NEWARK, NJ — Shovels dug into the earth, steadily burying the roots of five delicate saplings, as dark clouds loomed above this new Littleton Avenue park, near 14th Street. But the rain didn't come.

In some ways, the scene on the morning of July 27 mimicked where Newark's West Ward is right now: Crime and other social problems linger, but a group of community partners ...

NEWARK, NJ - “You have to make cleanup fun,” declares Brenda Anderson, winner of this year’s New Jersey Clean Communities Council (NJCCC) Municipal Coordinator Award.

This upbeat approach to fighting litter pushed Anderson, an employee of the City of Newark for 30 years, to recreate the litter abatement and recycling programs in the state’s largest city.

Anderson was ...