NEWARK, NJ — They’re going to clean up the city – literally. That was the decision of Newark’s youth, who recently got a unique chance to decide how to spend $50,000 of the city’s money.
Last December, the city launched its Gen Green program, which is taking place under the Newark Office of Sustainability, Resilience and Community Transformation.
The idea was simple: set aside $50,000 of city funds – and let residents 23 and under decide how to spend it. They were given a broad-but-important goal: make Newark a healthier and more vibrant place to live.
The Gen Green Youth Ambassador program worked with local schools to gather ideas. Later, the Gen Green Budget Committee reviewed those concepts and turned them into 14 different proposals.
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Eventually, a winner emerged: performing “citywide cleanups.”
Other popular ideas included “Flowers and Planters,” “Trees,” “Air Quality App,” “More Accessible Trash Cans,” and “Fruit Hubs.”
The outreach effort was massive, organizers said: 24 schools and several afterschool programs and shelters participated, generating 300 ideas and engaging more than 3,000 young people.
According to city officials, the program is the first “youth-led participatory budgeting process focused on sustainability” in the country.
“Gen Green is a vital program for instilling our city’s youth with confidence in their personal agency and self-determination as they make their way through life,” Mayor Ras Baraka said.
“In Newark, this is a priority – to foster democratic habits and include youth in the electoral process that is our American birthright,” Baraka said. “Because the next generation is now deciding what their future will be, we know Newark is moving toward environmental stability and ecological health.”
“Newark’s youth are not just imagining a more sustainable future – they are building it,” agreed Nicole Hewitt-Cabral, the city’s chief sustainability officer.
“Gen Green shows us what’s possible when young people are given the opportunity to lead,” Hewitt-Cabral said.
The program has hit home with students like Miracle Uzodimma, a Gen Green ambassador who attends Data Science High School.
“Once my math teacher explained this program in depth, I understood that I personally could help my city navigate heatwaves, keep our streets clean, and join my young cohorts in attaining goals that we hold dear and share with each other,” Uzodimma said.
According to the mayor’s office, Gen Green is partially funded by a grant from the Victoria Foundation and the Participatory Budgeting Project, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit. The Participatory Budgeting Project’s work in Newark was made possible with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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