Our Story

In 2016 Navigate the Maze to Achievement, Inc. (NTMA, a 501(c) (3) non-profit, educational enrichment program was founded. NTMA prepares Black and Latino students for New York City specialized and selective high school admissions and supports the students socially and academically while in high school. Our first cohort of 14 students took the Specialized High School Admissions Test in 2017. Four of the students received an offer to attend a specialized high school. Our second cohort had 20 students. Out of that group, seven received an offer to a specialized high school. Our other students also did very well that year:

  • 55% of our students received offers to the top 20 public high schools in New York City
  • 75% of our students received offers to the top 50 public high schools in New York City
  • One of our students was accepted to Philips Academy Andover.
The following year we had 14 students in our ten-month program. In the fall of 2019, we received a $100,000 grant from Ronald Lauder and Richard Parson. We were then able to expand - reaching out to the Latino Community and Staten Island. With the new students, we launched a 6-week program to prepare them for the SHSAT. In Brooklyn, 25% of the students received an offer to a specialized high school, and 55% of the students received offers to the top 50 public high schools in New York City. In Staten Island, 33% of our students received an offer to the IB program at Curtis High School, which has less than 5% black students. And 20% of the students received an offer to the Honors Program at Susan E. Wagner High School, which is ranked #32 among the best high schools in New York City.

In our fourth year, we experienced challenges from COVID, and from those challenges, we grew! Navigate the Maze to Achievement, Inc. continues to educate our students effectively though our distance learning model. We will continue our distance learning model and be able to help students in all five boroughs. We will go to our in-person model, when it is safe, in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Mission