Our Programs
Higher
Education
At NLI we encourage our students to pursue higher education no matter their socioeconomic status. Most black and brown students will be first generation college students and we want them to be fully prepared for what's to come. NLI will teach students about the ins and outs of college life and fully support them through the process. NLI will take various college tours, discuss college options, offer extensive workshops aimed to equip students with tools needed to be successful when applying to college. We will also support any of our alumni students in any way we can while they are in college.
entrepreneurship
At The New Leaders Initiative we want students to know that college is an option but not the only one. If students want to pursue entrepreneur avenues, we will equip them with the tools necessary to be successful business owners. We want to foster self-confidence, resilience, problem-solving, creativity, and goal setting. By giving them autonomy, our students will experience higher levels of confidence with anything they do. Entrepreneurship education aids students from all socioeconomic backgrounds to think outside the box and nurture unconventional talents and skills. It creates opportunities, instills confidence, and stimulates the economy.
CAREER
READINESS
At NLI we prepare our students for their dream career through continuous personal and professional learning. We want our students to become aware of their strengths and deficits in order to navigate career opportunities. Our programs will create opportunities for work-based learning by:
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Job Shadowing
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Career Mentorship
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Job application assistance
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Resume/Cover Letter Assistance
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Career Related Competitions
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Informational Interviews
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Paid/ Non-paid Internships
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Networking opportunities
FINANCIAL
LITERACY
Financial literacy is oftentimes not addressed in the black and brown community. Students come from poverty or low income backgrounds where parents are just trying to get by, or living paycheck to paycheck. Students are not taught the ins and outs of budgeting, spending money, etc. As a result of this, there is an ongoing cycle of adults that lack the knowledge of how to properly navigate their finances. The New Leaders Initiative wants to break this cycle by equipping our students with the tools to help them to become fully financially literate adults. We will offer extensive programs addressing investing and stocks, budgeting, credit and more. Our program will allow our students to not only be financially literate but to apply what they have learned to real world situations.
MENTAL
HEALTH
Mental Health is a topic that is not discussed amongst most brown and black families. At NLI we want to create a space where our students feel comfortable to not only express their emotions but learn how to properly handle them. Students will have a rigorous program filled with different tools and strategies that we will teach that can be utilized in the real world. Our hope is that students will become more emotionally conscious and able to self regulate resulting in them becoming better adults.
FINE ARTS
NLI will give our student’s opportunities to explore different avenues of fine arts. This will include: music, art, dance, and drama. Exposing our students to this will give them an artistic opportunity to express themselves whatever way they see fit.
SERVICE
Our service target area is where we show students the benefits of community service or how it can impact their community. Our goal is to teach our students how to effectively engage in service that leads to meaningful changes in their development. Building on their compassion and gratitude gives them the freedom to flourish and become wonderful people who will go on to improve their communities and those around them. Students will participate in “Service Saturdays” every other Saturday in each month.