for children and their families.

Current Partners

America’s Promise Alliance (2011)

US Global Partnership for Education (2012)

Google Grant Program

UN’s Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Department of Economic and Social Council (2014)

Here also is a list of other current services and programs provided by NJ MED:

BABY 2000 is an annual toddler management forum for “high risk” teen parents. The purpose of the forum is to reach 30 to 50 new teen parents (both male and female) that are in the juvenile justice system, and provide them with general knowledge and methodology required to establish effective co-parenting skills for their child, as well as, referrals services contact.

 The American Reinforces Knowledge (ARK) Project is an after-school academic and structured recreation program for youths between the ages of 5 to 14 years old. The mission of the ARK Project is to use a psychographics analysis format rather than a standard educational approach to resolve the adjustment problems of today’s urban youth’s academic and social development.

Plataforma Para Exito is a national outreach and awareness campaign to ensure more Hispanic Americans will successfully enter the US Workforce with Professional Careers by the year 2040. This project has 5 core values, which include: 1) preparing more Hispanic American males for the workforce; 2) establishing higher college enrollment, retention, and graduation rates for Hispanic American males; 3) increase the national high school graduation rate of Hispanic American Males; 4) unite the Hispanic, Bi-Cultural Community via closing the academic achievement and attainment gaps in elementary and middle schools; and 5) developing more early-childhood programs towards preparing Hispanic American children for entrance into the United States educational system.

The Community Initiative Project is designed to provide youths with effective job-training skills and summer job placement.