NJCDC’s Twenty-Seventh Anniversary Gala Ad Journal

NJCDC Founder & CEO For the past 27 years, New Jersey Community Development Corporation (NJCDC) has worked to change the landscape in the City of Paterson. We focus our work on a 95-block area we call the Great Falls Promise Neighborhood, with the majestic Great Falls at its center. Our bold vision is that all 8,000 children living or going to school in our neighborhood will graduate from high school ready for college and a career.

While we are still in the midst of decidedly complicated times, tonight we have a great deal to celebrate. Starting last winter, we initiated a new program to give 500 low-income Paterson families large boxes of food staples to help them through difficult times. While in the winter and spring we held all of our programming virtually, this summer we were able to hold in-person indoor and outdoor programs for hundreds of Paterson students of all ages. This September also saw our students’ return to in-person learning, including in our many youth development programs. We know that programs like ours are needed more than ever before as we work towards a new normal.

Though this year has been a challenging one, our work hasn’t stopped— instead, it’s grown as the need for our programs and services has increased. We’re planning the transformation of Paterson’s historic First Presbyterian Church into a youth performing arts venue. And we’re building additional, much-needed affordable housing units in our neighborhood at the same time we are partnering with St. Joseph’s Health and New Jersey Community Capital to construct 56 units of “healthy home” housing. We’ve started new initiatives to link local residents with job training programs, and to directly help senior citizens lessen social isolation linked to the pandemic.

While we have accomplished a great deal over these 27 years, there is much more work to be done. The transformational change we are pursuing will take more time, but because of committed partners like you, change is happening each and every day—even during a pandemic. We draw inspiration from your support—and plan to do more, to help more, and to achieve more.