islay Walden Education Alliance is incorporated as a legacy organization to honor the work and advocacy of A. Islay Walden to promote economic and educational empowerment in overburdened communities by identifying and eliminating access and resource barriers. ​ Formerly enslaved in North Carolina, Walden was a 19th-century scholar, theologian, and humanitarian, and one of two Black graduates from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Jersey's oldest seminary in New Jersey.  During his studies, Walden identified humanitarian needs in 1879 that continue to persist in Middlesex and other vulnerable communities today.

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Our strategic areas of work are derived from the universal need for access to essential humanitarian resources to support economic, personal, and professional growth, as well as our ongoing analysis of the dynamic social and political context in which we achieve our mission. Programs, projects, and activities evolve and vary over time, informed by existing zeitgeists.