Audible’s founder, Don Katz, has made creating urban equality a defining purpose for our company. Inspired by Newark’s spirit of innovation and resilience, we work hand-in-hand with the local community to bring meaningful change to downtown and beyond.
Many of our efforts are centered around Washington Park, where we’ve worked with the City of Newark, Rutgers-Newark and other educational, corporate, civic and cultural institutions to increase walkability, safety and beautification for the whole community. We’ve leveraged our presence, reputation and network to spark investment and development on behalf of the city. We’ve also contributed to the creation of Newark’s free public Wi-Fi network in Washington Park and Military Park, the expansion of city greenspaces, and the Sensory Lab installation, which included scheduled programming (concerts, classes, camps and more) for residents of all ages.
Audible restored and transformed a city landmark—a historic 80,000 square foot church—into a state-of-the-art technology center while preserving many of its historic elements, including its distinctive stained-glass windows, organ pipes and bowling alley. Don Katz also started Newark Venture Partners, a venture capital firm that has invested in local companies and brought more than 90 promising tech startups to Newark, bringing more jobs and increased foot traffic along with them.