The Paterson Community Fund
The Paterson Cooperation Fund develops and operates a community space offering classes, events, and shared resources. Programs are prioritized for Paterson residents but open to all New Jersey residents. Supported through memberships, fees, and community contributions.
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The Team
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Paterson Community House
Philosophy
Newsletter
Transparency as a Responsibility
We don't believe that we deserve your trust, we believe that we must earn it.
The goal of the Paterson Community Fund is to be a servant to the community.
Therefore every dollar taken in and spent is made completely transparent.
Philosophy
History of Community Self-Determination
Tulsa, Black Wall Street
No area epitomizes black excellence as much as the early 20th century Tulsa Oklahoma, Greenwoods area, often referred to as Black Wall Street.
“Let us make employment for our own,” AJ Smiterman, editor of the African American Tulsa Star newspaper, in a 1918 issue.
The strip included barbershops, schools, doctors’ offices, real estate agencies, two newspaper businesses (one being the previously mentioned Tulsa Star); a food emporium, “Welcome Grocery”; the iconic “Dreamland Theatre” (Grubb), the first African American owned theatre in Tulsa; a few high-rated hotels, including the three-story, 65-room Stratford Hotel (Gara), the largest African American owned hotel in the nation; and many more places of business, as well as the residential areas, owned and rental.
The Coops
In the 1920's a group of textile workers pooled together their money to buy a building that would come to be known as the coops. They leveraged their buying power to protect their community. By collectively owning the building, no single member could be evicted during financial hardship.
History
Paterson 1913 Silk Strike
The 1913 Paterson Silk Strike brought together over 25,000 workers in a unified demand for fair hours and dignified working conditions. For five months, the strike demonstrated an extraordinary level of coordination and solidarity, even reaching a national audience through a large-scale worker-led pageant at Madison Square Garden. While the strike did not achieve immediate victories, it became a lasting symbol of Paterson’s capacity for collective action.
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