About 100 people gathered outside the Integrity House Monday during Barack Obama's visit.
NEWARK -- Crowds gathered outside of the Integrity House in the city Monday called President Barack Obama's visit to Newark inspiring.
About 100 people gathered outside the front entrance of the Integrity House, a rehabilitation center that works to re-enter addicts and ex-offenders into society. Neighborhood residents, teachers from the nearby Link Community School, and others lined South Street and Pennsylvania Avenue to catch a glimpse of Obama, who touched down at Newark Airport around 1:30 p.m.
Nytesha Dorch. (Vernal Coleman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Nytesha Dorch and her two-year-old nephew were among the locals in the crowd. Dorch, who lives just a few blocks from the Integrity House, said she had initially planned on taking her nephew to the president's speech at Rutgers, before realizing Monday that he was going to be in her neighborhood.
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"In 30 years, when (my nephew) looks back at this, I hope that he remembers that Obama came here," she said. "I hope that he can be inspired by that."
The crowd quickly shifted once they realized that the president had been brought into the facility through a back entrance. A crowd remained outside until he left, at about 2:50 p.m.
The Integrity House was only one of a few stops Obama made in Newark Monday in a trip that officials said was meant to highlight and discuss criminal justice system reforms. He is slated to speak at Rutgers-Newark about prisoner reentry after 4 p.m.
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