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Re:think Original

Crafted by The Atlantic’s marketing team and paid for by Prudential

Re:think Original

Photo Gallery: Hire Local, Buy Local, and Live Local

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Photo Gallery: Hire Local, Buy Local, and Live Local

No one knows how deep Newark’s transformation goes better than the people who make a home and a living here, who have seen change—sometimes painstaking, but always welcome—gradually take hold.
- DRIVING NEWARK’S REVIVAL
- HIRE LOCAL
- BUY LOCAL
- LIVE LOCAL
- PHOTO GALLERY
- Q&A
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DRIVING NEWARK'S REVIVAL

Photo Gallery: Hire Local, Buy Local, and Live Local

Photography: Jason Gould

By all accounts, the city of Newark is experiencing a renaissance. “This is our Newark, Newark 3.0, Newark forward,” Mayor Ras Baraka declared during his latest State of the City address, and that energy is palpable in the city: New businesses and homes keep cropping up, and residents are finding more and better jobs within their city’s boundaries. No one knows how deep Newark’s transformation goes better than the people who make a home and a living here, who have seen change—sometimes painstaking, but always welcome—gradually take hold.

Hire Local

AeroFarms, the world's largest indoor vertical farm, is in the heart of Newark's Ironbound district. The company harvests up to two million pounds of produce every year.

AeroFarms is seeking to employ its local community as well as feed it: Almost half of its employees live in Newark. Melanie Walters's commute is now only 10 minutes long, meaning she can spend more time with her kids. READ THE FULL STORY

Newark's incentives that focus on local employment and training allowed Takia Filmore to open up her own bakery, Kia's Cakes. She's contracted to supply baked goods to Newark's Beth Israel Hospital—the first time she has been able to live and work in the same city. READ THE FULL STORY

Buy Local

Khalif Thomas' Newark-based company, Rock Ya Socks LLC, got its start designing screen-printed socks for local high schools. After a successful patient trial, Rock Ya Socks became the sock supplier to Beth Israel Medical Center last November.

Thomas is trying to line up more hospitals to buy socks, and plans to move all his manufacturing into Newark. He hopes to make Rock Ya Socks the only sock manufacturer based on the East Coast. READ THE FULL STORY

Live Local

Charlotte and William Chappel have been property owners in downtown Newark since the early 1980s. The neighborhood has changed dramatically since then.

Almost four decades ago, the Chappels' car was stolen regularly—today, that same neighborhood is now buzzing with new development, business, and activity.

The brownstone buildings are now in the heart of a Rutgers campus, and close to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, one of the largest performance spaces in the country. READ THE FULL STORY

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