(HACKENSACK, NJ) -- The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation (NNJCF) has announced the award of a grant for $1,500 to The Dr. John Grieco Scholarship Fund at the Academies at Englewood for the 2021 Englewood Idol talent competition. The grant award supports the creation of five virtual Englewood Idol shows for students ranging in age from pre-kindergarten through the twelfth grade in high school to raise scholarship money for students at Dwight Morrow High School and the Academies at Englewood.
Collaboration Builds Communities
The grant award complements the Foundation’s mission to build stronger communities through collaboration. For 23 years, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation has served the region by asking, What can we do together that we can't do alone?. The NNJCF is a leader in creative placemaking, the practice of integrating arts and culture into the fabric of a region, town, or city block in the region.
Englewood Idol was the brainchild of former Northern New Jersey Community Foundation board member John Landes, who helped spearhead this successful fundraiser and collaboration that brought together diverse Englewood high school students in a friendly talent competition.
"Our initial effort to provide an opportunity for students from the three diverse high schools in Englewood to work together on an arts production grew into an exemplary demonstration of how art brings together everyone in a community. The arts provide a universal language that we all can speak," said Michael Shannon, President, Northern New Jersey Community Foundation.
2021 Competition Changes With COVID-19
The Englewood Idol singing and dancing competition is open to students who live, workshop, or attend school in Englewood, New Jersey. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 Englewood Idol will be broadcasted virtually over five days and announced in the late spring. The five virtual shows will feature: Micro Idol with students in pre-k, kindergarten, first grade and second grade; Mini Idol with students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades; Junior Idol with students from sixth through eighth grades; and Senior Idol with students from ninth through twelfth grades. The Season Finale will see the crowning of the 2021 Englewood Idol.
Founded in 1998, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation (NNJCF), a not-for-profit 501(c) (3) organization based in Hackensack, New Jersey, focuses primarily on civic engagement, education, public health, the environment, philanthropy, and the arts. The NNJCF works with local governments, school districts, businesses, non-profit organizations, and citizen groups in Northern New Jersey to improve community life. The Foundation's partners identify and resolve regional problems and opportunities by talking and learning from each other and sharing ideas, best practices, services, and resources.
Photos courtesy of The Dr. John Grieco Scholarship Fund
