Welcome to 2023, NAF network!

NAF is where opportunity begins, and this year with your continued support and commitment, we are putting students on the path to achieving their full potential. We are on a passionate pursuit to bring schools and businesses together to better prepare students of all backgrounds and capabilities for college, a career, and future success.

The joy of our work is that we know it works. We know the power of connecting students to opportunity works. And it all begins with exposure to the right class, the right internship, the right mentor, or just stepping through the right door. We are transforming the high school experience for thousands of students, and thanks to all our students, educators, corporate partners and industry connections, we are on the right path to making significant impact on the lives and futures of all young people. Even though we know the combination of career-curricula, work-based learning activities and connections works, there is still much work to be done.

This year, we are honored to celebrate the many achievements of our students, educators and the entire NAF network. We are celebrating the milestone anniversaries of two of our career pathways; Academy of Hospitality & Tourism is turning 35 years young, and the Academy of Health Sciences turns 10 – impacting the futures of more than 100,000 students. You’ll learn more about the evolution and success of both pathways later this year.

Below are a few more announcements and tools we are thrilled to share with you this year:

• Student Orientation Video:  We are so excited to share our student orientation video, just in time for student recruitment season! Share this video in your classrooms with your first-year NAF students and at recruitment events.
• #NameAFuture campaign microsite: The Name A Future pride-building campaign is going strong. Academies across the country are integrating the campaign into their curriculum and in-school events and some have hosted their very own NAF Day.  You can learn more about how to celebrate #NameAFuture at your academy by visiting nameafuture.org. On the official campaign microsite, you’ll find toolkits and marketing materials to support academy events, and information on how to get involved, among other helpful resources.
• KnoPro celebrates winners: NAF is excited to announce the winners of our first-ever KnoPro Technology Inclusion Challenge sponsored by national partner Lenovo. These students successfully pitched ideas for a new product focused on immersive technology to transform learning. Check out the first place, winning project by students at the Marine Academy of Science and Technology: bit.ly/3GDHWYh. To learn more about KnoPro and get started today, visit www.knopro.org and view the teaser video here.
• Coming Soon, ODIS!  NAF seeks a future where education leadership, business partners, nonprofit organizations, policymakers, and researchers can come together to use community data to make smart decisions about effective community intervention and impact. That’s why NAF, together with the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, has set out to generate and launch the Open Data Index for Schools (ODIS), a free tool that can help anyone interested in community impact leverage open data that highlights community barriers that go beyond some of the limited insight by Free/Reduced Price Lunch statistics. More details to come later this year.

We know that we can’t do this work without your tireless support and commitment to ensuring that students of all backgrounds and capabilities have the access and opportunities to name their future and make it happen.  

As always, if there is a way that we can better support your work, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you, again, for your dedication to inspiring and igniting the next generation of leaders to be college, career and future ready.

Lisa Dughi, CEO