Navigating Advocacy for Meaningful Education
Building advocacy that outlives us.
Navigating Advocacy for Meaningful Education (N.A.M.E.) is a community-rooted, Maryland-based nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring families are not navigating education systems alone. We exist to support families, particularly those raising children with disabilities, as they move through complex special education processes with clarity, confidence, and dignity.
N.A.M.E. was founded from lived experience, community relationships, and a deep understanding that advocacy is not meant to be transactional or temporary. It is meant to be shared, sustained, and passed on. Our work is grounded in the belief that when families are informed and supported, systems begin to change.
OUR
MISSION
Get to Know Us
Navigating Advocacy for Meaningful Education (NAME) exists to support families and communities navigating special education systems by providing clear information, trusted advocacy, and accessible education supports
Our Story
Long before Navigating Advocacy for Meaningful Education existed, special education was already part of our story. As a child, our founder watched her younger sister navigate a speech and language delay, experiencing early intervention and special education services from the family side of the table. That experience shaped an early understanding of how powerful and how confusing education systems can be for families. It also revealed something that would become a lifelong truth. When families are informed and supported, children thrive; when they are not, families are left to figure it out alone.
In 2016, our founder said yes to her first nonprofit role without fully understanding the weight of that yes. Over the years that followed across classrooms, community programs, and nonprofit leadership, one thing remained constant: community. Community carried the work, offered correction and care, and created space for growth. Through mistakes, learning, and becoming, it became clear that advocacy is not something meant to be held by one person, it is something built collectively.
After stepping away from the classroom and returning fully to nonprofit work, N.A.M.E. was created in response to what families continued to name as their greatest need: clear information, trusted advocacy, and support that does not disappear when the meeting ends.
Today, Navigating Advocacy for Meaningful Education is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit, rooted in Baltimore and serving families across Maryland.
We are advocates at heart, community-centered by calling, and committed to building advocacy that outlives us, advocacy that begins early, is strengthened over time, and is carried forward by informed families and connected communities.
WHAT WE OFFER
N.A.M.E. provides education-focused advocacy and support services designed to meet families where they are and walk alongside them through critical moments in their child’s educational journey.
Our core services include:
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Family Advocacy & Education Support
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We support families navigating special education systems by providing guidance, preparation
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Follow-up around school-based decision-making, including IEP and 504 Plan processes.
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IEP & 504 Plan Navigation
We help caregivers understand evaluations, services, accommodations, and next steps so they can participate meaningfully and confidently in meetings that shape their child’s education.
Community Workshops & Education Sessions
We host workshops and information sessions for families, caregivers, and community members focused on special education rights, inclusion, and advocacy, with an emphasis on accessibility and cultural responsiveness.
Academic & Tutoring Support
We provide individualized academic and tutoring support aligned to students’ learning needs.
Resource Development & Community Tools
We create accessible resources, guides, and tools that demystify special education and help families carry knowledge forward, beyond a single interaction.