New Community kicks off 45th Anniversary

New Community Corp. will kick-off the celebration of its 45th anniversary with a year-long series of events that will include a fireside chat, youth summit and the gala taking place in March of 2013.

The official anniversary kick-off ceremony will be held on March 29, 2012 at NCC headquarters, St. Joseph Plaza, in Newark. Newark Mayor Cory Booker is among those expected to attend the 11 a.m. event, which will feature testimonials from individuals whose lives have been improved by New Community's services and programs.

Then on March 9, 2013, New Community's 45th anniversary gala will be held at the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel and Conference Center in East Rutherford.

"Out of the Ashes Came Hope: New Community Corporation," is the anniversary theme, which points back to the organization's founding in 1968 after the Newark civil disturbances that left much of Newark's Central Ward in ruins. Monsignor William J. Linder, NCC president and CEO, and at the time a young, Catholic priest, founded New Community with a small group of Central Ward residents. The mission of New Community is to improve quality of life for inner city residents to reflect individual God -given dignity and personal achievement.

Today, New Community has grown to become one of the largest and most comprehensive community development agencies in the country, providing services to more than 50,000 individuals a year in areas including housing, healthcare, job training and education.

Photo above: Viewing the scale model of New Community, which started on a 45-acre tract of land in Newark's Central Ward in 1968, are from left, founder Monsignor William J. Linder; NCC's first attorney, the late Irvin B. Booker, who later was appointed an Essex County Superior Court judge; the late U.S. Congressman Joseph Minish; the late Willie Wright, NCC's first president and the late Joe Chaneyfield, one of the founding members of NCC and a former board vice president.