Neighborhoods

Developing Community Leaders

Esperanza Neighborhood

Esperanza Neighborhood

We're developing a new generation of leaders who are creating self-sufficient communities of their dreams.

In the middle of New Brunswick, the 57-block Esperanza neighborhood serves as the city’s main gateway and port of entry for majority Latino immigrants seeking a better life in the United States. More than even many native-born Americans, immigrants often arrive in communities like Esperanza with an unwavering sense of their American Dream. Whether pushed out of their home countries by violence or pulled by tales of economic opportunity, immigrants carry with them the conviction that their sacrifices will yield a better future in the U.S. for themselves and their children. The name Esperanza – meaning “hope” in Spanish – says it all.

Since 2014, NBT is putting our forty-plus years of social revitalization experience at the service of Esperanza’s immigrant residents and their native-born neighbors through the Esperanza Neighborhood Project. We conduct intensive outreach and leadership development to equip residents to step up as engaged civic leaders, reaching out to thousands of their neighbors and making their voice heard at City Hall. Together we plan and carry out neighborhood improvement strategies and advocacy campaigns on the issues they deem most important. These efforts have resulted in the passage of local ordinances to expand low-wage workers’ rights, promote immigrant inclusion, and tackle abandoned and vacant properties.

1) Empowering Neighborhood Leaders

Intensive outreach and leadership development is equipping Latino community members to step up as engaged civic leaders, reaching out to thousands of their neighbors and making their voice heard at City Hall. Community advocacy has already resulted in the passage of local ordinances to expand low-wage workers’ rights, promote immigrant inclusion, and tackle abandoned and vacant properties.

2) Supporting Families

Our innovative Family Leadership Academy is supporting families in our community to pursue their goals of stability and economic mobility, while saving for a better future. Forty families have graduated thus far, saving a total of over $85,000 and achieving goals in health, education, career, and finances.

3) Equipping Entrepreneurs

Small business technical assistance complemented by joint marketing and creative corridor improvements is taking the neighborhood’s commercial district to the next level as a Latino cultural destination. We are also launching a community marketplace with training available to help community micro-entrepreneurs translate their skills into income-generating businesses.

4) Creating Safe Neighborhoods

Our neighborhoods, in many ways, define our opportunities. When we consider some of New Brunswick’s most chronic challenges – crime and safety, housing, education, and access to care services – opportunities expand or contract depending on how well we address those challenges in specific neighborhoods.

Our goals for the Crime Watch Safety Group include:

  1. Improve neighborhood cleanliness and aesthetics
  2. Enhance neighborhood safety
  3. Remove property blight from neighborhoods
  4. Increase access and usage of parks & gardens

OUR IMPACT

850

volunteer residents participating

7,200

hours performed in community improvement activities

30+

community clean-ups

91%

residents satisfied with neighborhood

Citywide impacts due to resident advocacy:

6,900

workers gaining mandatory paid sick time

1,700+

Municipal IDs issued

40+

vacant properties rehabilitated

4

Completed cohort sessions

54

families graduated from FLA

$115k

collectively saved for future investment

160

personal goals completed

Within three years, NBT and our partners in the Housing Collaborative will have substantially impacted dynamics in New Brunswick’s housing market, particularly for LMI and immigrant families in Esperanza and Unity Square, by:

110

vacant properties registered by the City

2/3

of abandoned properties in Esperanza neighborhood rehabilitated or demolished

75+

healthy home assessments conducted

NBT and its partners will have contributed to the growth of local entrepreneurs and small businesses by:

23

entrepreneur-participants in the Mercado Esperanza marketplace

36

graduates from the Community Business Academy

2

new community murals on the French Street corridor

1st

ever French Street business directory and brochure

$150k

in funds committed to French Street façade grants

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

Camp attendees preparing for soccer skills camp

KEY ISSUES

  • Strong levels of neighborhood satisfaction and optimism show a neighborhood on the move: 91% of residents are satisfied with the neighborhood, 51% believe the neighborhood has improved in the past 3 years, and 64% believe it will continue to improve (2018 Esperanza Neighborhood Survey)
  • Median household income of approximately $38,000, just more than half of the statewide median of $72,000
  • Concerns about neighborhood safety, cleanliness and physical conditions (New Brunswick 2016 Community Survey; 2018 Esperanza Neighborhood Survey)
  • Barriers associated with many residents’ lack of English proficiency and legal status

PROGRAM
Partners

NBT partners with the following organizations to make this program available to the people of New Brunswick: NJCC, PRAB and Rising Tide Capital.