Our History. Our Drive. Our Passion.
Mission Statement
To empower and support disadvantaged individuals, youth, and families to achieve an improved quality of life through training, education, and advocacy.
History
The Montclair Neighborhood Development Corporation (MNDC) was founded in 1969 and incorporated on June 1, 1970. A group of concerned citizens and community activists, Polly Davis, Donald Clifton, Audrey Fletcher, Norman Mitchell and a few others were responsible for getting the agency up and running. A board of trustees was formed representing three targeted areas set aside by federal guidelines. The three targeted areas were as follows: Area A, Nishuane to Glenfield School; Area B, Rand School to Frog Hollow; and Area C, Glenridge Avenue and Bay Street. The funding to handle all administrative costs associated with running an office was supplied by the federally funded Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) program. The MNDC Adult School was started in 1969 and was funded by another grant program, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).
1970’s
Since its inception, in addition to its other services, MNDC has had programs specifically for young people. MNDC sponsored winter and summer basketball leagues, job training and work experience through the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). Also, the agency sponsored a summer offsite feeding program at Trinity Church and had bus trips to various locations. The Montclair Community Action Programs (MCAP) Basketball league serviced over 250 young people between the ages of 10 and 18 years old. The MCAP logo and name is still carried today as part of our Project Oasis program.
The summer feeding and enrichment program serviced boys and girls between the ages of 7 to 12. Each day the youngsters would participate in arts and crafts, games and each child received free lunch and a snack. Over 50 young people were serviced by this program.
In conjunction with CETA the agency provided on average 120 jobs and training for young people of working age, each summer. The training consisted of carpentry, lawn care, site development and general office skills.
MNDC sponsored summer trips to many facilities in the tri-state area. MNDC took young people to Bear Mountain, Sandy Hook, Asbury Park, and museums in NYC. Every summer over 300 youngsters attended these trips.
1980’s
The decade brought many spending cuts to the funding sources we relied upon in the 1970’s. MNDC was forced to cancel or curtail many of the programs designated for young people. The MCAP basketball program was discontinued for both the summer and winter. The CETA program numbers and opportunities were drastically decreased and the offsite feeding and enrichment programs were terminated.
MNDC was able to continue with the some of the summer trips. MNDC started a program which provided life skills for teenage females and a youth development program which provided cultural enrichment and academic support.
1990’s
In early part of the decade, the agency’s main focus shifted drastically within our youth development programs. The main focus was in the areas of drug awareness, HIV awareness, academic development, and conflict resolution and community involvement.
Late in the decade, after 30 years of service, the agency lost its administrative funding from the Community Service Block Grant due to internal issues and conflicts within the agency in Essex County which controlled the CSGB program locally. The agency still maintained its Adult School program and CDBG funding. The agency continued to provide walk-in referral assistance and administrative expenses were paid by fundraising, private and corporate contributions.
In 1997 the highly successful Project Oasis program was started and it has grown to be the mainstay of the agency and most people in town think of Project Oasis when they hear MNDC. The United Way of North Essex and Mountainside Hospital were the main funding source for the first three years of Project Oasis. In 1999, the agency hired a new Executive Director and the Board of Directors was restructured. This has lead to the rebirth of the agency and a renewed commitment to advocate and assist the disadvantaged in our community.
2003 to present
The United Way has continued their unwavering support of Project Oasis during this period with the one exception of 2009 when the financial crisis on Wall Street hit the entire country and employee contributions hit a all time low for them. The agency expanded their Summer Oasis program to the winter with the funds provided by a grant to bridge the academic achievement gap between minority students and their peers in the Montclair Public Schools. The grant was sponsored by the Honorable Senator Nia Gill and lasted for 3 years.
In 2005, the Honorable Senator Gill provided the agency with a onetime discretionary grant of $125,000 to continue the work being done on behalf of the disadvantaged in the community. Also, in the early part of 2005 Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver secured a $25,000 grant to upgrade the infrastructure in the office which resulted in a more professional working environment and updated technology.
In 2007, the agency partnered with the United Way of North Essex to get the CSBG funds back to Montclair. In this arrangement, The United Way was the lead agency and MNDC was a sub-contractor to the United Way. The agency was required to be incompliance with all of the CSBG requirements. The MNDC Board of Directors was restructured to be incompliance with the guidelines required by CSBG. The agency reopened under the new structure on September 1, 2007, with Albert Pelham as the Executive Director.
In 2010 the agency was selected to disburse Community Service Block grant ARRA funds (stimulus dollars) and Social Services for the Homeless ARRA funds. During this period we disbursed over $250,000 to eligible families which enabled them to avoid eviction from their homes and to keep their utilities on.
2013 finds the agency working hard to meet the challenges of the struggling economy and the drastic cuts that all social service agencies will experience with the new congress and the new federal budget.