| Over the last 50 years, and especially since the civil disorders of the 1960s, Newark, New Jersey has experienced severe economic decline. Most of the city's middle class has fled to the suburbs. Major employers have relocated to southern or foreign locations, taking with them high-paying jobs and leaving behind vacant industrial properties, many of which are contaminated with hazardous and toxic substances. Many smaller employers have simply closed their doors. The city's central business district has lost national and regional department stores, while its once-bustling commercial strips have deteriorated into corridors of boarded-up storefronts, a few mom-and-pop convenience stores, and a scattering of discount stores.
Newark's economic decline has been accompanied by major disinvestments in its residential neighborhoods and has exacerbated the pressing educational and social needs of its residents. The city's physical capital is equally stressed. Deteriorated and abandoned housing and dilapidated commercial areas can be found throughout the community.
The Rutgers University Community Outreach Partnership Center (RCOPC) is targeting its activities to Newark's West Side Park Community, a 120-square-block area with a population of 20,000. The neighborhood is located in the city's Central Ward, an area that has not yet recovered from the civil disturbances it experienced during the turbulent 1960s. West Side Park contains the most impoverished census tracks in Newark. The community's 1990 median family income of $17,364 was 20 percent less than Newark's and nearly 60 percent below that of New Jersey. In some census tracts, 88 percent of residents are living below the poverty level, 48 percent of households receive public assistance, unemployment has reached 26 percent, and 30 percent of housing units are vacant.
In spite of these statistics, there is a massive effort underway at many levels to spur Newark's revitalization. Federal resources are coming into the city as a result of its designation as Enterprise Community. At the State level, the Governors' Urban Coordinating Council/Office of Neighborhood Empowerment has designated Newark for assistance to support comprehensive community-based planning and program implementation for neighborhood revitalization. The City of Newark has embarked on an innovative and ambitious program for downtown redevelopment and neighborhood renewal. A vibrant, committed, and highly effective network of neighborhood-level, community-based organizations has taken on various roles in bottom-up, citizen-led action.
RCOPC is linking directly to these ongoing efforts through a comprehensive, multidisciplinary strategy to support neighborhood renewal. The COPC provides planning assistance, capacity building, skills and leadership training, job development, and direct services in housing, health care, economic development, and education to further the revitalization of the West Side Park community. Its partners in this effort include the Newark Neighborhood Empowerment Council, Newark Community Development Network, Corinthian Housing Development Corporation, International Youth Organization, and other community-based organizations.
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