2 New Learning Facilities Will Boost Newark Students

NEWARK, NJ — A pair of new learning facilities are expected to have a big impact for students in Newark.

Stakeholders and community members recently celebrated a grand opening of the long-awaited Clinton Hill Early Learning Center at 30 Demarest Street, which was built on a long-vacant parcel of land in the city’s South Ward.

According to a statement from minority-owned DIGroup Architecture, which designed the building, the learning center was the brainchild of four nonprofit groups – The Maher Charitable Foundation, La Casa de Don Pedro, Clinton Hill Community & Early Childhood Center, Inc. and Clinton Hill Community Action. It evolved from rising concerns voiced by the community about a “lack of quality early childhood education facilities” in Newark’s South Ward.

The 40,000-square foot building will be cohabitated by Clinton Hill’s Pre-K programs and La Casa’s Early Head Start programs, and will provide extended child care services for nearly 200 children from birth to age five. It has 16 classrooms, a secure inner courtyard, a multipurpose room for 200 people (available for community use), a family child care resource room, and commercial kitchen.

Prior to the opening of the Early Learning Center in June, engineering firm Dresdner Robin completed a temporary facility on an adjacent site to the permanent facility. The students officially moved from the temporary facility to the new Maher Charitable Foundation’s Early Learning Center in March.

“Having worked on this project since its inception in 2018, we are thrilled to watch the center come to life,” said Mark Vizzini, Dresdner Robin’s associate director of land development.

NEW STEM LAB

Newark students also got a big boost from another recent learning-based project at Dr. Horton Elementary School: a new science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) lab.

As part of AbbVie’s annual Week of Possibilities employee volunteer event, in partnership with Heart of America, more than 150 AbbVie volunteers gave back to the Newark community and the nearly 710 students of Dr. Horton Elementary by developing an immersive, large-scale STEM lab on the school’s campus.

In addition to deep cleaning, painting, building furniture, placing décor, assembling technology and preparing maker components to complete the space, the team of volunteers prepared STEM-based educational resource kits, including books and school supplies, for students to take home. A separate team of volunteers also engaged in “beautification activities” across the rest of the school’s campus, including gardening, mural painting, cleaning and organization of storage rooms and classrooms, and creating signage and messages to welcome students back to school this fall.

“We are thrilled our employee volunteers are returning to service projects in local communities this year following a two-year pause caused by the pandemic,” said Tracie Haas, president of the AbbVie Foundation. “We look forward to collaborating with our nonprofit partners to make a real impact in our local communities across the globe.”

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