Trenton, N.J.TRENTON — A $700,000 grant meant to bring parks and services to a city neighborhood was awarded to a collaboration of more than 20 local organizations yesterday.
Provided by the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation, the money will help pay for programs ranging from the development of a neighborhood watch group to the creation of more local parks. The Trenton neighborhood of roughly 5,000 residents that will benefit from the grant stretches from Willow Street to Hermitage Avenue and from Rutherford Avenue to West State Street. The plan will help Isles Inc., Mercer Street Friends and the Shiloh Community Development Corporation — the three main city organizations in the collaboration — bolster their own programs aimed at providing financial assistance, job placement services, youth enrichment programs, family wellness initiatives and other services.
Another key aspect of the plan is creating a neighborhood resource center at the Carver Center on Fowler Street to help inform residents of all the new programs being developed and enriched by the grant. The center — which has historical significance as the first YMCA in the country to be owned by African-Americans — will also use the money to continue offering dance classes, karate classes and other programs to the neighborhood. The Carver Center is owned and operated by the state Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, another co-grantee and partner in the plan.
“People are really interested in social services and connecting the community better — building up the community fabric again,” Julia Taylor, managing director at Isles, said of the neighborhood residents, who were asked in a survey what types of programs they wanted to see in the community.
"A lot of what the community said it needed were things that did already exist," Taylor said. "It was making sure the services were accessible for people and making sure people knew what was out there for them. This is a large-scale neighborhood
revitalization process that the community is excited for and really engaged in."
Six years in the making, the plan is the product of extensive research done by the 20 organizations, which call themselves the Trenton Historic Development Collaborative.
“It’s exciting and rewarding,” Jerome Harris, COO of the Shiloh Community Development Corporation, said. “It’s a demonstration that, when working together in collaboration, community-based groups can do great things.”
The full plan would take about 10 years to fully implement with a budget of $235 million, according to Denise McGregor Armbrister, executive director of the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation. She said a majority of that cost is for capital expenses — money spent on construction or repairs.
The grant is performance-based and will be distributed to the collaborative over a seven-year period after the group hits certain agreed-upon milestones, McGregor Armbrister said. Aspects of the plan regarding mixed-use developments, redevelopment parks and open space acquisition could most likely be funded through public dollars, she said. To make up for the difference in cost, it’s up to the collaborative — which McGregor Armbrister referred to as a “power partnership” — to find investors or other sources of money.
Contact Bridget Clerkin at (609) 989-5680 or
[email protected].
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