Organization Description and Mission

Founded in 1981, Isles, Inc., is a nationally recognized nonprofit community development and environmental organization with the mission to foster more self-reliant families in healthy, sustainable communities. Unlike conventional responses to urban problems-i.e., single-service programs for housing, environment, or health-Isles operates a vast array of activities that recognize the interdependence of physical, economic, health, and social development strategies to address the problems of distressed communities.

Each year, Isles directly reaches more than 10,000 central New Jersey residents with our programs in: at-risk youth job training, affordable housing development, financial literacy training, homeownership counseling, community gardening, environmental health and education, community organizing, and regional planning. We broaden our impact by developing easily replicated programs, assisting other community groups and institutions, and advocating for improved public policy.

Community and Population Served by the Organization

Each year, approximately 15,000 Trenton residents benefit from Isles programs: more than 1,000 families benefit from Community Capacity Building programs; 45 high school dropouts participate in the YouthBuild program; more than 3,000 residents benefit from Urban Agriculture activities; more than 7,000 youth and adults participate in Environmental Education programs; and more than 500 families benefit from Isles’ Urban Brownfields Remediation and outreach efforts.

Research Questions

• Isles is very interested in the progress their students have made post graduation. They are always looking for students to conduct surveys and interviews with the graduates of their program in order to document their stories and have a sense of what impact Isles has had on their lives.

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