Greater Newark Conservancy - Community Expectations

The Greater Newark Community Looks To The Conservancy For More Programs and Services

Since 1987, the Greater Newark Conservancy's programs have grown by 100? In 1987 we worked with 30 students. In 1999, our staff taught 5,000 students and trained 324 teachers who, in turn, reached an additional 25,000 children. Citizens, public officials and parents call the Conservancy asking for more programs for the schools; more programs for the children; after-school programs; more teacher training programs; more job training programs; greater leadership training in environmental justice; greater community outreach that results in healthier communities; and more community gardening programs that result in greater production.

The need for the Conservancy has never been greater. Newark's educational, economic, and environmental conditions are among the nations most challenging. 37% of Newark's population lives below the poverty line with 13.7 being unemployed. Between 1996 and 1998, Newark saw a 33.3% increase in the identification of waste sites containing toxic substances from the Disease Re? Statistics show that in 1997 64.8% of Newark's Eleventh Graders failed the high school proficiency tests. Newark has almost 4,000 vacant lots standing as eyesores and magnets for illegal activity. Recently, Newark was ranked as having the highest rate of childhood lead poisoning. In 1998, New Jersey reported 2,071 cases of elevated blood levels in children. 64.5% of these were in Essex County with 31.7% in Newark alone.

However, Newark is in the midst of a Renaissance and the Greater Newark Conservancy is an intimate part of that movement. Across the expanse of the city, we have turned 77 vacant lots green, working with over 1,000 families actively recruited in their communities. In more than 40 schools we have inspired children and teachers as they learn about their city in new and different ways. Children once turned off are now turned on. Through our outreach initiatives, communities rally and speak out for environmental change, aggressively pursuing cleanups and fighting against the decline of open spaces and access to their treasured waterfront.

Despite our many accomplishments, much remains to be done. To respond to the needs of the community, the Greater Newark Conservancy has embarked upon an ambitious project . . . to build a green oasis for learning; and oasis where children learn about the natural environment, about their world and beyond. It is called the Greater Newark Conservancy's Urban Environmental and Ecological Center.