April 25, 2017

Newark, New Jersey, April 25, 2017 —  Today, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice (the “Institute”) released a new report, “Bridging the Two Americas: Employment & Economic Opportunity in Newark & Beyond.” Please click here to read the report, here to read the policy brief, and here to read the two-page fact sheet.

“Fifty years ago this month, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., looked to Newark and other urban communities and explained that the country consisted of ‘two Americas,’ divided by race,” said Ryan P. Haygood, Institute President and CEO. “Fifty years later, perhaps no other city embodies both the reality of the two Americas and the possibility of bridging these entrenched divides more than the city of Newark. On one hand, as a testament to Newark’s economy, the majority of the people employed here earn more than $40,000 each year. But the poverty rate for Black residents of Newark is a striking 33 percent, more than double the national average for all races. This is part of a broader, troubling picture: Newark residents, incredibly, hold only 18 percent of all jobs in the city. As our report explains, our cities hold incredible promise to advance progressive solutions to finally bridging the two Americas. The solutions to the enduring problem of economic inequality will have to come from the ground up in our cities.”