The Office of Sustainability
The Office of Sustainability is a City-led effort to create a healthier, greener, and more resilient city for all residents. The Office of Sustainability works with municipal departments, the Newark Environmental Commission, residents, and other public and private stakeholders to tackle environmental health and quality of life issues and to prepare our city for weather extremes to advance sustainability and climate resilience in Newark through a multi-pronged strategy.
1. Amplify Newark’s tree canopy
2. Increase access to nourishing, locally-grown food
3. Foster climate-resilient communities
4. Cultivate resident-led community transformation
The Office of Sustainability is dedicated to advancing the goals in the Sustainability Action Plan (2013) found here.
The Office of Sustainability team engages with residents through meaningful community building with multilingual staff with fluency in several languages commonly spoken by Newarkers including Portuguese and Spanish.
“All of Newark’s children should grow up in an environment that nurtures them. This means getting dangerous toxins out of our neighborhoods, and making sure families have access to the same environmental assets that their suburban counterparts enjoy – parks, playgrounds, trees, healthy food, affordable energy bills, working water infrastructure, and green job opportunities,” said Mayor Ras J. Baraka.
Newark's Tree Canopy Initiative
The Office of Sustainability is currently leading an initiative to plant thousands of trees across all five wards in the coming years. The team is responsible for growing the city’s tree canopy throughout the city, maintaining the health and survival of every tree in the city and overseeing a citywide public engagement effort to ensure citizen involvement in Newark’s tree planting initiatives.
The Sustainable Food System Program
The Sustainable Food Systems program builds a robust and inclusive food economy for residents to have affordable fresh produce. The program advances policies and programs that increase local fresh and nourishing food production while enhancing Newark's network of urban farmers/gardeners and food producers. It is guided by the principles of environmental and social justice, local self-sufficiency, and of food sovereignty through urban agriculture in the City of Newark.
A central initiative of the Sustainable Food Systems Program is the Nourishing Newark Community Grants Program. Launched in 2022, Nourishing Newark increases Newark's community members' access to healthy and nourishing food through the expansion of sustainable urban food cooperatives and other community-based healthy food distribution channels.
Resident-Led Community Transformation
Newark's Love Your Block program connects residents with City departments and community organizations to implement neighborhood-level beautification and community-building projects. The overall goal of the Love Your Block program is to prevent blight and revitalize our neighborhoods one block at a time.
The City of Newark has awarded over thirty community-based groups funding to complete projects ranging from beautification initiatives, community clean ups, arts activation, and improved signage.
The City of Newark is excited to undertake a large-scale tree planting operation as part of our “Rooted in Newark” campaign in every one of the city’s neighborhoods. Your involvement will help ensure that these trees thrive and bring countless benefits to our community. Together, we can make Newark a cooler, healthier, and more beautiful place to live!
The City of Newark created the Nourishing Newark Community Grants Program to support community-based organizations in the City of Newark that are combating hunger resulting from the adverse economic impacts related to COVID-19, and coalitions advancing sustainable food system policy in an effort to eradicate food deserts negatively impacting our community.
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