Aspira Inc of New Jersey

Dr. Antonia Pantoja, a Puerto Rican woman, and a group of Puerto Rican educators and community leaders in New York City established the Aspira Inc. organization in Newark in the 1960s. The group was founded with the intention of offering educational, leadership-training, and culturally enriching activities to Latino and youth from Puerto Rico living in the United States. Aspira first concentrated on offering educational support and enrichment activities to students in New York City, but it soon expanded operations to other regions of the nation, including New Jersey today.

• Youth from the Puerto Rican, Latino/a/x, and Hispanic communities are supported by an organization called Aspira, which is located at 390 Broad St. in Newark, New Jersey. 
• Aspira inc also gives adults of many ages and backgrounds a way to prepare for their future careers by letting them apply to different workshops that may help them to pursue the career that they want. 
• Aspira inc offers different programs that take place in and outside of the school environment for the youth in the community. 
• Aspira Inc. offers students the chance to participate in programs that will improve their leadership abilities and provide them with cultural enrichment through various community service projects.
• Some of the different programs are the after school programs that are available to students that attend Newark public schools, summer plus program, boxing program, and Just one soccer league program.  

Aspira Inc is a “private, non profit community-based, organization” founded in Newark, New Jersey. The corporation was created in 1968, by a group of distressed parents and community leaders. The student dropout rates of Hispanic students were high and this caused the community to take charge. The success of the organization caused it to spread to different parts of the states like Camden, Jersey City, and etc. Aspira was and still is a beneficial and helpful organization, helping hispanic students in lower-class neighborhoods. 

As said previously, Aspira was created off of the concern of parents because of the Hispanic student dropout rates. In addition to the dropout rate, Aspira was created to help with the limited resources the Hispanic youth had when it came to education. Apira helped by getting the parents of these students involved in their academic life. It also had community residents advocate for more educational opportunities for the Hispanic youth. Since know one else cared about the educational opportunities for young Hispanic, figures in the neighborhood did, hence Aspira. 

Aspira is the second largest national Hispanic organization in the United States. Apira has also expanded into several different programs, Juvenile Delinquency Alternative Initiatives, Evening Reporting Center (Essex County), Family Friendly Centers (Jersey City and Pleasantville), Family Success Centers (Newark), Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (Newark), Upward Bound (Camden), and YouthBuild (Vineland). (Find more sources that go into detail about different programs. 

In conclusion, Aspira started off as a small organization simply created based on the concern of parents, that turned into a successful organization, helping Hispanic/latinx across the country. 

https://www.aspiranj.org/who-we-are

https://www.aspiranj.org/our-leadership