The NHA aims to increase funding, maintain and rehabilitate existing units, bolster programs to support residents, and improve the lives of its stakeholders. The Aubrey Group was brought on as a consulting expert to assist in the efforts.

HUD regularly offers grant funding to housing authorities across the United States, and programs range from capital improvement to resident support. One such program is the multi-year Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) grant. The ROSS program is designed to assist housing authority residents in making progress towards economic self-sufficiency. To help residents achieve their personal and financial goals, ROSS funds the salary of a Service Coordinator who works in a development, assesses resident needs, and links residents to supportive services and other resources. The program aims to target the entire resident community and work closely with residents and stakeholders to make broad, community-wide changes.

In 2019, The NHA was interested in pursuing a ROSS grant but needed an expert partner to lead the way. The Aubrey Group worked closely to not only apply for and secure $478,500.00 in ROSS funding but also create a larger program that engaged community partners.

A large-scale resident survey was conducted at the target sites to understand issues ranging from unemployment and household finance to substance use. The Aubrey Group ranked resident responses from highest to lowest priority and found that residents overwhelmingly needed assistance with financial literacy, elderly/disabled health and wellness, and substance abuse. These categories were used to research and identify ideal community partners: organizations perfectly suited to strengthen the program and truly aid NHA residents.

On behalf of the NHA, The Aubrey Group invited the Rutgers University School of Nursing to act as a research partner and assist the ROSS grant coordinators in developing a resident needs assessment and a needs-responsive coordination of care system. The partnership with the School of Nursing was a natural fit with its Rutgers Community Health Center and ...

a nurse-led research and practice facility serving 2,000+ Newark residents annually.

The Aubrey Group secured technical assistance and the valuable commitment of a faculty member and three graduate students. As a research and coordination partner, Rutgers has been instrumental in determining the precise needs of NHA residents and aligning accessible, responsive care to those needs.

In 2023, NHA sought an extension of the project through another round of HUD ROSS funding. The Aubrey Group was brought back onto the project to submit the extension request. The Aubrey Group worked with NHA to gather updated survey data, complete narratives and budgets, and attain match commitment letters and letters of support from community partners such as Rutgers Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, NJ Citizen Action, United Healthcare Community Plan, and Community Health Insurance Advisors. In addition to the extension request, The Aubrey Group team advised NHA to expand on the program and add more Service Coordinators, which resulted in a $200K increase in our request. In 2024, an additional $694,608 was awarded to NHA to maintain its crucial program for an additional three years.

About the Grantee: Newark Housing Authority (NHA) is the largest housing authority in the state of New Jersey and one of the largest in the country. It maintains 45 developments containing over 8,000 combined units. NHA serves low-income, elderly, and special-needs residents of the City of Newark and has worked tirelessly over the past five years to lift itself out of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s “troubled” status.