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6 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Steven Mintz
Millburn high school graduate connects underserved kids with global nonprofits
WRITTEN BY ANTHONY ZURITA
S
teven Mintz has enjoyed
a successful career as
an editor and finan-
cial writer. He cur-
rently runs a nonprofit,
HighschoolNGOconnect,
that helps students with limited
resources con-
nect with other
nonprofits to
find out what it’s
like to work in
the industry. The
organization has
received support
from the Victoria
Foundation in
Newark; in June,
they received
a grant from Investors Foundation.
Here are six things you should know
about him.
16
FALL 2019 MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE
ART ALLIANCE Two students at Uplift Academy in Newark pose with the Animodule Eagle they
built in collaboration with students in Akure, Nigeria; (Inset) Steven Mintz.
HIGHSCHOOLNGOCONNECT
WORKS WITH SIX SCHOOLS IN NEW
JERSEY. In 2017, Mintz launched
HighschoolNGOconnect to help
kids in areas with limited resources
connect with nonprofits around the
world. The program features a rig-
orous curriculum for students who
want to be involved with
nongovernmental organizations like
the Red Cross and Doctors Without
Borders. “Our foundation asks, how
do you take compassion and turn it
into action?” Mintz says.
The foundation currently works
with International High School,
Eastside/School of Government and
Public Administration, and Rosa
L. Parks Arts High School, all in
Paterson; West Side High School
and Uplift Academy, both in Newark;
and Stem Innovation Academy of the
Oranges in East Orange.
“You cannot help but be moved by
these children and by their imagina-
tion and compassion,” Mintz says.
HE WAS ASSIGNED BY CONGRESS
TO HELP WITH AN ECONOMIC
ANALYSIS. Following the bursting of
the housing bubble and the Lehman
Brothers bankruptcy in 2008,
Congress formed a group of inves-
tigators, economists, professors and
writers to write an extensive report of
the financial crisis. “Our job as writ-
ers was to spell out what happened,”
Mintz says. The 600-page report,
called “The Financial Crisis Inquiry
Commission Report,” was released
in 2010 and became the leading
source of information on what hap-
pened to cause the Great Recession.
“It was extraordinary,” Mintz says of
the experience. “Very pleased to be
around very smart people.”