By LaNella Hooper-Williams 908-334-5565
NEW BRUNSWICK’S UNITY SQUARE PARTNERSHIP WILL RECEIVE $1 MILLION FOR NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ, February 23, 2011 – Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, announced today that its Unity Square Partnership, a Neighborhood Revitalization Project will be receiving a $1 million grant from Johnson & Johnson. The funding will support medical services, job training and placement, and educational opportunities for residents of the 37-square-block Unity Square neighborhood in New Brunswick.
A special celebration will take place March 9 from 9:00 am to 11:00 am at the New Brunswick Firehouse, 81 Remsen Ave, New Brunswick, NJ (the future home of the Unity Square Partnership Community Center and Administrative offices). New Brunswick Mayor Jim Cahill and representatives of Unity Square, Catholic Charities, Johnson & Johnson, and the NJ Department of Community Affairs will take part in the event, along with partners from the service organizations, including Catholic Charities St. John’s Health Clinic, New Labor, Elijah’s Promise, The Intersect Fund, Middlesex County College and Literacy Programs of New Jersey.
Unity Square will receive the grant through the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit Program, NJ Department of Community Affairs, which establishes partnerships between businesses and community organizations.
“This $1 million grant comes at a critical time in our revitalization efforts,” said Marianne Majewski, Executive Director of Catholic Charities Diocese of Metuchen. “Working with the Sacred Heart parish, and with local, civic and governmental support, Catholic Charities began organizing the Unity Square neighborhood in 2004. Our initial focus was housing and providing much needed medical services through the free health clinic. This grant now enables us to expand services. Funding for St. John’s Clinic will allow for over 1,000 annual visits by community residents. We’ll also launch initiatives such as the New Labor’s Forklift Operator Training to improve skills and increase wages.”
“We are pleased that funding from Johnson & Johnson will enable us to continue programs such as our culinary skills training which equip residents with marketable skills and business fundamentals,” stated Lisanne Finston, Executive Director of Elijah’s Promise. “As one of the original collaborators in the Unity Square Partnership, we have had a phenomenal placement rate of more than 95%.”
“We’re proud to support our partners as they make a difference in the well being of residents in the communities where our people live and work,” said Bonnie Petrauskas, Johnson & Johnson Director of Corporate Contributions & Community Relations.
About Unity Square and Catholic Charities: Unity Square is bordered by Commercial and Livingston Avenues and Sanford and Welton Streets, with an office on the Sacred Heart Church campus. The neighborhood has an estimated population of 10,000 people, of which 24% live below the Federal poverty limit. The diversity of the neighborhood reflects the richness and opportunities in this area which have been captured in the revitalization projects.
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Metuchen, incorporated in 1982, is a non-profit agency dedicated to service, quality and outreach for members of the community, especially those who are poor, devalued or in need of help. The agency provides 120 programs at 29 sites to the four counties of the Diocese of Metuchen with selected services that reach throughout the state of New Jersey.
For additional information, contact:
LaNella Hooper-Williams
President, Hooper Williams Communications
Telephone: 908-334-5565
E-mail: lanella@hooperwilliams.com
website: www.hooperwilliams.com
