A FOCUS on Empowering the Community

Organization Helps Newark's Latinx Population with Services, Programs. 

The Latinx community makes up one-third of the population in Newark and is the fastest growing ethnic group in the city, driving Newark's population gains since 2010. To help the underserved in this community, as well as other marginalized people within the Lower Broad Street area, Victoria Foundation partners with FOCUS Hispanic Center for Community Development Inc. The organization is the oldest comprehensive provider of educational and social services to Latinx people in Newark with the goal of providing innovative and quality services and programs to advance the community toward self-sufficiency, growth, empowerment, and a better quality of life.

"Since FOCUS's incorporation, the Latinx community of New Jersey has grown exponentially, with an overwhelming increase in the greater Newark area alone," said Executive Director Maritza Aráuz. "However, despite this increase, economic growth has not accompanied that influx, and social service programs to assist these many individuals are needed now more than ever."

FOCUS has been "helping people help themselves" – everyone from adolescents to the elderly – for 57 years and provides the community with family support, youth development, emergency assistance, adult protective services, adult education and vocational training, senior daycare, and nutrition. In 2023, the organization served more than 6,700 individuals, many receiving multiple services.

Each day, the FOCUS team responds to the pressing needs of the community they serve. These necessities range from feeding the hungry; eviction prevention; and tutoring the youth. The programs are multi-generational and include talking, sharing meals, and even dance classes with older adults to increase connections and build relationships. FOCUS also supports parents with children with special needs. These programs are invaluable to the community and are vital to FOCUS's mission of advancing the community toward self-sufficiency, growth, empowerment, and a better quality of life.

Victoria Foundation has been privileged to witness FOCUS's dedication to the individuals, families, and communities they serve since the organization's inception more than five decades ago. When FOCUS opened its doors in 1967, it was Victoria Foundation that provided the initial startup grant to establish what was then called FOCUS Victoria Center.

Throughout the years, Victoria Foundation has invested nearly $2 million in grants to support FOCUS's invaluable programs and resources for the Latinx community. These programs include the agency's Employment Services Initiative; the Project Shadow Summer Program; Enable Puerta Al Futuro at Fairleigh Dickinson University, a Hispanic Family Arts and Culture Day; and COVID-19 related services for the organization's Newark constituents.

Since 2004, Victoria Foundation has also served as a Fiscal Sponsor for the Newark Debate Academy, which operates in partnership with FOCUS, and has provided grants totaling more than $1 million to help empower agents of change in the community through the discipline and model of academic debate.

"FOCUS and Victoria Foundation have established a meaningful connection that led to a successful long-term partnership that enabled our organization to increase its capacity to attain our mission," said Aráuz. "Our relationship is more like a family, with transparent and open communication and mutual trust as both organizations are enthusiastic about making a difference in neighborhood revitalization."

Victoria Foundation Executive Officer Craig Drinkard agreed with Aráuz's sentiments, saying "We are so grateful that organizations like FOCUS exist in Newark. Victoria Foundation envisions a thriving city where residents are self-determining, liberated, and connected, with plentiful opportunities. That vision mirrors FOCUS's mission of providing community leadership by developing a variety of health and human development initiatives to advance the community toward self-sufficiency, growth, empowerment, and a better quality of life. We both share the same goals, and our partnership ensures that we are proactive in creating the change our communities want and need."

For more information about FOCUS, visit www.focus411.org.