NOYN names full-time MBKN Executive Director

Newark Opportunity Youth Network (NOYN) has named Mark Comesañas as the first full-time Executive Director of My Brother’s Keeper Newark (MBKN), an initiative of NOYN. In his role, Comesañas will lead NOYN’s strategic approach to changing systems that inhibit the success of young people in New Jersey. He most recently served as Head of Schools for LEAD Charter School, another of NOYN’s initiatives, and will work alongside Khaatim Sherrer El, whose firm - Results Driven Consulting - has led the work over the last several years.

In 2014, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka accepted the Call to Action from My Brother's Keeper Alliance, and for the last seven years, MBKN has worked to improve outcomes for boys and young men of color. In 2019, MBKN was embedded within NOYN to drive the network’s advocacy agenda, leveraging its bodies of work to close opportunity gaps, build systems of support, and create new pathways for continuing education, job training, and employment.

As MBKN’s portfolio continues to evolve and expand, the addition of Comesañas to the team will increase capacity and allow NOYN to take on a more robust role in collaborative action, research, and policy advocacy.

“Mark has been an integral part of the team for years,” said Robert Clark, Chief Executive Officer of NOYN. “His experience as a practitioner, both at LEAD and at Newark Public Schools, perfectly positions him to elevate young people’s stories and to advocate for collective action policy advancement with stakeholders.”

Mark Comesañas helps a YouthBuild alum tie his tie.

Comesañas is a Newark native with more than 13 years as an educational leader in the city.  Before becoming Head of Schools at LEAD, Mark served as the principal of UPLIFT Academy - formerly known as Fast Track Success Academy - and as a social studies teacher at Luis A. Marin. Along with being a founding Board Member of LEAD, he was also a member of the founding MBK  Community Advisory Board.

“The work of My Brother’s Keeper is deeply personal to me,” Comesañas said. “I have witnessed firsthand the negative impact that flawed systems can have on boys and young men of color, particularly on those that are opportunity youth. I’m honored to take on their cause and to use the platform of MBK to elevate evidence-based reforms to those systems.”

Comesañas earned a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Montclair State University and a Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University. In his spare time, he enjoys coaching basketball and spending time with his wife Leslie and three children Kaitlyn, Jordan, and Jacob.

For more information on My Brother’s Keeper Newark, please visit www.mbknewark.org.