Even in these challenging times, and in response to them, New Jersey educators are taking advantage of the grant and fellowship opportunities offered by the NEA Foundation.
One of the key means through which the NEA Foundation fulfills its mission to promote the absolute best in public education is by developing and extending grant resources to support individual educators’ innovation, problem-solving, and leadership development.
The foundation currently offers three grant programs to individual educators: Student Success Grants for classroom projects focused on project-based learning and critical thinking; Learning & Leadership Grants, which support professional development opportunities; and Envision Equity Grants, which support classroom projects directly focused on equity. The first two grant programs are currently offered in amounts of $2,000 or $5,000. The Envision Equity program invites proposals between $1,500 and $5,000.
With all of these grant programs, educators have one year to use awarded funds. This funding is competitive, and all proposals are reviewed by educators. Grants for these programs are typically made three times per year.
So far in 2021, the NEA Foundation has awarded five grants to individual educators in New Jersey:
- A $5,000 Student Success grant to Kristy Agresta, a school nurse at Palisades Park High School.
- A $5,000 Student Success grant to Tara Aviles, a special education educator at Phifer Middle School in Pennsauken.
- A $2,000 Student Success grant to Alexandra Darwin, a language arts educator at Bound Brook Community Middle School.
- A $5,000 Learning & Leadership grant to Kathleen Benton, a science educator at South Plainfield High School.
- A $5,000 Learning & Leadership grant to Mimma-Marie Cammarata, a world languages educator at Sterling High School in Somerdale.
Global Learning Fellows
The NEA Foundation invests in educators’ learning, collaboration and leadership through its Global Learning Fellowship (GLF), a yearlong program designed to enhance educators’ knowledge and skills to integrate global competency into daily classroom instruction, advocate for global competencies in their schools and districts, and help students thrive in an increasingly interconnected world. Fellows are engaged in online coursework, webinars, reading and reflection, a two-day professional development workshop, and an international field study.
Upon completion of the program, the Fellows become members of an active, 400-person alumni group that supports continued growth and leadership. The fellowship is a competitive program, and all applications are reviewed by educators.
Two New Jersey educators have been named 2022 Global Learning Fellows:
- Jonathan Lancaster, a social studies educator at Bergen County Technical High School in Teterboro.
- Kimberly Dickstein Hughes, an English language arts educator at Haddonfield Memorial High School. Dickstein Hughes was the 2019-20 New Jersey State Teacher of the Year.
For more information about the NEA Foundation, visit neafoundation.org.