FOCUS was established in 1967 at the height of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty campaign. With a $30,000 government grant, a tenacious founder, Dr. Jose Rosario, and a staff of three, the organization began its work sponsoring educational and developmental programs to improve quality-of-life and promote self-sufficiency within Newark’s indigent community. FOCUS’ human and financial resources have continually strengthened over the past 43 years, enabling FOCUS to offer a greater variety of services and to help an increasing number of clients. The organization now stands as a leader in New Jersey’s social services sector with over 100 employees and $13 million in assets.
For over 43 years, FOCUS has delivered services to the poor, while endeavoring to help change the tenor of their lives from need to independence. Diverse social-service programs and a workforce eager to embrace the challenge of administering those services combin d to produce an environment rich with solutions to the needs and concerns of the poor and ripe with hope for self-sufficiency.
But the environment has changed; the middle-class is becoming the new poor, experiencing conditions akin to those of the poor, but without supports and services to address their needs and halt impoverishment. The emergent environment of poverty among the middle class has created new challenges.
FOCUS intends to lead in addressing the needs of this new environment. We propose to:
• Raise awareness of the emergent environment of poverty. This environment affects not
only the middle class, but it encompasses and further oppresses the poor.
• Research areas and solutions for concerted effort to stem the advancement of poverty
within the middle class.
• Develop and implement strategies to address, remediate and reduce the plight of the
middle-class by providing and supporting key foundations to help them maintain self-
sufficiency.
• Continue helping the poor to gain independence, while cognizant of the increased
restraints an environment of middle-class poverty bears.
• Continue vital services to the poor.
