New Grantee: Hamilton Partnership for Paterson

January 24, 2011

Great Falls of Paterson.

Great Falls of Paterson, NJ

In our last round of grantmaking for 2010, the Dodge Foundation welcomed the Hamilton Partnership for Paterson as a new grantee.

The Hamilton Partnership is a start-up organization with a compelling vision and plan to thread Paterson’s past success with its current and future revival, with the Great Falls – America’s newest National Park – figuring prominently in the story. (The Hamilton in the Partnership’s name, by the way, refers to one of our nation’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton, who was also the architect, economist, and driver of Paterson’s rise as an industrial giant.)

In late November of last year, Dodge staff had a chance to take a tour of the proposed “Mill Mile” with the Hamilton Partnership’s Executive Director Leonard Zax and with Bill Bolger, National Park Project Manager, which you can read about here; you can also see pictures from that day on our Flickr page.

The Mill Mile involves carefully planned walking tours and educational materials, engaging Paterson residents and visitors through history, art, literature and environmental education. Furthermore, the Great Falls Park, which is 35 acres of riverfront property, presents a unique opportunity for large-scale urban greening while also incorporating cultural and historical elements.

Revitalizing Paterson, as with any city in decline, is a long process which will require patience, collaboration, and creative leveraging of resources, but we believe in the Hamilton Partnership’s work and its dedication to improving the lives of Paterson’s residents through thoughtful, sustainable development.

Please be sure to visit the Hamilton Partnership’s website for more details as well as fascinating historical and current information about Paterson that we bet you don’t know.

For a full list of the Dodge Foundation’s 2010 grants, please visit our website.

Image: Molly de Aguiar / Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation