Lessons from Newark
Why Brick City Is Good For Business
The last place anyone would have
chosen to move to over the last
four decades was Newark, N.J.
The city affectionately coined Brick
City for its many high-rise housing
projects has been best known for its
high crime rate and poor educational
system ever since the riots in 1967.
But as some business leaders, including those at DiversityInc, are realizing,
Newark is regaining its glory as a burgeoning business mecca where diversity is paramount.
ROBYN HELLER GERBUSH
I hope through this column I
am able to deliver a lesson or two
from the great educators, business
leaders and community activists
who are helping Newark to realize
its potential.
Among the latest crop of newcomers to join Newark’s revitalization are DiversityInc’s partners and
cofounders, Luke Visconti and Foulis
Peacock, who moved their media
company to Newark in February.
The city of Newark offers its business community a diverse pool of talent from varying cultures and economic backgrounds, access to major
transportation, and proximity to
New York City. The New Jersey
Performing Arts Center, the neighboring restaurants, and the minor-league baseball stadium are bringing
the downtown district alive as well.
An urban city with a population
of 250,000, Newark offers a plethora of cultures within its mix of races.
The city is predominately black ( 52
percent), with a large Caribbean-,
Haitian-, and African-American
population. Latinos comprise another large segment of the population
BY SAKINA SPRUELL
Managing Editor — editor@DiversityInc.com
Newark thriving. So,
in short, Newark has
a lot more to offer
than crime and poor
education.
When I personally
moved to Newark
almost four years ago,
I must admit I was a
bit reluctant. I, like
many, clung to the
myths and negative
hype of what Brick
City had to offer—a
car-jacking and a beg-
ging bum or two. But
during my five-
month stint as press
secretary and
spokesperson for
now-Mayor Cory
Booker during his
mayoral campaign
earlier this year,
The view from I got to see first-
DiversityInc’s 15th- hand what
floor office over-
looks Broad Street Newark has to
in Newark, N.J. offer. I soon
learned that
Newark has a few public and charter
schools that will make the suburbs
envious. Then, of course, there are
the highly reputable universities:
Rutgers University, Seton Hall Law,
New Jersey Institute of Technology,
the community college and the host
of trade schools.
It’s time to put our biases aside
when we think of urban areas and
start to re-invest in America’s oldest cities. Not only do history lessons lie in the bricks of this
metropolis—but there is still history to be made here.
A veteran journalist, Sakina Spruell
joined DiversityInc in August. DI
( 32 percent) and their ethnicities
span from Portuguese to Mexican.
White people comprise 22 percent
of the city. A large percentage of the
white group are Russians, who make
up such a decent portion of the city’s
West Ward population that Mayor
Cory Booker had many of his 2006
mayoral-campaign materials translated into Russian (in addition to
Spanish and Portuguese).
Situated only 10 miles from
New York, Newark is attracting and
maintaining big business. Among
the many employers in Newark are
PSE&G, IDT, Prudential Financial
(No. 48 on The 2006 DiversityInc
Top 50 Companies for Diversity®
list) and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Together, these companies employ
more than 6,000 people that keep
