New Community Corporation - Human Services

Human Services

By 1985, New Community had expanded its outreach to its own family residents and to other families in the community with a youth activity program, a credit union, and a job referral agency. After 1990, these were supplemented with a variety of grant-funded programs targeting youth and families having particular needs, including services for persons with HIV or AIDS. Also, New Community instituted a bi-lingual Hispanic outreach program (the Hispanic Development Corporation) in 1992. Finally, in 1997, New Community opened a newly constructed 17,000 sq ft (1,600 m2). Neighborhood Center which contains a stage, a basketball court and classrooms. This facility has been a key asset in expanding NCC's outreach to youth and families.

In 1988, New Community partnered with the Hartz Mountain Corporation and the State of New Jersey to newly construct a 102-unit apartment complex dedicated to homeless families in the Newark area (named Harmony House). New Community provides an intensive support program for Harmony House residents; this includes on-site daycare (through cooperation with Babyland Nursery), counseling, education, substance abuse program referrals, job placement and housing relocation assistance, and after-school activities for youth. Although generally considered successful, the State of New Jersey did not replicate the Harmony House model in other cities.