NewarkPulse Celebrates 5 Years!

Dear Reader, 

I was going to let our 5th anniversary slide by, but 5 years seemed pretty big. We’re not ones for hype or hoopla… we like to do what we need to do – sharing positive Newark stories – and move on. A few months ago I was honored by Newark’s Circle of Sisters as a Woman on Fire and I didn’t seize the opportunity to fully share my thoughts and realized that many don’t know our story nor the depth of what we’ve done in Newark. 

I was brought to Newark in 2008 to assist the city in its first Restaurant Week after successfully doing it around the state (Hudson Restaurant Week is on its 11th year). Little did I know I would fall in love with an amazing Newarker (and activist), Kai Campbell, as well as this city. I launched NewarkPulse.com in 2010 to spread the “Good News” of Newark that was being skipped over by other outlets. 

I have been so fortunate to have met hundreds and more than likely thousands of people of Newark or with Newark in their hearts. I have tried to share as many stories as I can, however, I often can’t keep up with my inbox. 

For Kai and I, running NewarkPulse.com has been one of passion rather than profits. We love Newark – we live here, are raising our two daughters here, are active in organizations and different communities, we are on boards and committees and we endlessly promote Newark.

Oh and yes, we have also invested in Newark and opened a restaurant on Halsey Street – Burger Walla. We serve top quality items, we share our space for open mics and community events, we have hired Newarkers and we spend our money in Newark. Aside from promoting Shop Local - we live it and think everyone should too: Shop Local | Eat Local and Support Local Media!

Thank you to those that have supported NewarkPulse from the beginning by reading, offering help, writing and sending in photos, advertising and buying NewarkPulse neighborhood maps.

Below is a timeline and a little tooting of our own horn!

NEWARKPULSE.COM
Over five years we have reached nearly 1 million unique visitors! They typically visit 3 pages per session – that means nearly 3 million stories about Newark have been viewed.  We were hacked three times but never let that slow us down. We are not only a website about businesses, people, organizations and events that make up Newark – we have also touched people in person and in print. 

EVENTS & PROMOTIONS
We launched NewarkPulse.com in 2010 while coordinating the Halsey Street Block Parties, which were the most successful in getting people on the street while involving the most small businesses. We have hosted three Shop Local campaigns, a city-wide Happy Hour and distributed $5 vouchers to get corporate workers into our streets. And in 2013, we got together every small business organization to create the first-ever Newark Small Business Week. 

PRINT
We have ventured off-line with a College Guide to Newark that is distributed to 12,000+ students on-campus at every university, graduate school, and college in Newark.  We also publish a Downloadable summer guide for the hundreds of events that come to life in Newark, which is annually downloaded over 13,000 times!

COMMUNITY
Being a part of a  community is important to us and the reason why we have invested and live in Newark. Kai and I have hosted nights out with couples that live in Newark, I have co-created a Newark Mommies group for playdates and more, and we sit on several boards and committees to not only talk about things but do them too!<br><br>

WHAT’S TO COME
We are excited about the future of Newark and our role in it. We will be debuting a new look and website this year with a more robust backend. We are curating unique and different events for people to experience Newark and it’s businesses in new ways. We have already scheduled a mini Bartending class, Beer tasting in the Fall, Sip n Sew class, Pizza Making Demo at Monk Room, Bollywood Dance Class, Scavenger Hunt and more to come! 

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
We are often asked how people can participate and help! It’s EASY:
- Share NewarkPulse.com, our emails, our events, our social posts!
- Send us stories about you (Meet Your Neighbor), local events, Food Porn
- Support us by buying a Newark neighborhood map or contributing 
- Join our community board 
- AND Share some more!

Let’s get 10 million positive stories about Newark read in the next two years!<br><br>

Tamara
Proud Newarker

PS. Sorry for it's length, I guess I had a lot to share!