Who are we

Our mission is to teach the art of public speaking and appreciation for reading media arts literature, civic engagement and college readiness workshops, and life skills to children from ages 7 to 18 in preparation for college and bachelor degrees.

Co-Founders

Mr. James Hunter
Mrs. Eloise Samuels
Mrs. Lanetta Lyons
Mr. Leon Vinson
Mrs. Wanda Brooks

Founded in 1985, the New Jersey Orators, Inc. (NJO) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit youth organization that prepares elementary, middle, and high school students for college and future careers.

Concerned by the lack of formal language skills demonstrated by young people interviewing for jobs at their respective companies, a small group of African-American executives formed NJO with 16 students in the first chapter in Somerset to grow to over 200 students statewide to help address a learning achievement gap within their community.

What we do

Public Speaking Workshops

High school students, especially low income and minority students, struggle on state and international achievement tests and fall short of college entrance requirements in reading and math. Read more…

Literacy Workshops

College and careers now require the same level of skills. Productivity, the foundation of American competitiveness, depends on a skilled workforce at every level. Read more…

Civic Engagement and College Readiness Workshops

How students perform in two key areas, reading and math, may affect how they see the world and how they make decisions in that world. Standardized testing in New Jersey has revealed that African-Americans and other minority “at-risk” youth…are not scoring competitively in language skills. Sixty-eight percent of New Jersey high school students met or exceeded literacy expectations. Read more…