Governor Christie & Geoff Canada Visit NJCDC To Announce New Initiative

On July 20th, NJCDC hosted Governor Chris Christie and Harlem Children’s Zone’s Geoffery Canada in a press conference announcing a revolutionary educational initiative in Paterson.

It was an exciting day at New Jersey Community Development Corporation (NJCDC) on July 20th when Governor Chris Christie visited to announce plans for a major Paterson initiative to dramatically improve the odds for children living in our great city. Joined by Geoffrey Canada, CEO of the highly-acclaimed Harlem Children’s Zone, and Rochelle Hendricks, the State’s newly-appointed Secretary of Higher Education, Governor Christie pointed to the successful track record of the Harlem Children’s Zone as he charged NJCDC with stepping up to help bring similar success to Paterson and its children.

NJCDC is a 17 year old nonprofit organization that serves more than 2,000 children each day through a wide range of programs and services which, similar to the Harlem Children’s Zone, reach young people at all points along the birth-to-college pipeline. Also similar to Mr. Canada’s efforts, we have subscribed to a place-based comprehensive approach to our work and we are in the process of developing a strategic business plan that is modeled upon many of the same HCZ guiding principles. In addition to our direct service work, we have also invested more than $50 million to build schools, community centers, and affordable & supportive housing within our neighborhoods.

In tapping NJCDC to play a leading role in this initiative, Governor Christie pointed to the importance of strong partnerships and noted that NJCDC would work closely with key stakeholders, especially including the Mayor, the Paterson Public Schools, local colleges & universities, and several others. He also underscored the importance of learning from what we know works: “Geoffrey Canada has led the Harlem Children’s Zone to become a national model of all that can be accomplished when we put the needs of students before the old ways of doing things,” said Governor Christie. “We’re going to realize this goal [in Paterson] because of community leadership at NJCDC and their passion for the children of this community.”

In making this announcement, Governor Christie underscored that he is starting in Paterson with the goal of making this a successful pilot that can later be replicated in other cities. He signaled that Secretary Hendricks would lead this initiative on his behalf and that she would work closely with Mr. Canada and the Harlem Children’s Zone to determine how best to support efforts in Paterson. The Governor also charged her with convening an Advisory Group — consisting of members of his Cabinet, Mr. Canada, and others — for the purpose of making recommendations as to how state agencies can better work to “break down the silos” of government that much too often prevent efforts like this one from maximizing their potential.

The Governor’s visit to 32 Spruce Street got off on the right foot as he and Mr. Canada spent nearly an hour engrossed in a dynamic conversation with 35 of NJCDC’s young people, mostly members of our Great Falls Youth Corps. As Governor Christie said about our young people in his concluding remarks: “We see the look of hope in their eyes and that’s what this is about … restoring hope. That’s what we will do with the Mayor, with NJCDC, with the Harlem Children’s Zone, and with the various departments of my Administration. We’re going to do it together and I believe we will find success for a revitalized Paterson.”

NJCDC is proud of this recognition and awesome responsibility that Governor Christie has bestowed upon us. It is a responsibility that we take very seriously. We look forward to moving forward with Governor Christie, Secretary Hendricks, the Harlem Children’s Zone, Paterson’s many committed stakeholders, and, most importantly, the thousands of young people who deserve the chance to accomplish whatever they want with their lives. We have to dramatically change the odds for all of them, and we will.