The project is the first initiative in Phase 2 of One Square Mile (OSM), the hyperlocal, place-based initiative supported by the designed to revitalize a designated area of Paterson that began in February 2023. Phase 2 will focus on creating housing solutions for Paterson residents in the first, fourth and fifth wards of the city over the next five years.

Through the partnership, will construct its 300th new home in the city of Paterson, a 3-bedroom, 2 bathroom home, which will be located at 45 Auburn Street. Other partners on the project include ADP and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.

“Universities, when utilized properly, can help bring about lasting change that benefits all people,” says Montclair President Jonathan Koppell. “Our work with the City of Paterson through the One Square Mile initiative and beyond has been driven by our community partners and has already yielded positive results. Our collaboration with Passaic County Habitat for Humanity will only build on our ongoing efforts and respond directly to the demonstrated need for affordable housing within Paterson.”

Creating Opportunities to Serve

The project will further Montclair’s commitment to creating hands-on learning and service opportunities as part of the One Square Mile initiative.

Students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to participate in the construction during a series of building days in July, August, September, October and November 2025, and January and February 2026, directly impacting the community by helping create a new home for a qualified family.

Housing Statistics in Paterson, NJ

Within One Square Mile’s designated area:

• The population has increased by 11% in the last 10 years – more than four times the rate of the rest of Passaic County (2.4%) and nearly twice the rate of the city of Paterson (7.4%)
• Residents have the highest rate (5%) of people living in overcrowded housing
• 58% of OSM residents are “rent-burdened,” which means they are paying more than 30% of their monthly income towards housing costs
• 92% of OSM residents are renters, leaving only 8% as homeowners

“Housing has become a national crisis, and in Paterson’s One Square Mile, this crisis is most acute,” says Passaic County Habitat for Humanity CEO Scott Millard. “The house we will begin construction on today represents a step towards addressing that crisis, and this step would not be possible without all the partners who have come together to make this step possible.”

One Square Mile Phase Two Goals

The project is the first designed to address the initiative’s five housing goals outlined at a special event in November 2024 that will be pursued over the next five years.

• Expand Housing Affordability: The Community Advisory Committee will look to expand affordable housing opportunities and advocate to create policies to expand opportunities.
• Increase Supply and Stability: Working with the City of Paterson, the Committee will seek to turn abandoned buildings and underutilized space into affordable housing, as well as create an eviction protection program to increase stability.
• Improve Housing Quality: The Committee will work to increase energy efficiency for residents and create safe housing in the One Square Mile area.
• Create Housing and Safe Neighborhoods: Wraparound services will be expanded for residents to help ensure safe neighborhoods, and community leader programming will be developed to foster the next generation of community leaders to ensure the area’s continued growth.
• Build Assets and Wealth: The Committee will create programming to educate residents on the benefits of homeownership as opposed to renting, and how it can create generational wealth for the city.

“Montclair’s collaboration with Passaic County Habitat for Humanity on the build project stems from the discovery phase of the One Square Mile initiative, where local residents identified housing as the top priority for our collective impact project,” says Montclair Associate Vice President for Community Partnerships Bryan Murdock. “This project serves as both a symbolic and concrete expression of the University’s commitment, alongside its community and philanthropic partners, to addressing the urgent housing crisis affecting residents within the OSM.”

����vlog and the City of Paterson

The second phase of One Square Mile is the latest achievement in the expanding relationship between ����vlog and the City of Paterson.

The University opened The Charles J. Muth Museum of Hinchliffe Stadium in April of 2024, which engages audiences in the history of the Negro Leagues and its famous players while creating learning opportunities for both Montclair students and the students of Paterson Public Schools.

The first phase of One Square Mile saw Paterson’s Eastside High School transform into a University-assisted community school through support from the Dodge Foundation and the work of community partners.

Ready to Start Your Montclair Journey?

Prospective Students: It’s not too late to apply! ����vlog is and deposits for fall 2025.

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Together, the three Hispanic-Serving Institutions will leverage their proximity and unique strengths and differences to better understand barriers and facilitators of student success with a particular focus on minority males, enhance support structures for them and improve retention and completion rates.

The 12-month project, titled “Empowering Minority Men in STEM: A Tri-Campus Hispanic-Serving Initiative,” is led by Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Junius Gonzales and co-principal investigators including:

• Daniel Jean, EdD, associate provost educational opportunity & success programs (����vlog)
• John A. Pelesko, PhD, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs (NJIT)
• Sotirios Ziavras, DSc, vice provost for graduate studies and dean of graduate faculty (NJIT)
• Weidong Zhu, PhD, interim vice president, academic affairs (Saint Peter’s University)
• Christina Mortellaro, PhD, assistant vice president for academic affairs and assessment (Saint Peter’s University)

Addressing a Key Challenge for Minority Male Students

The collaborative initiative aims to address an emerging challenge in higher education that shows a drop in men pursuing post-secondary education and graduate programs. These numbers are particularly stark for Latino, Black, and Native American men.

At many institutions, including Montclair, degrees awarded to minority men are flat or declining in comparison to women, where overall enrollments and completed degrees are growing. Retention and graduation rate gaps for these men lag, and in some STEM areas trends are worse. Even at HBCUs, male enrollment is declining.

How the ‘Empowering Minority Men in STEM’ Project Will Function

The tri-campus effort will follow a series of key goals that can help all students succeed in STEM graduate education, including:

• Create an organizational structure with four interdisciplinary teams with members from the three HSIs and key community units.
• Gather existing and new information about Black and Latino males’ entry, retention and completion of STEM graduate education from each institution, and identify multi-level institutional barriers and facilitators.
• Identify how academic program, department and college level barriers can be reduced, and how facilitators can be enhanced into shared capacity building, joint academic support services, academic program improvements or new designs.
• Understand the nature and strength of contextual influences such as family, peers, and community organizations on Black and Latino males’ entry into and success in STEM graduate programs.
• Recommend shared partnership changes in practices, structures, processes and policies to enhance equitable pathways for graduate programs in biology and computer science/data science, with a concrete outcome of a seed project to present to the Sloan Foundation and other prospective funders, including internal prospects at each institution.

The collaboration will also allow for the potential to share resources and create new efficiencies among the participating institutions to further create life-changing opportunities for students.

“The challenges that minority males face in higher education has been an area of focus for the University, as we recognize the importance of improving outcomes for these students – outcomes that can extend to families and communities,” says Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Junius Gonzales. “Collaborating with our partners at NJIT and Saint Peter’s University, with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, will give us a unique advantage to help create equitable pathways for our future leaders in STEM.”

About the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation makes grants primarily to support original research and education related to science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics. The Foundation believes that these fields—and the scholars and practitioners who work in them—are chief drivers of the nation’s health and prosperity. The Foundation also believes that a reasoned, systematic understanding of the forces of nature and society, when applied inventively and wisely, can lead to a better world for all.

“Today marks a milestone – a decade of collaboration, innovation and student-driven sustainability solutions,” said Amy Tuininga, director of the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies, as she welcomed the new Green Teams cohort May 28 at the program’s 10th anniversary launch event.

Since its inception, Montclair’s Green Teams program has grown into a powerful model of experiential learning and real-world problem solving. Hundreds of impactful deliverables have supported sustainable solutions for municipalities, nonprofits and corporations across New Jersey and beyond.

10 Years of Purpose-Driven Progress

This year’s Green Teams cohort includes 50 interns from 33 universities, 36 degree programs and 16 states – a reflection of the program’s growing impact. United by purpose, these students are applying their knowledge and skills to 10 projects that address urgent environmental challenges, including:

• Soil health and regenerative agriculture with drone and robotic tools (Foodshed Alliance)
• Flood risk mapping and GIS-based tools in Paterson (The Nature Conservancy)
• Urban greening and microforest creation in Bloomfield, Montclair and Newark
• Climate-smart infrastructure development with NJ Natural Gas, Eisai and the Port Authority of NY & NJ
• Inclusive workforce technology, including XR job training for adults with autism (Green Do Good)
• Schoolyard restoration and food forest planning at Hazel Avenue School in West Orange

Celebrating Long-Term Partnerships and Impact

“Some of our partners are long-time collaborators, while others are new to the Green Team family. Each one plays a vital role in shaping a more sustainable, equitable future,” said Tuininga.

����vlog President Jonathan Koppell praised the Green Teams program as a shining example of innovation and hope. In a world full of challenges, the program reminds us that solutions are not only possible – they’re happening right now, he said.

Dominique Lueckenhoff, executive vice president for Corporate Affairs, Environment, Health and Sustainability at Hugo Neu Corporation and keynote speaker, drew on her experience in government and private sector to urge long-term thinking and purposeful action.

She called for a “resilience revolution” to transform markets, infrastructure and communities – reminding us that sustainability means reimagining the systems we rely on, not merely reacting to crises.

“We stand at a crossroads. Choices we make today about our securities, markets, infrastructure and communities will shape generations to come.”

2025 Green Team Projects at a Glance

• Sustainable Land & Agriculture
  • and its : Drone and soil data for regenerative agriculture
  • : Food forest planning and flood analysis
• Urban Greening & Resilience
  • , , : Microforests, tree mapping, green infrastructure
• Water & Emissions Management
  • : Water audits and drought strategies
  • : Scope 3 emissions tracking
  • : CO₂ reuse feasibility
• Climate Adaptation & Risk
  • (Paterson): Flood mitigation and GIS risk mapping
• Inclusive Tech & Workforce Innovation
  • : Virtual-reality modules for autism-inclusive training

The Green Teams program is funded through the generous support of the PSEG Foundation, the National Science Foundation, USDA and NASA.

Discover Where Science Meets Purpose

At ����vlog, the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies and the College of Science and Mathematics advance real-world environmental solutions through research, innovation and collaboration.

Learn more about the Green Teams program and how to get involved.

Journalists: Contact our Media Relations team to request assets or schedule an interview.

​The ����vlog Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Kyle Ritenauer, is composed of undergraduate and graduate students and performs repertoire from all periods by classical and modern composers. The concert included works by IMR composer Jake Runestad, Artist in Residence Daniel Bernard Roumain, student winners of the John J. Cali School of Music’s annual concerto competition for voice and piano, and Mussorgsky’s colorful masterpiece Pictures at an Exhibition. The concert also featured artist Helena Chywski painting in real time to the music.

Vice President for Development and Alumni Engagement Rita Walters welcomed guests, sharing, “It is terrific to spend time together and be able to thank you personally for supporting Montclair and our amazing students.”

Among the invited guests were members of the President’s Club, which is the University’s leadership annual giving society; the Carpe Diem Society, those who have committed legacy gifts; and members of the 1908 Loyalty Society, donors who give consecutively, some of whom have been donating to Montclair every year for more than 30 years.

“Never has it been more important to underscore the role of philanthropy in building a great University and in supporting our fantastic students,” said Montclair President Jonathan Koppell in addressing guests.

“Making the highest level of education available to everyone is, was and always will be the purpose of this institution,” said Koppell. “Thank you for your philanthropic investment … and helping us give our students the quality education they deserve.”

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The five-year grant will enable the creation of the Collaborative Media Resource Hub to support 20 journalism collaboratives and provide substantial help to new and existing U.S.-based collaborative initiatives, with the goal of creating sustainable models for local news collaboration that directly benefit their communities. Journalism collaboratives are used to describe a group of journalism and non-journalism organizations that work together on a shared journalistic or storytelling initiative.

“This transformative investment from Knight Foundation will allow us to significantly scale our work in collaborative journalism at a critical time for local news in the United States,” said Stefanie Murray, director of the Center for Cooperative Media. “We’ve spent years studying and supporting collaborative journalism initiatives, and we know that when news organizations work together, they can better serve their communities while building stronger, more sustainable operations.”

The grant will continue the work started under a previous Knight-funded program, the , that was run by the Solutions Journalism Network and spearheaded by veteran journalist Liza Gross. Gross joins the Hub as senior adviser to help provide continuity to the project. Amy Maestas, who also worked previously on the initiative at Solutions Journalism Network, joins the Hub as director.

The grant will support positions to launch collaboratives, including financial support of up to $50,000 and coaching focused on revenue development and sustainability.

The Hub aims to support the creation of four new collaboratives each year over the five-year grant period, with a focus on creating sustainable models that can attract local support and investment. The initiative has set a goal of helping collaboratives raise an additional $2.5 million in local support over five years.

“The future of local news depends on innovation in both journalism and business models,” said Duc Luu, Director of Journalism at Knight Foundation. “The Center for Cooperative Media has proven that local newsrooms are increasingly willing to work collaboratively to serve their communities instead of competing for the latest scoop. Collaborative journalism can enhance news coverage while making their operations more efficient. This grant will help scale that approach across the country.”

The Hub will measure the success of these collaboratives not just by their financial sustainability, but by their impact on their communities. By the second year of operation, at least 50% of the collaboratives are expected to meet agreed-upon community impact metrics.

Since 2017, the Center for Cooperative Media has studied and advocated for collaboration in journalism. The Center publishes research related to journalism collaboration, hosts the annual Collaborative Journalism Summit, maintains , compiles a biweekly newsletter about partnership in journalism, runs a community of practice for journalism collaboration managers, and has built a database tracking more than 1,000 collaborations.

Organizations interested in learning more about launching or joining a collaborative can email Amy Maestas at maestasa@montclair.edu or Stefanie Murray at murrayst@montclair.edu.

About the Center for Cooperative Media

The is a grant-funded program of the School of Communication and Media at ����vlog. Its mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism and support an informed society in New Jersey and beyond.

About Knight Foundation

We are social investors who support a more effective democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once published newspapers. Learn more at .