Part 2: Newark. And Proud of It.
Transportation and Infrastructure n In the years since we took office, we’ve more than doubled our
road repavings, from four miles to nine miles annually across the city. This translates into more than 300 streets paved. n We
Accomplishments to Be Proud Of!
worked with US Army Corps of Engineers on the Newark Flanking Plan to design flood control structures to protect properties in South and East Wards from potentially dangerous storm events.
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office, Newark has created major changes that have improved the lives of our residents and made our
city a better place to live – and we are only doing more. And we are doing it all with a focus on equity and building up everyone in our city.
LIGHTING FIXTURES
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We introduced our first bike and scooter share program, NewarkGo, to provide affordable rides to our residents. In its first year, nearly 2,000 users have completed more than 180,000 rides.
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MULBERRY COMMONS
We completed Mulberry Commons Park in 2019, and are now designing a pedestrian bridge to connect it with Penn Station and reduce pedestrian congestion.
we ensured that Newark-based contractors and subcontractors could participate in the lead pipeline replacement initiative, giving them access to $195 million in contracts.
EXTEND PATH
We convinced the Port Authority to extend PATH service to the South Ward and Airport. After years of business and community pressure to extend PATH Service, Mayor Baraka won a commitment and preliminary funding to extend PATH
service, opening up part of the South Ward to new mixed-use development at the old Seth Boyden Housing projects, and making it faster and easier for many residents to get to work.
The Center is a unique facility that’s dedicated to providing confidential, comprehensive services to help the needs of women and their families in crisis. This is done by including domestic violence, sexual assault, grief counseling, LGBTQ+ resources and programs, housing assistance, employment, and case management. This facility serves as a one-stop resource center.
Ongoing COVID Response n 2 020
was tough for everyone. Nevertheless, in Newark, we pushed through and we persevered, doing everything in our power to care for our residents. invested in our small businesses, our schools, and our artists, to ensure that all these residents were able to thrive in those difficult times.
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provided more than 8 million meals; created 20 testing sites, and 520 sites for vaccination access.
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have administered more than 500,000 COVID tests.
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quick and comprehensive COVID response means that we have been able to surpass our goal of vaccinating 70% of our adult population.
Homelessness
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our time in office, we’ve focused on taking care of our residents without addresses, providing thousands of bed nights to those in need.
placed 79 previously unsheltered homeless individuals into permanent housing.
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year, we removed the last known residential lead service line.
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The City’s once low-performing Health Center transformed to the highest-rated in New Jersey. With origins as a health center for the homeless, the Mary Eliza Mahoney Health Center has been under-utilized and criticized for the quality of services. Today, it has the best rating in New Jersey and one of the highest in America.
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have invested in our schools over and over again to make them better and better for our kids.
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replaced more than 23,000 lead service lines in less than three years, making more than $200 million worth of improvements to our water system.
SHANI BARAKA CENTER
@CityofNewarkNJ
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created the Newark Hope Village to provide temporary housing for 27 chronically homeless, giving them access to mental health programs and outpatient drug programs.
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TOP RATED HEALTH CENTER
@CityofNewark @CityofNewarkNJ
2018, we took a potential disaster – more than 23,000 lead service lines leading to our homes, commercial buildings, and schools – and turned it into a national bestpractice model for other cities to follow.
Youth & Recreation
other cities around the nation struggle to address their lead pipe issues, our fast work made certain that our families are safe from lead piping in their homes – without costing them a dime.
Social Services
NEWARK CITY HALL 920 Broad Street Newark, NJ 07102
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Part 2: Newark. And Proud of It.
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We collaborated with PSE&G on LED lighting upgrade to replace antiquated lighting fixtures through city.
n the eight years since Mayor Ras J. Baraka took
Lead Service Lines
MY BROTHER’S KEEPER We also joined President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, working with local partners to give our young men of color opportunities to improve their lives. In the six years that we’ve been part of this initiative, we developed a Reimagining Public Safety report, convened a Youth Policy Advisory Board and partnered with the Newark Opportunity Youth Network to provide technical assistance, professional development, and data sharing systems serving disconnected youth.
STREET ACADEMY
The purpose of the Newark Street Academy is to provide the City of Newark’s disengaged, dropout youth between the ages of 16-24 years old with socialemotional learning, civic proficiency, community outreach, and volunteerism. The youth are trained for 20-weeks through a series of academic learning, vocational training, life skills, post & secondary education, and career mapping with employment opportunities.
YOUTH PROGRAMS
As a result, the White House recognized our youth programs in 2016 as one of the best in the nation – and we served more than 3,000 kids that year alone, and we keep on serving our kids.
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Our “Read and Believe” program partnered to deliver 60,000 books to non-profits for Newark youth.
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The number of Summer Youth Jobs doubled to more than 3,000. Newark’s youth jobs program is now a unique mixture of education, workforce development and public safety. It’s no longer about just a paycheck. The program offers pathways to success through advanced academics, high quality placements plus financial literacy, college and career readiness.
COLLEGE ENROLLMENT We’ve partnered with Newark-based colleges to increase enrollment of Newark students at unprecedented rates. The Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) is working to increase the number of Newark residents — both youth and adults — who go on to earn a college degree or a credential after high school.
February of this year, we opened the Miller Street Shelter to provide temporary, emergency, and transitional housing to homeless Newark residents 24/7, 365 days a year.
Reentering Citizens n U nderstanding
that those reentering our society after being in the criminal justice system need extra support, we created Project Hope and the Transitional Work Program to help place them into jobs and get them back on their feet. These programs also included life skills classes to help set them up for success. also helped provide supportive housing to ex-offenders who didn’t have anywhere to go, through a grant from the Obama administration.
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CONTROL OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Our fight to regain control of our public schools ended in victory for Newark. After 20 years, we are again in control of our school system.
RENOVATED CENTERS Every recreation center in the city has been renovated or expanded over the last eight years, including a complete renovation of the J.F.K Recreation Center.
SUMMER & FALL FUN
We launched the “Summer Fun in the City” and “Fall Fun” programs that served thousands of residents by providing them athletic, art and culture, recreation, and education programs.
twice-weekly “Occupy the Block” events, Mayor Baraka and City officials “occupy” a city block by providing a host of constituent services, music, games, and community engagement. The event is a collective effort to promote community engagement, awareness and provide resouces and visibility in the community. City employees and officials engage directly with the community to address their needs and concerns.
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State of the City Part 2: Newark. And Proud of It. March 15, 2022
Part 2: Newark. And Proud of It.
Crime Reduction and Public Safety
Community Engagement n W hen we took office, we held
Part 2: Newark. And Proud of It.
Jobs and Employment
Town Hall meetings in every Newark ward so that our residents had an opportunity to have a voice and be heard.
Finances balanced our budget in our first 100 days in office by tackling a $90 million deficit.
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years after, through a wide variety of initiatives, we brought in more city revenue than we have ever had before, and invested it across the city.
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strengthened our Fire Division, adding 185 new recruits in the last eight years.
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also ran our first new Police Recruit class since 2010. Since then we’ve added new recruits every year, a total of 700 officers during our administration.
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In just our first 100 days, we reduced crime across the board in Newark. And in the eight years since, at a time when crime has been on the rise around the US, we’ve brought our crime rates to the lowest they’ve been since 2000 – a 70% reduction in overall crime. Those numbers just keep coming down.
72%
In 2014, we deployed 72 percent of our police officers on the streets and in our neighborhoods to deter crime.
PUBLIC SAFETY
We combined our Police, Fire, and Office of Emergency Management into a single Department of Public Safety to serve our residents better.
COMPLAINT BOARD We also created the Police Civilian Complaint Review Board so that Newark residents have a direct feedback opportunity.
BODY CAMERAS
All our police officers, including the Police Chief, wear body cameras, helping to ensure resident safety and to recognize officers for outstanding work.
PEACE
The Brick City Peace Collective was established in 2019 to support violencereduction efforts of organizations at work in the city while linking residents to available resources. The BCPC will work together to identify initiatives, programs, and opportunities to reduce violence and strengthen relationships between law enforcement and community-based organizations.
NEW PRECINCT
We established a new Police Precinct in the Central Ward
COMMUNITY POLICE We built cooperation between Community and Police. All officers are trained in de-escalating conflict, community involvement, treating residents respectfully and restraint in use of force. Some of the Police/Community partnerships include Community COMSTAT meetings, Public Safety Academies for local leaders and residents, two community service officers assigned to each precinct, a Cops and Kids Program, and a public safety smartphone app.
STREET TEAM
The Newark Community Street Team uses a public health approach in their strategy to reduce violent crime and murder in the city of Newark. NCST specializes in resolving relationship-based disputes toward a peaceful outcome. We coordinate our efforts with partners, including city agencies, service providers, policy organizations, and more in order to improve the quality of life of citizens. Outreach Workers provide mentoring to youth and adults, ages 14-30 years old, with achieving short-term life goals. Also, NCST provides “Safe Passage” at schools where crime and violence takes place.
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City has committed $20 million to violence prevention and reduction. Initiatives will address trauma, health disparities, and social determinants as a health issue exacerbated by COVID-19. We created the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery (OVP&TR) to provide services that address trauma-related issues and promote prevention strategies to enhance the quality of life for all Newark residents.
our customer service within City Hall, bringing bill-paying online, and providing better information on municipal services to our residents.
four Centers of Hope to provide afterschool programs for our kids, as well as literacy, health and wellness, and job readiness programs, and arts and culture classes.
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to the pandemic, the City was reporting annual record revenue collection, averaging a 97% tax collection rate.
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In our first year, we secured jobs for 700 residents and helped train hundreds more to help them in their job search.
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we began, we brought our unemployment rate down from 11.8% to 5.2% before the pandemic.
WHOLE FOODS
We brought in Whole Foods Market and broke ground on the world’s largest indoor farm, right here in our East Ward, bringing new jobs and opportunities. re-launched the 4311 Non-Emergency Call Center to enhance its efficiency, expand call hours, and improve call tracking for residents and city.
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n In 2018, we created the
Newark People’s Assembly to enable residents to communicate directly with municipal government. The NPA has conducted more than 200 community meetings across the city since then. n Since the beginning of the
pandemic, Mayor Baraka has taken to Facebook three times a week to update residents on Newark’s COVID-19 response and provide other important information. n We forged partnerships with Clergy in public safety, jobs, housing, and education. The Mayor’s Interfaith Clergy Alliance involves clergy of every faith in the progress underway in Newark.
51%
We focused on keeping business in Newark, and making sure our local businesses and contractors were getting a fair share of all the opportunities place here. Our First Source Ordinance requires that 40% of vendors be Newark residents, and 51% of vendors must be minority- and womenowned businesses.
BUY NEWARK
Buy Newark: Corporations buy more goods and services from Newark businesses. The city’s major corporations, hospitals, colleges and universities are also partnering with the City to increase their level of purchasing from Newark businesses from an estimated 3% to as much as 20%. This will be an enormous boost to the city’s economy and create many jobs.
WORKFORCE ON WHEELS
Newark Workforce On Wheels (NewarkWow) brings mobile job-training vehicle, equipped with computers and employment professional to provide remote access to employment and training, referrals, online job applications, resume writing, testing, job readiness and life skills training as well as information workshops.
Guaranteed Income launched one of the nation’s largest guaranteed income pilot programs by providing unconditional cash payments to over 400 Newark residents.
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NEWARK FILM+TV
Our city is a prime location to shoot movies and tv shows, with more than 60 permits issued during the COVID pandemic. The Newark Office of Film+TV is focused on providing opportunities for residents by partnering with production companies to hire local talent and businesses. In 2020, Newark was recognized as one of the best places to live and work as a movie maker.
PORT NEWARK
We led two marches on the Port of Newark with hundreds of residents protesting hiring discrimination against Newark residents that led to discussions with the Port Authority and major Port employers. The result: Large numbers of Newark residents will be hired for the rapidly expanding number of Port jobs.
EMPLOYMENT
Hire. Buy. Live program employed 4,000 Newark residents across the city’s major employers in 2016, later becoming a national model to reduce unemployment.
Housing n
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our 87th day in office, we passed an ordinance to make sure that our foreclosed properties were properly maintained by outof-state creditors to crack down on blight in our communities.
10%
We strengthened rent controls. Landlords looking to raise rents on rent-controlled buildings must now meet a stricter threshold. A landlord must now spend 12 months’ worth of rent to rehabilitate a vacant apartment in order to raise the rent by up to 10 percent.
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the years, we’ve invested in our small businesses across the city, including several rounds of funding to help them thrive.
We invested $1 billion across the city for rehabilitation and new construction – starting with our South and West Wards, investing in our historic downtown, and making sure that we developed – equitably – in all five of our wards.
four rounds of Emergency Small Business Assistance funding, we distributed $4.7 million, which helped more than 360 businesses to survive with grants up to $15,000 each.
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Fiber continued expansion.
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e created an Online W business portal that cuts our licensing process down from 10-12 months, to just 30 days.
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We will support 10,000 vulnerable or unsheltered households every single year.
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Our Live Newark program has provided $10,000 forgivable loans to 93 first-time home- buyers; $20,000 forgivable façade improvement loans to 78 Newark families; and $10,000 forgivable loans to 56 Newark municipal employees who are first-time homebuyers.
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LAND BANK
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Our Land Bank work includes an initiative designed to create opportunities for low- and moderate-income families to become homeowners. In addition to the three affordable homes that were created in 2021, we have four more homes currently under construction that will be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2022.
$600,000 of our work toward this effort has gone to local MWBE contractors. While this is still only the beginning, our Fairmount Commons project will convert 42 vacant lots into predominantly affordable housing.
$20M
Over the next five years, we will invest more than $20 million in new housing targeted to residents who earn $32,000 or less.
are taking the old First Police Precinct and turning it into the Newark Community Museum, a place where Newark residents’ movements for justice and celebrations will be put on permanent display.
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brought arts to every neighborhood. Murals, musical performances, and art exhibits can now be found throughout the city. The arts have become a major force in the city’s economic development and the city has created special housing for artists.
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artist live-work housing project, The GantGilbert Arts Collective, will be completed in the coming months and will provide space to our city’s artists and provide opportunities for Newarkers to experience culture and art.
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summer, we will use a $25,000 grant to install a new mural on the underpass below the Broad Street Light Rail Station, adding more beauty and art to our city.
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started greening efforts across our city before COVID, but having outdoor green spaces for our residents and our kids to play became more important than ever in 2020. the last eight years, we’ve made efforts to make our city greener, planting more than 1,200 trees and rehabilitating our parks.
2016, our Centers of Hope expanded their programming to include cultural activities.
honored one of our city’s greatest leaders and pioneers with a statue at City Hall: the late Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson.
Green Spaces
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nA dditionally, our Administration
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We will fund the creation or preservation of more than 6,000 affordable homes in Newark.
are a city of art and artists, and since our Administration took office, we have worked hard to support our cultural community.
the world cried out for racial justice, we brought our community together to honor Harriet Tubman with a new monument that will begin construction in June this year – replacing a statue of Christopher Columbus.
$1B
In 2021, we created the Newark Land Bank to put land back into the hands of Newarkers. So far, we have transferred 85 properties to Home Ownership.
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third phase of Riverfront Park is now open. The fouracre expansion will bring more walking and bike paths, The Horizon Foundation Wellness Trail, a Fitness Zone®, flood resiliency features, and lighting and seating, providing residents with more opportunities to reconnect with the historic riverfront. It makes the completed portions of Riverfront Park one mile long and cover 20 acres of contiguous parkland along the Passaic River.
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We started creating forgivable microloans to help residents purchase and repair their homes.
All our work and investment has brought us to where we are today: 4,605 affordable units across our city.
City Cleanliness
Catalyst Fund made it easier for artists to access grant money for their projects during COVID. We’ve awarded more than 250 grants so far, totaling $1.6 million.
MICROLOANS
4,605
Part 2: Newark. And Proud of It.
n Our Creative
20% Business & Economic Development
Public Space and Culture Arts and Culture
ike many other cities in the nation, our need for affordable L housing was pressing when we took office in 2014.
Our Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance means that developers are required to set aside 20% of residential units for affordable housing, and give priority to Newark residents.
The White House recognized our Summer Youth Employment Program as one of best in nation by naming it as one of only 16 Summer Impact Hubs, with 3,000 youth served.
HIRE. BUY. LIVE.
Part 2: Newark. And Proud of It.
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e knew our city needed to be cleaner. We started in 2014 with W new sanitation trucks and targeted priority areas across the city. Since then, we’ve acquired 38 new sanitation vehicles, including snow removal.
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s we work to keep our city clean, we are also investing in A upgraded trucks and systems, so that we can reduce our carbon footprint.
ILLEGAL DUMPING
The Illegal Dumping Task Force identifies companies and individuals who illegally dump debris around the city, regularly receiving tips from residents who value the quality of life of their neighborhoods. They arrest offenders, tow their vehicles, fine them for the clean up, and leave them facing criminal charges.
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We strengthened the Code Enforcement Office. When
we took office, 18 code enforcement officers had been laid off. We now have 58 and the city has cracked down on the worst landlords by taking them to court.
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We’ve kept on cleaning; shutting down more than 1,000 illegal dumping sites across the city, removing nearly 100,000 tons of garbage, and collecting almost 20,000 tons of recycling during our time in office.
Senior Services 650
We held Senior Citizen Health and Wellness Day events, which brought out 650 seniors to Branch Brook Park for screenings and information.
SENIOR OLYMPICS
We hosted the first-ever Senior Olympics, held at Malcolm X Shabazz High Schools. Senior citizens competed in athletic events and received health information and screenings.
175
We distributed 175 Google Chromebooks to Newark seniors during the pandemic, to help them stay linked to family and friends, avoid isolation, and access essential services.
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2019, we were ranked the nation’s fifth most Walkable City in the US by Business Insider.
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Parks Foundation is working on five of our city’s green spaces – Mulberry Commons, Riverfront Park, Military Park, Washington Park, and Lincoln Park.
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Park will become our city’s first park designed for the autism community.
ARPA Funding n We aren’t quite out of the
woods yet; but with help from the Federal Government, we are using the unprecedented American Rescue Plan Act to push our city forward across all our focus areas – and be better than ever. have $176.6 million in funding to invest into our city over the next two years.
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n T he City has committed $4
million of American Rescue Plan Act funding for a citywide expansion of broadband and Smart City Initiatives. upcoming Neighborhood Improvement Plan will award $720,000 in contracts to support retail corridors and small businesses in 2022.
n Our