Funding
During its first three years of operation, CityWorks will be supported by grant funds from local foundations and public sources. Projections call for a three-year budget of approximately $3 million
Over time, CityWorks plans to support a portion of its costs with developer consulting fees built into project development budgets.
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) has made a financial commitment to CityWorks. Three foundations, the Fund for New Jersey, the Garfield Foundation and the Surdna Foundation, have also invested. The EDA, the Fund for New Jersey and the Garfield Foundation are represented on the CityWorks' Board of Trustees.
New Jersey Economic Development Authority
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) is an independent, self-supporting State entity dedicated to building vibrant, diverse communities by financing businesses and non-profits, offering real estate development and technical services, supporting entrepreneurial development, and financing quality public schools. It seeks to strengthen and broaden the State's economic base through business expansion and attraction, job creation and retention, and the revitalization of underutilized properties.
The EDA creates public/private partnerships to bridge financing gaps and to increase access to capital by the State's business community with an emphasis on small and mid-size businesses and not-for-profit organizations. It supports entrepreneurial development through training and mentoring programs, undertakes real estate development projects important to the State's economic growth, creates new jobs and business opportunities, and encourages community development and improvement.
The Fund for New Jersey
In December, 1969, the family of the late Mr. and Mrs. Charles F. Wallace of Westfield, New Jersey, created what is known today as The Fund for New Jersey. The Trustees embarked on a policy to "maximize contributions to social improvements." The geographic scope of The Fund was limited to New Jersey to favor promotion of public discussion and awareness of New Jersey's neglected problems and to support organizations acting on them. Grants were made for public interest research and litigation and policy analysis, as well as efforts to deal with inner-city misery.
Over the years, The Fund has attempted to improve the quality of public policy decision-making in New Jersey. The Fund has supported efforts to empower citizens with relevant information presented in usable and understandable form, as well as efforts to analyze alternative approaches to significant social problems, and to monitor specific governmental activity.
The Funds' grants promote projects that share a higher purpose of furthering effective democracy through a range of methods encompassing education, advocacy, public policy analysis, and community problem-solving.
The Surdna Foundation
The Surdna Foundation was established in 1917, by John Emory Andrus to pursue a range of philanthropic purposes. John Andrus, an investor and businessman, operated the Arlington Chemical Company, which manufactured typical medicines of the late 1800s, and distributed them worldwide. Mr. Andrus' holdings included several buildings and land in Minneapolis, Minnesota, large timber tracts in California, mineral-rich acres in New Mexico, as well as significant land holdings in Florida, New Jersey and Alaska. In his 60s, he was elected mayor of Yonkers, New York, followed by four terms in the U.S. Congress. He held long-term posts as a trustee of Wesleyan University and as a director of New York Life Insurance Company.
Mr. Andrus founded the Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial in 1923, as a tribute to his beloved wife. She had been orphaned as a child, and Mr. Andrus took the old Dyckman farm in Westchester County, New York, and established an orphanage. Later, in 1953, his youngest child, Helen Benedict (as Chairman of Surdna), built the John E. Andrus Memorial, a retirement home for 200 elderly residents on land adjacent to the Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial. She and the Foundation thereby completed his expressed wish that his legacy provide "opportunity for youth and rest for old age." In the early 1970s, the board of the Julia Dyckman Andrus Memorial shifted its programmatic emphasis to serve as a residential treatment, special education and diagnostic center for emotionally disabled children.
Family stewardship of Surdna over the years has been informed by Mr. Andrus' values: thrift, practicality, modesty, loyalty, excellence and an appreciation for direct service to those in need. These values have been applied both to oversight of the two Memorials and to more general grant programs. In 1989, the third and fourth generations of the Andrus family on the Surdna board established programs in Environment and Community Revitalization and decided to enlarge the professional staff to broaden the Foundation's effectiveness. In 1994, programs in Effective Citizenry and the Arts were added. The Nonprofit Sector Support Program was added in 1997 to address crosscutting issues affecting the sector.