SOUTH ORANGE/MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race has launched ChooseSOMA.com, a website that showcases the towns’ drive for diversity, inclusion and belonging.
While South Orange and Maplewood are among the most diverse municipalities in New Jersey, demographic data has confirmed a decline in black families moving in. According to U.S. census data, swift demographic changes in SOMA occurred in the late 1990s. White residents in Maplewood and South Orange dropped from 84 percent and 77 percent of the population, respectively, to 59 percent and 60 percent, while the African American population rose to 33 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
The overall demographics of the towns remained relatively stable for the next decade. But in 2007, only 12 percent of all SOMA mortgages were for black in-movers and that marked the beginning of a continuing decline in new black residents.
“When this trend first surfaced in 2016 and was again confirmed by the Community Coalition’s 2019 demographic report, the organization began to ponder ways to counter it,” Coalition Program Director Audrey Rowe said. “One of those solutions was to reach out to black families and invite them to consider becoming residents of the South Orange/Maplewood community. The ChooseSOMA website is the result.”
Hosted by the Community Coalition on Race, ChooseSOMA.com highlights positive features of the community, including in the areas of arts and culture, recreation, public schools, and integration and inclusion.
In addition to the ChooseSOMA website, the coalition is also launching a special purpose loan called the Wealth Gap Equalizer Loan that is intended to help narrow the gap between white and black homeownership that has resulted from inequitable policies and practices.
“I am so excited to partner with the Community Coalition on Race to intentionally recruit and welcome new families to South Orange while doing our part to address the unconscionable racial homeownership disparities that plague New Jersey,” South Orange Village President Sheena Collum said. “The diversity, progressive values and inclusive nature of our towns are the cornerstone of what makes us so desirable, and this special purpose loan reinforces that commitment.”
“The Community Coalition’s demonstrated work in equity and integration is further cemented with its new innovative initiative, the Wealth Gap Equalizer Loan program,” Maplewood Mayor Dean Dafis said. “As a housing and social justice advocate and former member of the coalition’s Residential Committee, which conceived this program, I’m particularly excited about and very proud of this strategy to better integrate SOMA with black and Hispanic first-time homeowners. Congratulations to the coalition and to SOMA; this is yet another reason to move to South Orange and Maplewood.”
To learn more about the new website, the loan and the coalition on Race, visit www.ChooseSOMA.com, www.ChooseSOMA.com/WGEL and www.communitycoalitiononrace.org.
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