Essex County

Newark Elementary Students Gain Appreciation for Art

May 23, 2016 Students from Ivy Hill Elementary School in Newark learned how to walk like an Egyptian, among other things, during an educational field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The students toured many of the museum’s exhibits and were tasked with sketching their favorite art displays.…

Newark’s First Giving Day is May 3rd

May 2, 2016 Have you heard? On May 3rd, all New Jerseyans are invited to come together and support local initiatives in our state’s largest city. It’s Newark’s first Day of Giving, and an opportunity to collectively shape Newark’s future. Our friends and partners at Newark Celebration 350 – the year-long jubilee of events and festivities commemorating the 350th anniversary of Newark’s founding – have identified five important legacy projects that will have a positive impact on Newark for generations to come.…

CFNJ Honors Dominique Lee as “Young Changemaker

September 11, 2015 The Community Foundation of New Jersey (CFNJ) today announced that it will honor Dominique Lee of Newark as one of the state’s four Young Changemakers. Lee is the founder and executive director of Building Responsible Intelligent Creative Kids (BRICK), a school management nonprofit that is restarting two of the most challenged elementary schools in Newark’s South Ward.…

New Paths Newark Aims to Help Laid-Off Employees

June 4, 2015 On Wednesday, the Community Foundation of New Jersey was proud to join Newark Public Schools Superintendent Cami Anderson and lead funder, the Foundation for Newark’s Future, at the New Jersey Historical Society for the launch of New Paths Newark, an innovative approach to helping those impacted by recent layoffs.…

Replicating the Family Justice Center Model in New Jersey

May 11, 2015 As more New Jerseyans have become familiar with the work of the Essex County Family Justice Center, its model of supporting domestic violence victims is gaining much-deserved recognition. More importantly, other counties are expressing interest in expanding the model to their parts of the state.…

Turning a Fundholder Idea into Community Action: Summer Jobs

August 13, 2014 One of the things we at the Community Foundation are most proud of is our work with individual fundholders to turn ideas into action, and start the process of building a legacy. Take the example of a fundholder who wanted to make his hometown safer for pedestrians. …

36,648 New Jerseyans living with HIV/AIDS

June 10, 2014 36,648. That’s the number of New Jersey residents living with HIV/AIDS according to the New Jersey Department of Health. An estimated 9,400 cases were reported in Essex County alone, making it the most prevalent area for the disease.…

ACNJ: Newark Kids Make Progress Over 10 Years

February 12, 2014 Our friends and partners at Advocates for Children of New Jersey have more good news to announce.  In their latest report,  Newark Kids Count 2014, the group shows that Newark children improved in eight of 10 critical measures of child well-being over a 10-year span. …

Spotlight on Newark

May 29, 2013 The Community Foundation of New Jersey has long worked with the City of Newark – as well as other partners in Newark – to improve the city’s quality of life.  In fact, when we were founded in 1979 it was as the Community Foundation of Greater Essex County. …

Self-Taught Criminologist Takes on Newark Crime

April 16, 2013 The Community Foundation is among many foundations and community organizations that have long worked to alleviate Newark’s chronic crime problem.  Funding the Newark Police Foundation has been a highlight, as has supporting programs such as “Operation Ceasefire” and “Community Eye”, both described below.…