Ironbound Community Corporation

The Ironbound Community

• While there is sometimes a perception of affluence in Ironbound relative to other parts of the city, this is not the simple reality. Inside its homes, thousands of its poor and working class families share the same need for support and help in their efforts to cope and take control of their lives.

• The Ironbound is a culturally diverse community with at least 54 different ethnic groups and with new immigrants arriving daily.

• A majority of Ironbound's 45,000 people are foreign born.

• Seventy-five percent of those age 5 and above speak a foreign language at home, typically Portuguese or Spanish.

• Although Ironbound accounts for 15% of Newark residents, it accounts for over 31% of the total Newark population that has less than a 9th
• grade education.

• Although Ironbound has only 5% of Essex County's population, it has nearly 18% of the population with less than a 9th grade education; this quadruples the New Jersey average.

• There are very few college graduates--only 3.6% of those over 25. In addition, Ironbound residents hold less than 8% of the graduate degrees in the City and less than 1% of Essex County's total graduate degrees.

• Pay rates are generally low and many families need two or more sources of income to make a minimal living.

• Twenty percent live in poverty.

• Their greatest obstacles are ones of language, culture, poverty and education that disempower, disenfranchise, and disengage people from mainstream society, its services, and its opportunities. ICC's presence and services are vital to the lives of many of our community's poor, working, and non-English speaking families.