[1] He lived in the Vailsburg section of Newark and devoted much scholarly effort to the issue of urban poverty.

[5] In 1960, Curvin helped found the Newark-Essex County chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality.

[1] Said historian Clement Price, "“He displayed immense personal courage during the height of the riots by grasping a bullhorn, climbing atop a car and exhorting a restive crowd not to riot and instead stage a peaceful march on City Hall,” [1] Curvin campaigned for Newark's first Black mayor Kenneth A. Gibson and was a trusted advisor to Gibson.

[7] Curvin was a trustee of the Fund for the City of New York, the Victoria Foundation, Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Thirteen/ WNET and Princeton University.

[8] He spent much of his last years in academic work writing his book Inside Newark.