NJIT is joining a growing list of Newark institutions offering to pay their employees extra cash if they move to the city.

This month, the university launched its “live local” initiative, which will offer about 16 workers a one-time $3,000 housing stipend to rent in the city’s downtown. Audible launched something similar two years ago, while Rutgers-Newark, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and Prudential are also rolling out their own programs.

“We think the community is moving in an upward trajectory and our futures are intertwined,” said Matthew Golden, Chief Strategy Officer at NJIT.

“It encourages employees of our university and other entities to live in downtown Newark. These are generally employees who are in very stable and solid jobs. You are bringing in people with purchasing power and people who provide an economic boost.”

Only 18 percent of the city’s residents work in Newark -- and that’s something Mayor Ras Baraka is pushing hard to change. Baraka launched Hire. Buy. Live. in 2017, a three-pronged initiative to bring more jobs and money to city residents.

By 2020, Baraka wants 2,020 local residents hired by Newark-based companies. Aisha Glover, CEO of the Newark Alliance, said almost 1,000 Newarkers have been hired since the mayor charged companies to hire locally. Anchor institutions in Newark have also increased their spending on local vendors to 11 percent (about $70 million), the goal being 20 percent.

Glover says she expects 200 participants in the live local initiative by the end of the year.

“We know that there’s this gap between people who come into the city to work and then go home,” she said. “If people are living locally, that means they are shopping locally and mentoring locally ... it becomes a more tight-knit community.”

The NJIT program began earlier in April and will pay full-time employees who rent in a designated downtown area stipends toward their housing costs.

Glover said by focusing the live local programs in downtown Newark, where the population density is low, it alleviates the risk of displacing residents.

“We’re trying to disrupt processes to the extent that a corporation understands hiring locally, incentivizing locally," Glover said. ”At the end of the day we’re trying to push for more jobs for Newarkers."

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.

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