The Ivy Hill Neighborhood Association (IHNA) has a long history of empowering the residents in our community. IHNA was created in 1983 by a group of residents as an ad hoc grassroots community organization and became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization on February 17, 2000. The transition of the group grew in numbers and a democratic order was established consisting of an Executive Board and an advising Steering Committee which included the leadership from the community Block Associations.

Our purpose was to tackle neighborhood deterioration and security issues and bring the community together to increase the quality of life for all residents and their families. The organization focused their efforts on building youth sports programs to combat interracial conflicts and to suppress gang activity, and these programs are successfully active today. IHNA advocated for the school district to establish an after-school program at Mount Vernon School (K – 8), and collaborated with Seton Hall University to launch a mentoring and tutoring program, and worked with Turner Construction to sponsor a construction mentoring program. Additionally, IHNA was awarded a $900,000 grant under the Green Acres program and partnered with Essex County Parks who matched the grant and added additional funding totaling approximately $2 million to upgrade and improve Ivy Hill Park.

We are proud of the contribution we have made over the years in improving conditions in the Ivy Hill community, and we look forward to accomplishing more goals in the years to come.