Newark, New Jersey faces numerous challenges, including high crime, poverty, failing schools, and an oftentimes poisonous political environment. None of these challenges can be solved by one person or one organization. In Newark, community leaders are desperate to work together to tackle the tough issues.

Our partners are the Child Welfare League of America and a collaborative of almost 20 organizations in Newark. The goal: to imbed within leaders of these organizations the sensibilities and practices they need to break through the current negative conditions and to accelerate their community’s ability to move forward. The initiative is based on a series of creative workspaces where local leaders will engage with key Harwood frameworks and hands-on tools. We will focus on such areas as helping the leaders identify their stage of community life and the implications for creating effective change; align their organizational strategies to the current public context; and finding ways to authentically engage each other and Newark residents to marshal resources and political will for tackling community challenges.