Greater Newark Conservancy

Education program - the Conservancy's education program annually brings innovative, hands-on, science-based lessons and field trips to approximately 2,000 inner-city schoolchildren from Newark and its environs. An additional 2,600 teachers, parents, senior citizens and the general public were served with nutrition and other programs. Programming focuses on the urban environment and includes environmental education field trips to the prudential outdoor learning center in downtown Newark, in-class reverse field trips, living laboratory outdoor teaching gardens at Newark schools, nutritional health lessons and activities, and farm to school programming. Since the prudential outdoor learning center opened 16 years ago, it has hosted over 33,000 underserved children who have engaged in environmental field trips.

Ex-offender reentry services - the new jersey reentry corporation (njrc) established operations within the Conservancy offices in november 2015. Njrc serves all of essex county, providing counseling to ex-offenders, including referrals for substance abuse treatment, job placement assistance, personal health assessment and referrals, housing assistance, legal services, and opportunities for continuing education. The njrc program was relocated from the Conservancy offices during the fiscal year ended june 30, 2020.

Community greening - the Conservancy's community greening program annually serves about 2,000 Newark residents through its community gardens with resident-adopted planting plots; urban farm lots that generate fresh, local produce; and a farm stand operation that makes nutritious, healthy foods available to the inner-city population. Last growing season the program's 3.0 acre urban farm in Newark was the primary source of fresh produce, bringing fresh, nutritious vegetables to Newark's low-income residents.