South Ward Children’s Alliance

The New Jersey Chapter’s CPAP team was invited by the South Ward Children’s Alliance in Newark’s South Ward to support the creation of a community needs assessment that could be used in their efforts to improve public education in the South Ward. The Alliance has become increasingly aware that addressing problems in the community, such as housing, crime and recreation, is a critical part of improving the South Ward’s public schools. The CPAP was asked to support their efforts to identify social issues in the surrounding neighborhoods and how they should be prioritized. The long list of social issues in the area creates unstable environments where education becomes a huge challenge for students. The overarching goal is to create a stable life for students so they can do better in school. A major component of the field work was to work with parents of children in the schools to ensure their points of view. The team conducted a review of data provided by the Alliance, researched additional sources for data, combined them with the views of the parents and produced a final presentation of the work, including maps, data, and results.

While this was a very different kind of project for the team, considering the close link with public education, the team was enthusiastic to do it. Two of the team members brought strong backgrounds in urban public education to the project. The team’s analytical approach provided the Alliance with important information they will use to consider programs to address the neighborhood’s most urgent needs.

CPAP Team Members

  • Molly Coon
  • Michael Kolber
  • Christopher Kok
  • Nadia Mian
  • Deborah Schulze
  • Tom Schulze