by Sondra Samuels, NAZ President and CEO As we celebrate Black History Month it is apropos to celebrate the 1,000 NAZ families and 2,100 scholars–who are overwhelmingly African American–working hard to transform their lives. In this admirable group, there is one parent we must single out and celebrate– NAZ Father of nine and Northside community read more…

by Danielle Bylund, NAZ External Communications Manager Every year NAZ works with the Wilder Foundation to assess the results of our impact. As a data-driven organization, this allows NAZ and its partners to react annually to what is working and refine methodologies that are stagnant. Innovation is the core of our work and the data read more…

by Sarah Clarke, Project Manager for the Education Partnerships Coalition NAZ was recently honored to welcome Representative Cheryl Youakim, the Chair of House Education Policy Committee. Representative Youakim represents Hopkins and Saint Louis Park in the Legislature. She also works as a paraprofessional outside of the Legislative Session. During Chair Youakim’s visit, Sondra Samuels, the read more…

by Danielle Bylund, NAZ External Communications Manager Every Sunday, NAZ President and CEO, Sondra Samuels and her husband, CEO of Microgrants, and an ordained minister, Don Samuels host a radio show on KMOJ. The program “Power to the Parents” seeks to empower and reclaim agency for Black parents. Every week Sondra and Don, with the read more…

by Danielle Bylund, NAZ External Communications Manager This year was the 5th anniversary of One Future Luncheon our largest annual fundraiser, and it brought together nearly 1000 business, education, and community leaders to celebrate and fund the scholars and families of North Minneapolis. This year’s luncheon was standing room only primarily because of our keynote read more…

by Danielle Bylund, NAZ External Communications Manager NAZ invited our college-ready scholars to join us in a celebration of their achievements at NAZ Central. These scholars graduated and are moving on to further their educations. We had attendees on their way to St. Catherine University, Augsburg University, to play football on a full scholarship, to read more…

by Danielle Bylund, NAZ External Communications Manager One of the cornerstones of a NAZ family’s experience is attending our Family Academy classes. We offer four courses on a rolling basis that include, Family Academy Foundations, for parents of children of all ages, College Bound Babies, for parents of 0-3 year-olds, Ready to Succeed, for parents read more…