Lives of Consequence
Dan M. De Nose '10
Senior Manager, Office of Family & Community Engagement, Newark Public Schools; Founder & Executive Director, Leaders of the 21st Century
With a commitment to public service and a strong belief in the power of opportunity, Dan De Nose ’10 is helping shape the future of his hometown, Newark, N.J., school by school, student by student.
De Nose oversees 24 community engagement specialists working in high schools and in the west ward of the Newark public school district. He serves as a point of contact between the school system and the community, conducting workshops, organizing conferences and building partnerships with local organizations as his team engages at the grassroots-level with parents and families. In this way, he plays a critical role in rallying the entire city on behalf of its students’ futures.
“The beautiful thing of it is that I get to work and live in my city,” De Nose says. “I grew up in the west ward and now, coming full circle, I’m working for the Board of Education, which can change the trajectory of a young person’s life. It’s amazing.”
De Nose is also the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Leaders of the 21st Century, a leadership and professional development organization for youth in urban communities that he first envisioned at HWS.
In its earliest form, Leaders of the 21st Century consisted of De Nose and three friends mentoring local children at the Boys & Girls Club of Geneva every Friday evening. After graduating with an independent major — “Rhetoric of Leadership” — and a minor in philosophy, he went to work for then-Newark mayor and now-New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. De Nose later joined Prudential Financial’s staffing department, focusing on-campus recruitment and hiring a diverse slate, also in Newark, and later worked for an education advocacy organization called iReform.
Leaders of the 21st Century, however, remained on his mind, and as a master’s candidate at Rutgers University-Newark School of Public Affairs and Administration, he brought the idea to life. With help from HWS interns, De Nose developed a project-based curriculum that enables high school juniors and seniors to explore the four pillars of the organization—education, civic engagement, leadership and mentorship—during weekly classes over the course of a two-year fellowship program.
For De Nose, the organization is a vehicle for young people in Newark to access the opportunities that can empower them to become successful professionals and civic-minded leaders. That access, he explains, is the first step in a cycle of opportunities, opportunities “to live a life of consequence.”
De Nose has served as assistant director of Rutgers University’s Cooperman College Scholars, community relations manager for Newark Fairmont Promise Neighborhood and project director at Rutgers Newark Freedom School.
As a graduate student, he received the Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration Academic Excellence Award, completed a fellowship with USAID Global Development in Cape Town, South Africa, and worked on a public policy case study with Seoul Metropolitan in Korea.
De Nose is a member of the Board of Directors of Lake Delaware Boys’ Camp, a member of Bethesda International Ministry Church. At HWS, he served as a Student Trustee and as an alum has participated in the Colleges’ Multicultural Networking and Career Conference.