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Trenton Breaks Ground for Demonstration Project
Adult-Oriented Daylight/Twilight High School
To Help Spur Revitalization of 'Old Trenton Neighborhood'

Trenton, NJ (May 3, 2006) - A ceremonial groundbreaking today marked the start of construction of the new Daylight/Twilight High School - an educational facility tailored to adult students - that is designed to spur revitalization efforts in the downtown Canal Banks redevelopment area known as the "Old Trenton Neighborhood."

This is New Jersey's fifth Demonstration Project to begin in the past year. A sixth remains to begin. The school component of each is funded by the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation (SCC), which has invested $543 million in these community development initiatives where schools act as catalysts to attract new housing, commercial and retail opportunities.


Left to Right: Scott Weiner, SCC CEO, Robert Revelle, Board of Education President, Mayor Douglas H. Palmer and City Schools Superintendent James Lytle

The Daylight/Twilight High School will be part of an urban campus with such community-based learning institutions as Mercer County Community College, the Public Library and YWCA around a central open space. It will house the Trenton school district's successful educational program that provides non-traditional students age 16 to 75 - including working parents and retired grandparents - the opportunity to earn a high school diploma and pursue higher academic and vocational studies. For the past eight years, the Daylight/Twilight program has operated in satellite facilities, providing instruction for 1,400 students during three four-hour shifts daily.

The new Daylight/Twilight High School at East Hanover and Montgomery streets will include 40,000 square feet of new construction linked to 61,000 square feet of renovated space in two five-story buildings and a one-story building. It will include a day care center, auditorium and meeting rooms for community activities. School officials expect it to open by fall 2008.

The State has approved six Demonstration Projects as community development initiatives. Trenton joins Camden, East Orange, Vineland and Union City with demonstration projects now under way. The sixth project is on tap for New Brunswick. Mercer County Improvement Authority is the redevelopment entity for the Trenton project, the developer is Joseph Jingoli and Son, working in concert with the school district, city officials and the SCC.

 


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