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Mission Statement
In Swahili Nia means purpose. The Nubian Improvement Association or the NIA Foundation is a new community organization on the block. Our purpose is to improve the lives of the disenfranchised, under-resourced, and overly neglected peoples around the world. We are committed to organizing and executing our Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (JEDI)-Focused programs to improve the lives of overly-neglected people in the United States and across the world. By providing economic and educational support we can help people in need, we can help improve their lives to increase so that members can become self-sufficient, positive, and productive members of society.
1) Vision: The vision of NIA Foundation is that our community programs that will help the future generations to learn new skills of the future, provide mentorship & scholarship opportunities, and more. To actionably spread Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (JEDI) practices by focusing on Youth Equity & Empowerment programs. 2023 will be NIA Foundation’s year to raise funding, build relationships, and pilot our TEDS Program and Grants Project Managers In Training Program. 2024 we will launch our BigBro, BigSis: STEAM Mentorship program and our ExtraSupport Scholarship Program for selected communities in the United States.
Origin Story
Nubian Improvement Association also known as The NIA Foundation was founded in 2022 by Shantel Nubian. Shantel Nubian is a African American woman, a mother, STEAM Educator, and entrepreneur. She is grew up in New York City with the dream to help people. Through her personal journey and professional experiences as a social worker, grant writing consultant, education, she always dreamed of organizing programs that could help improve the lives of people in her community and abroad. NIA Foundation is a vehicle to spread Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (JEDI) organized programs and positive energy to the community at large. NIA Foundation is a non-profit focused on serving communities in New York and Delaware state. We are in process of earning our 501c3 tax-emption status and expect to reach this milestone before the end of 2023. This year we are focused on applying to grants and launching our Grant Project Management services to small businesses to raise funds for our community programs. Help us reach our goal of raising $100,000 in seed funding for our community programs by donating to our organization. Also reach out to us if you are interested in partnering with our organization.
Our Programs
2) Tech Equity Device Scholarship Program (TEDS Program):
The TEDS Program mission is to distribute in-kind scholarships of technology devices to low-income students who show interest and potential to become a STEM Professional. TEDS Program vision is to provide laptops, tablets, robots, drones, and other technical devices to low income students so that can have early exposure to STEM, explore their STEM interests outside of school, and cultivate technological skills and experiences from an early age.
3) BigBro, BigSis: STEAM Mentorship program
Big Bro, Big Sis serves young people from age five through young adulthood in one-to-one mentoring friendships focused on exposing building bonds with youth and exposing them STEAM careers. BigBros or BigSis and YoungBro/Sis are high school seniors and college students who will serve as STEAM Mentors to our youth, not only to provide mentorship but to expose STEAM careers and possibilities for the future. Our BigBros & BigSis hang out up to 3 times a month for a few hours doing fun everyday activities, like taking trips to the museum, seeing a movie, helping with homework, playing video games, learning how to code, having lunch, or just enjoying the day.
4) ExtraSupport Scholarship Program:
We believe that young people deserve to have access to meaningful and transformative experiences is a basic right for all people. Summer Camps, Music Lessons, Coding Lessons, Sports, and Afterschool programs are the cornerstone experiences that help kids become well-rounded, positive, and productive adults. We want to give young people the opportunity to participate in local programs irrespective of economic hardship. If we want the future generations to become well-rounded, diverse, and wise adults they have to participate from a diverse pool of positive impactful experiences.
We know young people are full of promise and potential, capable of great resilience. We also acknowledge the challenges and adversities faced by young people today. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to adversely affect youth in America. A CDC survey of high school students in 2021 revealed that 37% experienced poor mental health during COVID-191. Many parents would love for their child to take piano, coding, or karate lessons in their local community but, don’t have the extra funds to enable their child to participate in extracurricular activities. ExtraSupport Scholarship seeks to change that by providing scholarships and stipends for families in need so that their child can have access to transformative, positive experiences. By providing ExtraSupport Scholarships to children in need we can provide meaningful and transformative experiences for youth so they can become well-rounded, positive adults with a diverse history of rich, impactful, positive experiences.
5) Grants Project Managers In Training Program: Grants Project Managers In Training is Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (JEDI)-Focused workforce development program for college seniors. This program aims to improve the hiring potential in college seniors with limited professional experience by providing opportunities through paid-internships and project management workforce development training. College seniors have developed various skills such as writing, problem solving, research, and more. College seniors are no stranger to writing 10-20 page papers, or conducting thorough research on particular subjects. NIA Foundation’s vision is to transform those skills into professional skills they can apply to the job market and get hired in as a well earning professional. Our Grant Project Managers In Training gain professional experience in grant writing and project management by working for small business and non-profit organizations before graduating. Each student will be trained, supervised, and prepared to research grants, write proposals, manage projects, and other tasks for small business or nonprofit organizations. Student Trainees will also have the opportunity to earn a Google Certification in Project Management to learn new skills in project management such as planning, organizing and running projects for small business or nonprofits. Each participant is required to be a college senior matriculating with less than 13 credits, so they can contribute to at least 10 hours a week for the next 6 months studying to successfully complete the program. Project Management skills gained from the Google Certification will help strengthen their skills and resourcefulness to assist small business organizations. There were almost half a million project management jobs available last year, earning an average $70,000 .
Contact Info
Head Quarters Address: 8 The Green, STE A,
Dover, Delaware, 11901
New York HQ
Address: 68 Jay Street, Suite 201, Brooklyn, New York, 11201
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (347) 868- 0545
Send us s message
Team
Our Team:
Bios:
Shantel Nubian:
Shantel Nubian has been a professional grant writer and STEAM Educator for over 10 years. Since 2012, she has taught and exposed over 1,000 kids in NYC to STEAM education. Coding, robotics, drones, video game development are just a few of the fun subjects she has taught to youth across the country. After launching her grant and educational consulting businesses in 2022, she incorporated The NIA Foundation so that she could pursue her dream of helping people in need pursue happy, fulfilling, and fruitful lives despite hard times and challenges that permeate our society. Shantel Nubian enjoys using her project management skills to help non-profits and small businesses reach their funding goals. Shantel Nubian lives in Brooklyn, New York and enjoys tinkering, coding, and spending quality time with her two sons.
