Mayor Baraka, Council to Help Launch La Casa de Don Pedro’s New Community Mental Health Center in Newark

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka will join city officials and community leaders on Thursday to help launch La Casa de Don Pedro’s new $1.2 million El Barrio Wellness, a comprehensive mental health center located at 76 Clinton Ave., the former home of fellow community development organization, El Club del Barrio.

Baraka will deliver remarks alongside Newark Councilman Patrick O. Council and La Casa de Don Pedro President and CEO, Peter T. Rosario, among others, celebrating the revival of a landmark space for Newark residents. The grand opening will also feature a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tours of the restored building, which now includes therapy rooms, family meeting spaces and other areas for youth engagement.

Once a haven for Puerto Rican families and a pillar of support during Newark’s HIV/AIDS and drug crises in the 1980s, the three-story brick building has been reimagined to meet one of today’s most pressing challenges: community mental health. Its revival marks the next chapter for a site that has long symbolized mutual aid, cultural identity and resilience for generations of Newark residents.

El Barrio Wellness offers bilingual, trauma-informed counseling for children, adults and families, delivered through a Liberation Health model which acknowledges the cultural and systemic forces shaping mental health. Services include individual and family therapy, group sessions and community workshops – all designed to meet people where they are, in a space that reflects their lived experiences.

“Too often, solutions come from outside our neighborhoods,” said Peter T. Rosario, president and CEO of La Casa de Don Pedro. “El Barrio Wellness is built by the people it serves and is rooted in the same spirit that made ‘El Club del Barrio’ a beacon decades ago..”

Backed by a range of community supporters, including RWJBarnabas Health and the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, El Barrio Wellness represents a major step forward in expanding access to equitable care. The facility will soon grow to host 15-20 clinicians, with future plans to include early-childhood, school-based and preventative mental health programs.

By breathing new life into a site that once served as a cultural and social anchor, La Casa de Don Pedro, joined by Mayor Baraka and Newark’s leadership, is ensuring that the legacy of El Club del Barrio continues, not as a relic of the past, but as a living, healing institution for the present and future.