On Saturday, August 3, four college students from Newark went to the yard behind the neighborhood elementary school to hang out with each other.  They were shot in a particularly gruesome manner that the media labeled “execution style.”  One survived and identified at least one of the several men and teenaged boys who are now accused of having carried out this heinous crime. 

The shooting galvanized the city’s and the nation’s attention for several weeks.  We join in mourning the loss of these young people.  The parents of the murdered students responded with grief and an extraordinary measure of grace and compassion.  They prayed for their own children and for the children  -- two of them were fifteen years old --  who  have been accused of taking part in the crime.  They called on parents throughout the city to love their own children, and to teach them right from wrong.  They refused to blame any one individual for their grievous loss, but called on the people of Newark to work together to make the city a safe place for all children.

Will their pleas be answered?  Will we remember these students by taking action to make Newark, and other cities and towns in New Jersey, safe and supportive places for families to raise their children, and for children to flourish and thrive?

Since 1988, the Schumann Fund for New Jersey has worked with and supported non profit organizations in Newark, in Essex County and in the state.  We focus on three areas --   early childhood development, school innovation and environmental protection – because we believe that when children have a good start in life, when they have access to schools that challenge them to think critically and to achieve academically, and when they have safe places to play and experience the natural world – they will grow up to be good citizens in our increasingly complex world.

We have pledged to work with the Newark Public Schools, the Greater Newark Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land to reclaim the schoolyard in which Iofemi Hightower, Deshon Harvey, Terrance Aeriel and Natasha Aeriel were shot, to make it a safe place for children to play and learn.  But these students were not the only young people in Newark succeeding in school, participating in their community and dreaming of finishing college.  All of these children deserve good schools and safe places to play and learn. 

The organizations we supported in 2006 are working to make these dreams a reality for all of our children, by providing the educational, recreational and social services these children need and deserve, and by working for changes in public policy that will ensure that programs – preschools, schools, social services, safe places to play and after school activities --  that work for children and families are sustained, expanded and funded with an appropriate mix of public and private funds to ensure that all families can have access to them.  In these pages, we have briefly described the work of the organizations we fund.  We encourage you to learn more about each by visiting their web sites.