1. Request for Funding To The Lena Willis Fund
From The Elizabethport Presbyterian Center
November 1, 2004
Organization:
Elizabethport Presbyterian Center
184 First Street
Elizabeth, NJ 07206
Executive Director: Mr. Roderick Spearman
908-351-4850 (voice) (908-35-8082 (fax)
HYPERLINK "mailto:epres1@verizon.net" epres1@verizon.net
Mission Statement:
The mission of the Elizabethport Presbyterian Center is to be a witness to the caring concern of Christ by providing
social services, childcare, youth programs, educational support, ethical and spiritual guidance to meet the needs of
the Elizabethport and Plainfield communities.
History & Accomplishments:
The Presbytery of Elizabeth, during the civil rights movement in 1965, founded the Elizabethport Presbyterian
Center as a mission in the Port section of Elizabeth, a largely African American community. The Presbytery then
recruited the Rev. Joseph H. Garlic as its first director. Rev. Garlic had the vision, courage and spiritual leadership
to provide a community anchor in a turbulent sea of change and upheaval. Today, the Elizabethport Presbyterian
Center provides services found nowhere else in Elizabeth. In the early 90’s the Presbytery requested the Center to
assume the direction of the Family Development Center in Plainfield. The Center is the catalyst for the spiritual &
economical revitalization in the poorest and most deprived sections of Elizabeth and Plainfield.
The Center, with the help of the State Division of Youth and Family Services, is creating family-strengthening
programs that keep families together. We offer the community computer-training classes for Welfare-to-Work
participants, outreach to seniors who are home bound, and safe-haven programs for children and youth. Hundreds
of neighborhood children come to our after-school and tutoring programs while families rely on our food
distribution programs. Our caring counselors and professional staff truly embody and live Christ’s teaching
everyday by providing social services programs, community activities, day care programs and civic partnerships.
Rebuilding and Revitalizing
Elizabethport's aging and declining neighborhood problem was epitomized by the Pioneer Homes and Migliore
Manor housing projects built in the 1940’s & 1960’s. Over the years the buildings were not maintained and they
became sanctuaries for criminals and drug dealers. However the oldest neighborhood in the City of Elizabeth is
now being transformed through government and private development. Elizabethport is being rebuilt and re-
vitalized, with new housing, planned business areas, and a growing influx of new residents.
The key part of this redevelopment is the Hope VI grant received by the City of Elizabeth from The Department of
Housing & Urban Development. The provisions of the Hope VI grant require not only the revitalization of public
housing sites but also the distribution of support services to public housing residents.
Current revitalization plans include townhouses on the waterfront areas that will contain office space and retail
outlets. Commercial development includes much needed retail outlets including supermarkets, pharmacies, video
stores and Laundromats. The Center is strategically located to provide social services in the Port.
The revitalization of the neighborhood is striking! Residents proudly go about their business, push strollers, go
grocery shopping and work on their cars. Physical differences are not the only changes that have taken place in
conjunction with the HOPE VI program. The Elizabethport Presbyterian Center is the key social service agency
that provides support services like day-care, job training and placement, transportation, health care services. To
meet the increased demand created by the Hope VI program, our targeted goals focus on increased training for jobs

2. that require greater skills and provide higher pay, increased accredited day care facilities so that parents can work,
and increased senior care facilities and programs. We implement an integrated approach to community development
and revitalization that analyzes complete systems rather than separate parts. The neighborhood is on the upswing
with rising real estate prices and booming private district wide development. The need is for an increase in
providing social services.
Elizabethport Center Programs that are Uplifting & Strengthening the Community!
Day Care and Family Development Programs are filled with smiles, success and scholastic achievement. The Center
currently operates 4 Abbott classrooms in Elizabethport and 6 in Plainfield. Our Elizabethport Center just received
NAETC accreditation. In Abbott districts (the Abbott program is pre-school for 3 and 4 year olds) there was a 46
percent drop in fourth-graders failing the language arts tests from 1998-2003. The Abbott districts are now nearly
up to the state average.
The Family Strengthening Program has a positive impact on family relations. This program teaches parents to set
rules, praise good behavior and invest time with their children. The program discourages threatening and critical
behavior, yelling, hollering, hitting and spanking. Parent behaviors improved with the value of parental love, setting
limits/rules, importance of actions/behaviors and stress recognition and prevention.
Traditional Social Services programs address the needs of low-income families in the community. We try to alleviate
poverty with our services that include a food pantry, casework services and senior programs. As the needed arises,
we are supported by all community agencies.
Work First Job Readiness Program as part of New Jersey’s Welfare-to-Work program is helping to alleviate
homelessness by self-sufficiency through employment. We partner with community businesses to secure jobs for
our clients. Some of our community partners include Burlington Coat Factory, Home Depot, Forman Mills and
Pathmark.
Statement of Need: Capital Fund Drive
If the Center is to respond to the communities greatly expanded need for services it must enlarge our facilities. We
have plans to expand our current operations in both Plainfield and Elizabethport. Our goal is to expand the
Plainfield Family Development Center to 15,000-square feet to provide 6 Abbott classrooms. The expansion in
Elizabethport will be 20,000-square feet and will contain one floor for 6 Abbott classrooms and a second floor for
offices and program rooms. The cost of the two projects is $6 million dollars. We plan to raise three million dollars
through the Capital Fund Drive and finance the remainder.
Elizabethport Presbyterian Center: We expect to break ground in June 2005. Our Center will be transformed from
out-dated building to a two-story community resource center. The first floor will have 6 Abbott classrooms and the
second floor will provide office space and program rooms for job training, computers, and senior citizen programs
and after school programs.
Plainfield Family Development Center: Our current program is housed in an old Grant Avenue house that is
literally falling apart and our landlord is reluctant to make the necessary repairs. The Center has purchased a
building site in the same neighborhood and will build a new facility to house the 6 Abbott classrooms. The new
facilities will help us prepare our 3-4 year old students to become emotionally, socially and academically ready for
grade school. The new Center will help us also achieve NAEYC accreditation in Plainfield. Both centers apply a
high scope curriculum with emphasis on developing verbal skills and visual concepts. The Plainfield Center is part
of the Resident Reader’s Program where volunteers visit the day care center regularly and read stories to the
children.
The Elizabethport Presbyterian Center Officers, Board of Directors and Key Staff
President: The Reverend Russell C. Block, Vice President: Mrs. Mary Jane Dryer, Secretary: Dr. William Reed,
Treasurer: Mr. Lewis Hurd, Board of Directors: Mr. Manny Grova, Jr., Councilman City of Elizabeth, Mr. Alan

3. Ford, Presbytery Council, Mr. William Ward, Mr. Phillip Hammond, Ms. Helen Mosley, Mrs. Edith Pryor, Ms. Alina
Stewart, Miss Debra Dixon, Executive Director: Mr. Roderick Spearman and all of the Center’s professional staff.