West & Central Village Community Resource Hub

Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark

History of Habitat of Greater Newark’s Community Resource Hub

In addition to Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark’s (HFHGN) core mission of building affordable housing with our low-to-moderate partner families, in 2017 we embarked on a Neighborhood Revitalization plan with a focus on the West Ward of Newark.

Having built nearly 50 homes in and around the West Ward, we are familiar with the challenges and demographics of this area.

The catchment area is home to 10,000 residents and consists of 2.9 square miles – contiguous city blocks from South Orange Avenue to 18th Avenue and South 20th Street to Bergen Street. Throughout HFHGN’s history, we have cultivated an active and trusting relationship with residents here beyond building home ownership, and we understand the needs of the neighborhood.

Through a year-long planning and community survey process funded by a Wells Fargo Regional Foundation Planning Grant, in 2017/18 HFHGN crafted a resident-driven revitalization plan for the West Ward focus area, newly named the “West & Central Village” by local residents. In 2019, with an Implementation Grant award from Wells Fargo and collaborations with other partners, HFHGN opened the West & Central Village Community Resource Hub (“Hub) located at the corner of South Orange Avenue and South 6th Street — on the ground floor of the first co-op building HFHGN renovated in 1991. Since then, the Hub has been a lifeline to the residents with a focus on accessing food, housing, health services, education, and addressing crime and safety, economic empowerment. Our Community Resource Coordinator at the Hub is an area resident and leader in the community, ensuring that programs and activities align with community needs.

The historic disinvestment in the West & Central Village has left the building stock, social programs, and ultimately the residents further behind compared to other neighborhoods in the city and the State. In order to continue to sustain and expand our programs improving the quality of life for these residents who are struggling to maintain healthy and productive lives, we must partner with private partners who share our mission. Our challenge is keeping pace with our:

Record prices for food, which have increased food insecurity in the communities we serve, also strained our budgets since we must purchase the food we distribute in our Food Pantry.
A growing number of residents are coming to our ID Restoration Program who require appropriate identification and documentation to access healthcare and social services.
Educating residents on the importance of primary care and providing outreach to residents to encourage them to sign-up for health insurance during annual enrollment. We assist in completing online registrations and connect them to access healthcare.
Rising costs for home repairs to meet the growing waiting list of low-income families who cannot maintain healthy homes, including lead and asbestos abatement.

What is Neighborhood Revitalization?

Neighborhood Revitalization (NR) is a community development effort that strives to enhance the quality of life for the entire neighborhood and everyone who lives there by nurturing ongoing civic engagement and sourcing resident-driven solutions in order to establish a sustainable, healthy community.

Community Resource Hub Programs

The following programs and services are offered at our Community Resource Hub and reflect the needs and aspirations of the community:

Terminal C Concessions at Newark Airport, donate (4) turkeys and nonperishable items to our Food Pantry to distribute to our community.
Photo From Left to Right: Michelle Satanik and Jennifer Cronin from Newark Airport

Food Pantry

The statistics surrounding food insecurity for children in Newark show that one in five children live in poverty and households are food insecure. In fact, in Newark Public Schools, 80% of students qualify for free and reduced meals based on household income.

When the COVID-19 pandemic caused an economic shutdown that sent New Jersey’s economy into free fall, unemployment hit Newark’s poorest residents hard. The pandemic had devastating economic effects on families with children who were left with little financial means. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newark responded quickly to community need by opening a food pantry at our Hub to provide food assistance for families and children of Newark’s West & Central Village who are reeling from the sudden loss or lessening of wages caused by COVID-19. Since opening, we have distributed more than 199,030 meals. For seniors, the immunocompromised, and other neighborhood residents who cannot leave their homes we provide mobile grocery delivery.

We Need Your Help. Consumers have experienced the most significant shock in global food prices in more than a generation. In the US, food prices for home consumption were up 10% in March 2022. That’s the largest increase in more than a 40-year period. Not only are we challenged to meet the rising prices of procuring food to distribute, but we need to expand the supplies and increase the hours of distribution of food to meet the need of this underserved area.

Food Pantry Statistics

In 2021, the food pantry served 44,904 meals and helped 3,825 families.
In 2022, the food pantry served 40,026 meals and helped 3,261 families.

To date, the food pantry has served 199,030 meals and assisted 13,917 families.

Food Pantry Information

Distribution date/time: Every Wednesday at 12 noon. First come, first served.
Location: 298 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ 07103
Food box contents: Up to 12 shelf-stable meals per family.
Must wear mask to receive food.
Mobile grocery delivery is available for seniors, the immunocompromised, and other neighborhood residents who cannot leave their homes. Call 862-288-8365 or email gbernal@habitatnewark.org for more information.

Health and Wellness

We connect neighborhood residents with primary care, maternal health, and mental health/counseling resources. We host health and wellness events like health screenings with University Hospital and partners. In addition, we

Hold and promote workshops and activities that share information about healthy living, active lifestyles, and healthy food
Educate and provide outreach to residents to encourage them to sign-up for health insurance during annual enrollment periods.

Through our smoke detector program in collaboration with the Red Cross, Habitat of Greater Newark ensures residents’ homes are safe. We provide and install smoke alarms at no cost to families in the area. We have installed approximately 85 alarms in 37 homes since 2016.

Employment, Youth and Community Resources

Serving approximately 35 residents per month, we assist residents with employment re-entry and mentoring including resume writing, applications, and other referrals to gain employment

Our Computer Lab is open two days / week to provide after-school support, free Wi-Fi and spaces for computer and job training, classes, homework support and events. The adolescents using the computer lab are the typical ages between 11-17 and they are mostly black, Latinos (2%) and 2% mixed race. All ages from 5-60s use the computer lab.

We need your help to increase the number of workstations and access to our computer lab to enable more residents to benefit from technology.

Identification Restoration Program

Each year at the Hub, hundreds of residents secure and restore IDs / birth certificates as a key step to securing city, state and federal resources like EBT and SNAP. Through our partnership with Franciscan Charities 1,700 restorations have been completed to date.

Partners

To address the healthcare needs of residents, we have partnered with other organizations to host events and outreach including: Amerigroup, WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (in Newark), University Hospital, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, Greater Newark Healthcare Coalition, Rutgers Cancer Institute of NJ Rutgers Health, Nurture NJ, Saint James Health Inc., Township of Hillside Health Department and Newark Department of Health and Community Wellness. For our Healthy Homes Initiative, we have partnered with PSEG and Red Cross.

The Leaguers focuses on strengthening children and their families through education and a variety of family support services to include Early Head Start/Head Start, mental health/disability support, Male Mentoring Program, Parent Family and Child Engagement, and Pre-natal Services.

Newark Community Solutions focuses on the at-risk population of low crime offenders with intervening methods to prevent higher crime offenses and potential incarceration. NCS provides Healthy Masculinity workshops.

Franciscan Charities provides support to restore vital documents such as birth certificates, social security cards, and state-issued IDs.

Other partners who make our Community Resource Hub programs financially possible include Victoria Foundation, Prudential, Bank of America, Bloomberg Kislak Foundation, Bayer Foundation Columbia Foundation