ABOUT NJCDC

We’re so very proud to call Senator Nellie Pou our “ friend. She’s long been a fighter for all of the issues NJCDC cares about, and a faithful ally as we carry ”out our mission.

Bob Guarasci

NJCDC Founder & CEO

Senator Pou was first elected to the New Jersey Legislature in 1997, having served in the Assembly for the first 14 years before her rise to the Senate in 2011. She was the first woman and the first Latina elected to represent the 35th Legislative District, and only the second Latina to serve in the New Jersey Legislature.

In January 2022, Senator Pou became part of Senate Leadership as Senate Majority Caucus Chair and she currently serves as Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, Vice Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Chairwoman of the New Jersey Legislative Latino Caucus.

She was recently installed as the President of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL). She is the first legislator from New Jersey to preside over the 425-member organization, which was founded in 1989 as a nonpartisan nonprofit and spans 42 states, as well as Puerto Rico. In this role, Senator Pou works closely with legislative colleagues from across the country, where she continues to champion resolutions reflecting many of her landmark prime-sponsored state laws that serve as a model for other legislatures.

Senator Pou has worked for the City of Paterson for over three decades, including as Director of Human Services and Business Administrator. She has served in many leadership positions throughout her years of service to the community.

For over 25 years serving in the Assembly and the Senate, she has navigated into law many policies ranging from social justice to criminal justice reform, as well as human and civil rights. Senator Pou has worked with colleagues to provide businesses with more opportunities to grow, improve economic independence, provide quality and affordable education and healthcare for all ages, expand voter participation, restore funding for vital programs, and to ensure more diversity on the New Jersey Supreme Court, as well as ensuring the passage of unprecedented legislation during the recent State of Emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to advocating for many other important initiatives.

Corporation (NJCDC) is a non-profit community development and social service agency headquartered in the City of Paterson with a mission of creating opportunities to transform lives.

NJCDC was created in 1994 and has 28 years of experience in the areas of education, youth development, affordable/supportive housing, and community building. Starting with two employees, NJCDC has grown into a $15 million agency employing more than 130 individuals performing a wide variety of services that collectively reach more than 4,000 children, teens, and families each day.

We have adopted a place-based approach to community development targeting the Great Falls Neighborhood, a 95-block area with the Great Falls of the Passaic River as its epicenter. The residents of the Great Falls Neighborhood are diverse in race, religion, nationality, and need. Overall, it is a poor neighborhood—the median household income is about one-third the state’s average and only 11% of residents have earned a college degree—but it is also a neighborhood with a rich history and a great deal of hope and promise.

Our 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. To that end, we continue to expand our substantial base of successful programs for children and families, to grow our pipeline of services to address emerging and often emergent needs, and to expand our brick and mortar work to create additional affordable housing and community facilities.

We offer high-quality education for Paterson students from preschool through grade 12. We believe that education is another word for opportunity, and that our efforts to instill a love of learning and to promote student success will help the students we educate to ultimately reach their greatest potential. It’s a responsibility that we take very seriously, and we do it with a host of enthusiastic partners—from parents to community organizations and stakeholders.

NJCDC founded and supports the operation of three schools:

Our Paterson Family Center preschool provides 105 children with an evidence-based curriculum delivered by highly qualified staff in order to promote learning among our youngest students. The preschool also offers support to the entire family through before-school and after-school programming, as well as specialized staff who connect families to vital resources.

The Community Charter School of Paterson (CCSP) was founded by NJCDC in 2008 to help advance educational choice in Paterson while promoting positive youth development and strengthening families. CCSP opened in 2008 as a K-3 school serving 400 students and now serves 900+ students in grades K-8 across two campuses. CCSP also has a strong connection to the Paterson community, drawing on a variety of resources to help students and families succeed.

Garrett Morgan Academy, a high school with nearly 175 students in grades 9-12, places a special focus on science, technology, engineering, and math. We partnered with the Paterson school district to open Garrett Morgan in 2000 and have since graduated hundreds of students who have gone on to college and successful careers. Named for the turn-of-the-century African-American inventor of the traffic light, the school provides students with a curriculum that makes STEM instruction relevant and accessible.

In helping to foster the next generation of engaged Paterson citizens, NJCDC reaches beyond the classroom. We invest in the future leaders of our community at their individual points of development—particularly during after-school programming, in our Youth Center and our Teen Centers, and through comprehensive youth leadership initiatives. By doing so, we are consistently investing in the human potential of the great City of Paterson.

Our youth development programs include our Paterson Youth Council, a year-long leadership development program that is the premier voice for the city’s young people; our Great Falls Youth Center, which provides a safe place for hundreds of neighborhood teens to study, learn, and enjoy recreational activities; and our AmeriCorps national service program, whose members work in several Paterson schools to eliminate barriers to academic achievement. We also sponsor an array of summer programs and comprehensive Teen Centers at four area high schools to promote healthy lifestyles, and we operate three Full-Service Community Schools programs at Paterson’s School #5, the Joseph A. Taub School, and JFK High School.

We believe having a place to call home is one of the most fundamental human rights and is necessary to foster stability and personal growth— especially during times like these. NJCDC prides itself on providing affordable and supportive housing in Paterson and the surrounding area to scores of vulnerable individuals and families who need it most.

We build and operate housing with on-site social services for individuals with special needs including those who are homeless, mentally ill, those with developmental disabilities, grandparents raising grandchildren, and youth who are homeless or aging out of the foster care system.

Our goal is to offer those we serve a safe, decent, and affordable place to call home, to provide assistance in navigating everyday challenges, and, most importantly, to instill hope, confidence, and optimism. These programs not only provide opportunities to transform individual lives, but also serve as catalysts to help build social stability and safer neighborhoods.

To date, we have built nearly 200 units of affordable and supportive housing. And we have more projects in development that will allow us to expand our work in this area. This includes the Barclay Street Apartments, in partnership with St. Joseph’s Health and New Jersey Community Capital. This building will soon provide 56 units of affordable “healthy home” housing for hard-working Patersonians. Other exciting projects are on the drawing board.

Since 1994, NJCDC has taken a lead in rebuilding and strengthening our community through the empowerment of—and in partnership with—those who live and work in our neighborhood.

We just completed a new neighborhood plan— written hand in hand with local residents and other stakeholders—to guide our work over the next decade. Since 2014, our Neighborhood Help Center has served as a one-stop shopping environment for neighborhood residents to receive assistance on a broad range of topics, including housing, immigration, job readiness, education, and financial literacy. We also host a variety of educational workshops, community forums, and family-friendly events to provide those we serve with valuable information and life-changing resources.

We also regularly carry out neighborhood cleanups and have built 15 playgrounds and community gardens to help revitalize our neighborhood. Gardens allow residents to spend time outside in a relaxing atmosphere, while playgrounds encourage outdoor play, which is an integral part of a child’s development.

With the help of our friends and partners, we’ll continue to make the Great Falls Neighborhood an example of a comeback community by bringing people together, working on common interests, and always advocating for change.