Uniting students with their communities

We’re turning trash into treasure in Joe Slovo Township. With this project, residents are exchanging recyclable trash for redeemable vouchers for food and groceries. Not only does this program clean the streets, it puts food on the table for families facing food insecurity.

We are currently serving about 360 households per week in Nkandla alone, and we have collected more than 1000kgs of plastic bottles, cardboard, and waste.

Zukiswa Allah, Program Manager, N4 Africa

A mentorship program for teens modeled after the Big brother/Big sister programs began nearly a hundred years ago in the West, N4’s second Civic engagement program seeks to pair teenagers with adults of same gender (and often, similar socio-cultural demographics such as ethnicity and religion) for a six-month mentorship program tailored and guided through the following Pillars: Civic action/responsibility, Identity (ethno-religious tolerance and multicultural appreciation), Faith, gendered interpersonal relationships including but not limited to consent, and environmental sustainability.

I have learned a lot from my mentor. Before now, I never knew for sure what I wanted to do career-wise, but with her help, I am getting to figure things out gradually.
I am now able to speak and stand up for myself.

Rukayat Popoola, Mentee, HMH Mentorship program, Lagos.

University Heights High School in The Bronx, New York, and Floyd Central High School in Langley, Kentucky, may not seem to have much in common. But for the past six years and counting, these visionary high schools have joined forces to break down barriers, build community, and transform empathy into action.

Although we were from very different places, I felt so comfortable and connected on a level I would never have imagined.

Sahara, N4 Student, KY, U.S.