The New Community Adult Learning Center provides support for adults in need of resources, training and services. The center also offers a variety of bi-lingual courses.
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Family Resource Center The NCC Family Resource Center takes a holistic approach to services by linking those who seek assistance with resources and information that will empower them to improve the quality of their lives.
Gourmet Meals for $3.50!
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The New Community Culinary Cafe Features tasty and delicious daily lunch specials prepared by top culinary students under the direction of highly experienced culinary professionals.
Open 11 AM - 2 PM, M - F
Located inside the
NCC Extended Care Center
266 South Orange Ave., Newark NJ 07103
Call 973-624-2020 ext. 223 for daily specials!
The skilled nurses and therapists of EVVNA come to the home and provide care and education to assure each individual’s health care needs are met. Certified home health aides are available to assist with personal care needs.
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New Community's Employee of the MonthJose Rodriguez
Whether he is preparing meatloaf or a special holiday entrée like Lobster tail, Jose Rodriguez aims to make it a meal to remember.
“What I do here is like my own business. It’s more than a job,” said the 76-year-old head chef at New Community Extended Care Center, who is simply known as “Joe” around the 180-bed nursing home located at 266 South Orange Ave. in Newark.
Now in his 25th year with New Community, Rodriguez worked for many years as head chef at The Priory restaurant located in NCC’s St. Joseph Plaza in Newark. He recalls that he went through three interviews before he was finally hired for the job by NCC founder and CEO, Monsignor William J. Linder.
“When I first met Father, that’s when I made the decision of taking this job,” he said, noting Monsignor was the only person he knew who could stop and talk to a homeless man on the street in the morning and sit down with the Governor at noon.
Monsignor gave Rodriguez two weeks to open the Priory restaurant, but as a trial run, Rodriguez was directed to prepare a taste-testing for Monsignor and board members featuring menu items he planned to serve at the restaurant.
“I was nervous,” Rodriguez recalled. “But they all liked the food and the restaurant opened. We would serve dishes like flaming Cheeries Jubilee at tableside. I had many customers that came in and never looked at the menu. They just let me prepare their food.”
The only formal training Rodriguez ever had in the culinary arts came in his native Puerto Rico, where he enrolled in a “cooking school” as a teenager.
“I learned the basics,” he said. “My mother was also a very good cook.”
When he came to the states in the early 1950s, Rodriguez worked as both a short order cook and later as a chef in several establishments in New York and New Jersey, including resort hotels in the Catskills. He later landed a job at a restaurant in Elizabeth called The Brass Horn, where he ultimately became head chef.
Prior to joining New Community in 1987, Rodriguez worked as head chef at an Italian restaurant in South Plainfield, Midices, where he developed his repertoire in Italian/French cooking.
At Extended Care, where Rodriguez now works and arrives by 5 0’clock every morning, he strives to strike the delicate balance between keeping residents happy and healthy, given the many dietary restrictions. A taste-testing event held last year allowed residents the opportunity to sample dishes and incorporate new items such as short ribs of beef and banana pudding onto the menu as regular items.
“Joe is very devoted to New Community and he rises above what is expected when it comes to being a team player,” said Betty Lawson, Extended Care administrator. “Joe will go out of his way to accommodate anyone that needs his services. He is always here, through rain, snow, sleet or hail.”
Married with three daughters, one of whom formerly served as NCC’s general counsel, Rodriguez said he is not yet ready to retire.
“So far, it’s been a good 25 years,” he said.