Corporate CEOs and leaders of social justice, community development and educational institutions announced an initiative called “Hire. Buy. Live. Newark” aimed at strengthening the city’s economy.
“Hire. Buy. Live. Newark” is marked by three interrelated strategies: Newark 2020, which will connect 2,020 of the city’s unemployed to full-time living wage jobs by the year 2020; Buy Newark, which will support the growth of local businesses and match them to the purchasing needs of other Newark businesses large and small; and Live Newark, which will attract more employees, faculty and students to live in the city and provide existing residents with additional rental and homeownership choices and incentives.
Only 18 percent of the jobs in Newark are held by city residents, a proportion much lower than most major cities. Newark 2020 aims to change that equation. It is a collaborative hiring strategy in which partners commit to identifying a set number of specific job slots over the course of the next four years that will need to be filled.
Every unemployed and underemployed Newark resident is eligible to benefit from Newark 2020.
“Newark is in the midst of revitalization, combining a historic surge in commercial and housing development, investment and technology with the greatest reduction in crime in a generation,” said Mayor Ras Baraka. “Yet, unemployment is widespread and one-in-three residents live in poverty. We created ‘Hire. Buy. Live. Newark’ to lift all Newarkers and ensure that all can benefit from the Newark Renaissance.”
The initiative also involves Newark’s colleges and universities, hospitals, public schools, clergy, philanthropies, community development organizations, neighborhood groups and the major employers at the city’s seaport.