Community Engagement

Since the Maher Charitable Foundation’s inception, we have worked closely with community-based programs and practitioners to identify unmet community needs. From there, we seek out initiatives that work to meet those needs.

South Ward

In Clinton Hill, Maher’s work began with the longstanding provider Clinton Hill Community & Early Childhood Center. The Foundation’s investments enabled the organization to:

  • Expand services

  • Increase its Early Head Start enrollment

  • Offer support to more family childcare providers

  • Deepen its leadership in the early childhood and wider community

Now they are a collaborator on the new Clinton Hill Early Learning Center in Upper Clinton Hill, which marks a more extensive place-based investment in the community immediately surrounding the Center. For this project, two local providers are working together with Clinton Hill Community Action to offer early childhood education and additionally serve the community through the building.

To inform future grantmaking, Maher partners closely with community-based organizations, chief among them Clinton Hill Community Action (CHCA)Founded in 2019, CHCA led a neighborhood planning process and engaged 350 residents, with the help of key partners, to produce the first comprehensive redevelopment plan for Clinton Hill since 2006.

The plan includes goals in six core areas: 

  1. Housing

  2. Economic Development 

  3. Environmental Justice, Green Spaces and Sustainability 

  4. Creative Placemaking 

  5. Resident Empowerment & Community Building 

  6. Education, Wellness and Social Services

Partners include the South Ward Special Improvement District, South Ward Environmental Alliance, Greater Newark LISC, and South Ward Promise Neighborhood, to name a few. 

CHCA is focusing its current work on Community Building, Housing & Environmental Justice, Food Security & Economic Justice, and Citizen Journalism & Advocacy.

CHCA’s work involves deep community engagement, with nearly all of its employees living in Clinton Hill or nearby. In each area of focus, CHCA 

  • Engages residents

  • Provides strategic leadership with targeted goals

  • Leads on-the-ground projects and campaigns that affect community change, benefiting and empowering residents 

Learn more on the Clinton Hill Community Action website.

Other Programs

In the Ironbound, the impact of The Early Learning Center’s new infant and toddler wing was more than just a building – it enabled the organization to expand its roster of children, create a better continuum of care for families, hire more caregivers and staff, and build on the strengths of its service to the community.

The same is true in Passaic, where Children’s Day School is located. Not only was the quality of the children’s experience enhanced on-premises, but the center also was able to attract new personnel to offer additional social services, and the community saw an upgrade in the nearby homes and building facades as newfound energy to revitalize took root.