Newark Alliance Unveils Long-Term Strategic Vision to Advance Newark’s Renaissance into one of America’s Great Cities

On Aug 3, 2017

Newark Alliance, Newark’s leading major corporation and anchor institution roundtable, unveiled its new strategic plan to contribute to the city’s long-term progress yesterday evening at the Prudential Center. Alliance President and CEO Kimberly McLain, along with special guest Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, unveiled the plan, which will serve as an innovative roadmap to guide the organization over the next several years as it seeks to work with civic and community stakeholders to create an environment for Newark businesses and residents alike to prosper.

“The Alliance is well-positioned to be a change agent to cultivate the revitalization of Newark, ensuring the city’s businesses and residents are able to thrive and compete in our 21st century global economy,” said Kimberly McLain, President and CEO of Newark Alliance. “After engaging in constructive conversations with hundreds of local businesses, leaders, stakeholders and residents throughout the city, state, and country, I’m proud of the plan we have created together, as I believe it is a true reflection of the Newark of tomorrow that is possible if we all do our part to help make it happen.”

Business and community leaders from across the city and state of New Jersey were brought together at the event to better understand the rich history of the Alliance, as well as its strategic priorities that will support the growth of Newark’s local economy, and its contributions to the surrounding region. The new strategic plan adopts a new approach that both reflects, and takes full advantage of, Newark’s position as a regional player in order to create an inclusive environment for businesses and residents and allow all Newark stakeholders to thrive.

“During my time as Mayor of Newark I worked closely with partners like the Newark Alliance to create jobs, launch the greatest period for economic development in Newark in decades, and lift up Newarkers across the city,” said U.S. Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey and former mayor of Newark. “Under the direction of Kimberly McLain, the Newark Alliance has laid out a new long-term strategic vision that uses a multi-layered approach to not only support existing initiatives, but to also foster new projects and help this great city continue to prosper well into the future.”
Newark Alliance has adopted three priorities that are aligned to the organization’s mission and leverage the strength and expertise of its membership: workforce development, economic development, and anchor collaboration.

• Workforce Development: The Alliance will establish a trained, competitive workforce in Newark that can respond to the evolving needs of the regional labor market.
• Economic Development: The Alliance will draft a compelling, unified economic development agenda for Newark that brings together local capacity, bolsters investment, fosters economic inclusion, and grows a vibrant Newark population—both downtown and in the neighborhoods.
• Anchor Collaboration: The Alliance will mobilize the capacity of Newark’s anchor institutions, such as local universities, hospitals, sports teams, and corporate headquarters, to advance the city’s resurgence as an urban center for innovation and economic growth.

In addition to these three clear priorities, the Alliance will also continue to play a supportive role towards efforts already underway and aligned with the organization’s work, specifically related to the educational, public safety, and cultural conditions of Newark. The Newark City of Learning Collaborative, the Safer Newark Council, and the Newark Arts Council are strong examples of the robust community-based collaborations with institutional capacity that the Alliance will continue to partner with and support.

“Newark Alliance has for many years been an important force for the revitalization of our city. Today, the Alliance is playing a critical role in ensuring that all citizens of Newark benefit from our city’s recent surge of development and investment,” said Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka. “Newark Alliance, under the leadership of Kimberly McLain, is critical to our Hire.Buy.Live. Newark initiative, and the Alliance’s new strategic plan is another step forward toward social, economic and racial justice in Newark.”

Additionally, the Alliance will continue to provide support to cross-sector initiatives, such as Newark 2020, a city-wide workforce initiative recently launched, which aims to connect 2,020 Newark residents to sustainable, living-wage employment by 2020. Newark 2020 is currently being spearheaded by Newark Alliance, in partnership with the City of Newark and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.

“For almost 20 years, the Alliance’s strong collaborative spirit has been vital toward ensuring Newark has been able to leverage resources and expertise across our community in order to move our city forward,” said Dennis M. Bone, Newark Alliance chairman and Director of the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship at Montclair State University. “On behalf of the Newark Alliance board, I am thrilled to have Kimberly at the helm to build upon the Alliance’s success and lead our organization forward for broader impact across our community. Kimberly is the right leader for the Alliance at this critical time in Newark’s evolution, and has successfully set the stage for a refreshed and revitalized Alliance to foster the economic revitalization of our great city, which will deliver prosperity to Newark residents and businesses alike.”

The Newark Alliance strategic plan will build on the strong legacy and solid foundation that the Alliance has already paved over the course of the past 18 years. Since its inception, Newark Alliance has served as a strategic partner to the City of Newark, providing direct support for major citywide initiatives, managing cross-sector, multi-million dollar grants to spur workforce and economic development activity, and establishing a regional workforce collaborative that has created career pathways for over 1,000 low-skilled and incumbent workers.

“We believe Newark Alliance will be a driving factor in the revitalization of this city and its development into a true, formidable regional player. We have carved a path that will allow us to effectively pursue our mission, and to improve the way people live, learn, work, play and do business in the City of Newark, for the benefit of everyone within the Newark footprint: residents, businesses, students, tourists, and visitors alike,” Kimberly McLain added.

Kimberly McLain began serving as the President and CEO of the Alliance in the spring of 2016. As President and CEO, she sets the strategic vision for the organization, represents the Alliance to business, corporate and civic communities and leads its work in partnership with a variety of Federal, state and local stakeholders.

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