OUR HOME.  OUR HOPE.  OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.

Prepared in Partnership with the Residents and Stakeholders of the Fairmount Neighborhood

In 2009, the Urban League of Essex County formalized two grant awards with the New Jersey Office of Smart Growth and the Wachovia Regional Foundation (now Wells Fargo).  The purpose of these grants was to assemble a Strategic Plan for the area of Newark known historically as the Fairmount Neighborhood.

In the course of the discussion with prospective consultants and neighborhood stakeholders that followed, representatives from the Urban League stressed a number of goals that they felt were critically important in framing the Plan.

1. The Plan must be stakeholder-driven.  This means that residents, businesses, and other agencies and organizations represented in the neighborhood need to define the important local needs, goals and priorities of the plan.  By definition, this means that the planning process must involve considerable outreach to those individuals.
2. The Plan must focus on Empowering People.  The physical conditions of the neighborhood are certainly important, but the Urban League wants to ensure that strategies to improve the lives of the neighborhood residents and empower people are also a key component of the Plan.
3. The Planning Process must lead to Building a Better Neighborhood.  Organizing people provides a foundation for everything that follows the development of a plan.  An organized neighborhood speaks with one voice; it encourages partnerships; it enhances communication among residents; and it provides a bases for implementing the recommendations of the Plan.
4. There just be Action-Oriented Initiatives that are part of the Plan.  The Plan cannot be a general policy document that ends up on a shelf somewhere.  It must be a living guide that provides month-to-month guidance for addressing those issues that residents and stakeholders believe are critical.  It must make a difference!  It must provide an inventory of projects and programs that can be implemented.

The Urban League of Essex County realized that to catalyze long-term positive change in its "home" neighborhood of Fairmount Heights, there needed to be a network of people and resources dedicated to advocating for and acting as champions for the best interests of the community.

The Fairmount Heights Neighborhood Association (FHNA) was founded to fulfill this role.  FHNA's founding board members have engaged in education and training to further develop their leadership capacity and knowledge of strategic community organizing.

Download the Fairmount Heights Neighborhood Strategic Plan

Download the Urban League of Essex County's 2021 NRTC Plan

If you are interested in learning more about the Fairmount Heights neighborhood or would like to partner with us in the community, please fill out the form below.