Honorable Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Chief Sustainability Officer Nathaly Agosto Filión invite you to participate in a series of community conversations about how to make your neighborhood—and all of Newark—more sustainable.

Each event will feature remarks by Mayor Baraka and community leaders about the City’s efforts to advance urban sustainability, environmental health, community greening, quality of life and green economic opportunities for Newark residents. We ask that you come prepared to share your concerns, hopes, and ideas for how we can all work together to make Newark a greener, cleaner, and healthier place to live.

• Saturday, July 22 from 10 am to 1 pm, UVSO Senior Center: West Ward Community Conversation on Quality of Life. (English flyer)
• Thursday, July 27 from 6: 30 pm to 8:30 pm, Down Bottoms Farm: East Ward Community Conversation on Environmental Justice.(English/Español/Portugués)
• Saturday, July 29 from 10 am to 1 pm, Vincent Lombardi Community Center: North Ward Community Conservation on Quality of Life.(English/Español)
• Saturday, August 5 from 10 am to 1 pm, NAN Newark Tech World: South Ward Community Conversation on Environmental Health. (English)
• Saturday, September 30 from 10 am to 1 pm, Bethany Baptist Church: Central Ward Celebration of Community Green Spaces. For a full program of events, visit https://tinyurl.com/NWKGreen.

Why are these events happening?

The Newark Office of Sustainability has planned the “Summer Sustainability Series” as a way to solicit input from Newark residents and interested stakeholders regarding urban sustainability, environmental health, community greening, quality of life, and green jobs.  

What is sustainability? Why update the Sustainability Action Plan?

The City of Newark Sustainability Action Plan was published in 2013 and lays out strategies for making Newark’s environment a positive force in the life of the City. In it, the City of Newark commits to pursuing the vision of a healthy, green, vibrant city. The goals of the Plan are captured in the term “sustainability,” which means promoting environmental, social, and economic well-being over the long-term. 

Today, nearly five years later, the City of Newark is facing a new set of challenges—and has the chance to take advantage of new opportunities. The City has leveraged state and federal resources and organizational partnerships to promote energy efficiency, boost recycling, plant trees, increase urban farming, reduce air pollution, clean up brownfields, and more. The Sustainability Action Plan update process will build on all the work that has been done to date, laying out a work plan for how City departments, partner agencies, local organizations and committed residents can work together to move Newark’s sustainability agenda forward over the coming years.

In the next couple months, the Office of Sustainability will be uploading additional information regarding the Sustainability Action Plan update process. If you’d like to stay informed, please sign up to join the Newark Sustainability mailing list: https://newark.seamlessdocs.com/f/SustainabilitySignUp.

The 2013 Sustainability Action Plan can be found at: goo.gl/nvw7Gb.

To review the Office of Sustainability Library, please visit: https://www.newarknj.gov/viewer/sustainability.