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In the middle of New Brunswick, the 57-block Esperanza neighborhood serves as the city’s main gateway and port of entry for majority Latino immigrants seeking a better life in the United States. More than even many native-born Americans, immigrants often arrive in communities like Esperanza with an unwavering sense of their American Dream. Whether pushed out of their home countries by violence or pulled by tales of economic opportunity, immigrants carry with them the conviction that their sacrifices will yield a better future in the U.S. for themselves and their children. The name Esperanza – meaning “hope” in Spanish – says it all.

Since 2014, NBT is putting our forty-plus years of social revitalization experience at the service of Esperanza’s immigrant residents and their native-born neighbors through the Esperanza Neighborhood Project. We conduct intensive outreach and leadership development to equip residents to step up as engaged civic leaders, reaching out to thousands of their neighbors and making their voice heard at City Hall. Together we plan and carry out neighborhood improvement strategies and advocacy campaigns on the issues they deem most important. These efforts have resulted in the passage of local ordinances to expand low-wage workers’ rights, promote immigrant inclusion, and tackle abandoned and vacant properties.

1) Empowering Neighborhood Leaders

Intensive outreach and leadership development is equipping Latino community members to step up as engaged civic leaders, reaching out to thousands of their neighbors and making their voice heard at City Hall. Community advocacy has already resulted in the passage of local ordinances to expand low-wage workers’ rights, promote immigrant inclusion, and tackle abandoned and vacant properties.

2) Supporting Families

Our innovative Family Leadership Academy is supporting families in our community to pursue their goals of stability and economic mobility, while saving for a better future. Forty families have graduated thus far, saving a total of over $85,000 and achieving goals in health, education, career, and finances.

3) Equipping Entrepreneurs

Small business technical assistance complemented by joint marketing and creative corridor improvements is taking the neighborhood’s commercial district to the next level as a Latino cultural destination. We are also launching a community marketplace with training available to help community micro-entrepreneurs translate their skills into income-generating businesses.

4) Creating Safe Neighborhoods

Our neighborhoods, in many ways, define our opportunities. When we consider some of New Brunswick’s most chronic challenges – crime and safety, housing, education, and access to care services – opportunities expand or contract depending on how well we address those challenges in specific neighborhoods.

Our goals for the Crime Watch Safety Group include:

1. Improve neighborhood cleanliness and aesthetics
2. Enhance neighborhood safety
3. Remove property blight from neighborhoods
4. Increase access and usage of parks & gardens