Later this summer, construction is set to begin in New Jersey’s capital city on a new base of operations for Homeworks Trenton, a free, community-based, after-school boarding program for marginalized girls. Designed by national architecture and interiors firm Joshua Zinder Architecture + Design, the new residence will more than triple the current capacity and add vital amenities.

But even before that happens, Homeworks Trenton has reason to celebrate.

On June 26, the nonprofit’s co-founder and executive director, Natalie Tung, will be honored as one of three “Women of Achievement” by the Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce. Nominated for the honor by architect Joshua Zinder — managing partner at JZA+D and the designer behind the Homeworks Trenton expansion project — Tung was chosen in recognition of her commitment to taking action to provide stability, structure and support to teenage women in Trenton, New Jersey, public schools.

“Every day, Natalie and her team at Homeworks make direct, positive and lasting impacts on the lives of young women, benefiting them as well as their families, with positive impacts for their broader communities,” Zinder said. “When I started JZA+D, my goal was to grow a business that could support people and organizations trying to [make] a positive local impact, and there’s no one I know who’s working so hard and achieving so much for other people as Natalie Tung.”

With a bachelor’s degree in English and a teaching certificate from Princeton University, Tung attributes her own success, confidence and capacity for empathy to her experiences in boarding school, where she lived with 40 other young women. She conceived of Homeworks Trenton as a way to provide similar experiences for students whose home lives create obstacles to positive educational experiences. Having succeeded in building an initial residence for 12-15 students, Tung’s commitment to her mission and her talents for networking and fundraising have brought her to this point, where Homeworks will soon have a new home base designed for expanding its capacity and within close proximity of two Trenton public schools.

Working closely with Tung over the last several years, Zinder and the JZA+D team have helped identify a viable property to adapt: 1212 Edgewood Avenue, which served for almost a century as a “mission house” providing support and opportunity for at-risk and disadvantaged young women – and then for another 20-plus years as a Juvenile Justice Commission facility — making its repurposing for Homeworks Trenton all the more fitting.

Zinder’s design maintains the building’s house-scale profile while increasing usable square footage by about two-thirds, providing dorm rooms for 40 scholars and five apartments for live-in staff, plus a variety of work-study areas, a full kitchen and an elevator for universal resident accessibility as well as ADA compliance.

The “Women of Achievement” breakfast will take place at the Princeton golf club, TPC Jasna Polana, at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 26.