Economic Development

Economic development is an important indicator of a stable, growing, and self-sustaining community. Increased economic activity means more jobs, a larger tax base, a higher standard of living, and less crime.

Economic Development = Neighborhood renewal

Strong, stable, vital urban neighborhoods have safe spaces for gathering and politicking, meeting their neighbors and community building. Public space is protected by constitutional rights, as opposed to private space, like malls, where political demonstrations can be removed from the premises legally.

Economic Development = Local jobs

Strong, stable, vital urban neighborhoods create jobs. When people have viable job opportunities they can provide for their families and contribute to the communities in which they live. When employment is scarce and people are out of work the community becomes less stable and are placed at greater risk.

Economic Development = Skilled workforce

A skilled workforce creates the potential for significant investment in a community, and for the kinds of significant jobs that create financial security to become available in that community.

Economic Development = Financial Security

Once you have good jobs with decent benefits, you have a population that can begin to build financial security. Once the financial literacy piece is added, you have the foundation for community revitalization, a tax basis for better education in the schools, financial security for residents, and increased quality of life opportunities for all residents of the community.

Cities in Essex County are in various stages of economic distress and face challenges that call for thoughtful and creative solutions. In order for urban communities like Newark or Irvington to
“turn the corner” and experience an
economic rebound, the following actions
must be given serious consideration:

• Significant resources must be committed to our most distressed and at-risk neighborhoods.
• Unemployed residents must receive education and technology training to secure the kind of high wage, high-skilled jobs that lead to stable career opportunities.
• Strategic partnerships must be created between the corporate community and neighborhood-based non-profit organizations to create the necessary conditions for major investment and large-scale development activity to become attractive and feasible.
• Financial incentives such as new market tax credits must be used to encourage private investment in high-risk, low investment areas.

At the same time we advocate to keep jobs from going overseas, we must create real employment opportunities for inner city residents capable and willing to work. In cases where insufficient training and work preparedness are barriers to employment, we must commit the necessary resources to the kind of programs that will create a first class labor pool for employers.

A city at work is a city on the move. And a city closer to full employment is a more stable city.

Please read about our economic development programs to find out what the Urban League is doing about it.

To accomplish this important goal the Urban League is committed bringing together the best and brightest business and education minds to teach our constituents technology, knowledge-based job skills, and financial literacy.

Financial Literacy & Homeownership

How far does a decent job go when the worker doesn’t know how to manage money?

By partnering with community leaders and corporate neighbors, the Urban League presents workshops and seminars for local community members focused on providing functional financial information that opens the door to a new and broader perspective on money.

Technology Training

The Urban League of Essex County houses a Family Technology Center where community members can gather and access education options, job information, and social entertainment in a convivial setting conducive to neighborhood unity.

By partnering with community leaders and corporate neighbors, the Urban League presents workshops and seminars for local community members focused on providing technology training for community members and teenagers looking to expand their skills and become eligible for higher paying jobs where computer skills are required.

Job Opportunities

The focus and foundation of sound economic development policy should be good jobs! For the last 88 years the Urban League of Essex County has been on the front lines advocating for better jobs and equal opportunities for African Americans and other disadvantaged minority groups. The Urban League has and will continue to design employment training programs that prepare workers for the job of today and tomorrow.

By partnering with corporations to design and execute attraction and retention plans for community job seekers, the Urban League will honor its roots of being a major purveyor of job access for African American and other minority groups.

Remedial Skills Program

Today’s “knowledge workers” require a more complex set of skills than the workers who were able to raise families by working in factories and on assembly lines less than fifty years ago. Today, many residents in inner cities have a difficult time securing minimum wage jobs because their remedial skills are so low. To address this real and growing problem the Urban League is developing a remedial skills-training program that will serve as a foundation for the more specialized skills-based training programs.

There are many skill-based training programs in Essex County. Sadly, thousands of individuals enroll in these programs not having the basic skills that serve as a prerequisite to success in these programs. Large segments of the popula6iton in urban areas like Newark, Irvington, East Orange, and Orange are unable to participate and compete in the economic mainstream because thy have severe basic social and remideal skills needs that have not been addressed.

The Urban League Basic Skills and Remedial Development Program consists of the following components:

1. Intensive Math & English Skill Building and Reinforcement
2. Conversational English in the workplace
3. Basic etiquette and interpersonal interaction in the workplace
4. Effective time management and goal setting

Program participants will work with qualified instructions in a class setting an in small groups to learn and practice these skills.

Arguably the two most important civil rights issues of the 21 st Century are access to a quality education and economic empowerment. This program addresses the issues that would preclude a person with limited basic skills to access both.

Do You Need Access to These Programs?

Please contact the Urban League at 973.624.9535.

To volunteer as a speaker or trainer for one of these programs, please contact Director of Operations and Outreach Darrin Sharif at ( 973)624-9535, dsharif@ulec.org, or click here to sign up online as a Volunteer (link to Volunteer page).