Montclair State University website • By Staff Writers Marilyn Lehren and Sylvia Martinez. Photos by University Photographer Mike Peters.
After school at Paterson’s Public School No. 15, in a neighborhood facing challenges, its community service programming is in full swing, with classes in the performing arts presented as a means to boost student achievement. Nicholas Rodriguez, the executive artistic director of Inner City Ensemble, leads elementary students in stillness, mindfulness, movement and more. The uniform-clad group of students mimic his moves, then dance through their routine as he plays Santana’s “Smooth.”
A Juilliard-trained dancer and choreographer, Rodriguez got his start with this same ensemble in his hometown of Paterson, dancing with his older brother in the group’s first performance. He’s come full circle, now running the arts nonprofit that ignited his passion for dance and provides free training and performing opportunities for underserved youths in Paterson.
Rodriguez is one of many who believe – despite its deep struggles – in Paterson’s promise. There is profound pride and a deep reservoir of hope among the city’s community activists, 110 nonprofits and volunteers that outcomes can be better, that streets can be safer, and fewer lives can be lost to addiction and gun violence.
In the year since Montclair State University announced a $1 million grant for a collective impact project called “One Square Mile,” focused on transforming New Jersey’s third-largest and one of its poorest cities, that hope has been renewed by movement to collaboratively advance racial justice and equity, improve health and foster student achievement.
Montclair President Jonathan Koppell addresses the One Square Mile advisory committee in October at The Brownstone in Paterson. The initiative is one of scores of projects in which the University and community collaborate to find solutions to pressing issues.
Funding from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation is going toward a new full-service community school at Eastside High School, offering English classes for adults and classes in the creative arts to teens. Four nonprofit organizations – with missions to help the homeless, address substance use, provide free meals to families, and help kids express themselves through dance and arts programming – have also received a slice of the Dodge Foundation funding.
This is just the beginning of a shared vision between the University and city advocates and leaders, one that aims to revitalize a concentrated area of the city. The One Square Mile initiative is engaged in finding community-driven solutions to the city’s crises.
Montclair is in it for the long term, says University President Jonathan Koppell, speaking in October at a meeting of the advisory group. “I don’t view this as a one-year project or a two-year project. I view this as a decades-long placement, where we together start to understand the ingredients of transformation on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis.”
Montclair Justice Studies Associate Professor Jason Williams, a scholar-activist who examines the experiences of young Black men with the American criminal justice system, adds: “When we think about the K-12 school system, when we think about the criminal legal system, when we think about substance use disorder, Paterson has great, great needs. The city has been abandoned for so long. I think the urgency requires that we focus on the city.”
Alexander Hamilton chose the Great Falls of the Passaic River for America’s first planned industrial center. The site once powered the machines turning out steam locomotives, Colt revolvers and aircraft engines. By the end of the 19th century, the silk industry had earned Paterson its nickname, “Silk City.”
University’s Commitment
The University has long been present in Paterson. Williams, for instance, works within the community addressing harm reduction and criminal justice reforms. In the public schools, Montclair faculty support teachers and school leaders in the district’s multicultural classrooms. The University’s Upward Bound staff prepare Paterson high schoolers for college. Robert Reid and Pauline Garcia-Reid – both Family Science and Human Development professors – collaborate on the Communities Organizing for Prevention and Empowerment or C.O.P.E. Initiative, with Montclair students assisting in classes aimed at preventing substance misuse and the spread of HIV among African American and Latino youths.
The University’s growing partnership also includes the revival of Hinchliffe Stadium, one of America’s last remaining Negro League ballparks, which sits next to the iconic Great Falls of the Passaic River. Montclair alumnus and Paterson native Chuck Muth ’77 and his wife, Laura, made a transformational $5 million gift that allows the University to partner in the creation and operation of a museum to tell the story of the league and the integration of baseball.
“The opportunity to work alongside Montclair State University on the stadium revitalization project presented a terrific way for me to give back in a meaningful way to the city that played such a pivotal and inspiring role in helping to build my personal foundation and launch a successful career in business,” Muth said when announcing the gift for the museum that will also serve as a community hub.