Branch Brook Park Alliance Receives $25,000 Grant from Citizens Philanthropic Foundation to Support Youth Workforce Development

Newark, NJ — June 6, 2025 — Branch Brook Park Alliance has received a $25,000 grant from Citizens Philanthropic Foundation to support the organization’s Workforce Development: Park Ambassadors program, a youth workforce initiative that provides young people from Newark and surrounding low-to-moderate-income communities with meaningful early work experience, career-readiness training, leadership development, and financial empowerment.

The Park Ambassadors program uses Essex County Branch Brook Park as a living learning environment where participants develop practical workplace skills while contributing to the care and preservation of one of New Jersey’s most treasured public landscapes. Through hands-on stewardship, mentoring, resume-building, interview preparation, communication practice, project planning, and financial literacy activities, participants gain the confidence and experience needed to pursue future educational and career opportunities.

“We are deeply grateful to Citizens Philanthropic Foundation for investing in the next generation of Newark’s workforce,” said Thomas B. Dougherty, Jr., President and CEO of Branch Brook Park Alliance. “This support allows us to provide young people with paid, structured, and meaningful work experience in Essex County Branch Brook Park while helping them build leadership, communication, financial literacy, and career-readiness skills that will serve them well beyond their time in the park.”

Citizens’ support will help Branch Brook Park Alliance provide honorariums, supervision, supplies, tools, and field-based learning opportunities for Park Ambassadors. The program introduces participants to career pathways in conservation, horticulture, historic preservation, public service, nonprofit leadership, and community-based environmental stewardship.

The grant also aligns with Citizens’ broader commitment to strengthening communities, expanding economic opportunity, and supporting workforce development. Through the partnership, Park Ambassadors will participate in financial empowerment activities focused on budgeting, saving, banking basics, credit awareness, and responsible financial decision-making.

“Public parks are powerful places for learning, service, and opportunity,” Dougherty added. “By investing in the Park Ambassadors program, Citizens is helping young people see themselves as leaders, workers, stewards, and contributors to the future of their community.”

The Park Ambassadors program also produces visible community impact. Participants help lead and support stewardship projects that improve the park’s gardens, landscapes, walking areas, and public spaces. These activities benefit residents, families, students, seniors, and visitors who rely on Essex County Branch Brook Park as a free and accessible place for recreation, wellness, cultural connection, and environmental relief.

Since its founding in 1999, Branch Brook Park Alliance has worked to safeguard, restore, and enhance Essex County Branch Brook Park, a 360-acre landscape masterpiece and the centerpiece of America’s first county park system. The Alliance advances its mission through park stewardship, workforce development, community programming, wellness initiatives, education, and strategic partnerships.

About Branch Brook Park Alliance
Branch Brook Park Alliance is the nonprofit conservancy dedicated to safeguarding and enhancing Essex County Branch Brook Park. As stewards of this remarkable 360-acre landscape masterpiece, the Alliance works to preserve the park’s historic design, expand equitable access, strengthen community well-being, and support responsible park care through partnerships, programs, volunteerism, and workforce development.