Star Ledger: West Ward housing complex praised by Newark leaders as model for safety
After a February 2009 shoot-out in the troubled West Ward complex left five people injured, Georgia King worked with Newark Now to establish an on-site family success center and a resident council. Since August, it has seen no shootings and a stark reduction in drug sales and violent crime, according to city leaders.
Through financial counseling, field trips for children, bookbag giveaways, and similar “community nurturing programs” residents from the buildings and officials from the non-profits say they have begun to turn the complex around, but point to continued work if the effort is to be sustained and duplicated throughout the city.
Very exciting to see what can happen when you creatively take limited resources and direct them to focused solutions.
“More police on the beat” is only one solution to the problem of crime, but it doesn’t affect lasting change. The true challenge is to restore neighborhoods with lasting solutions that get to the root cause issues.