I grew up in Newark, NJ and received all of my education there from pre-school to graduate school. Today I live about ten miles away and I am still very active in and committed to the city. When I retired from my first career, I decided that I would spend my time volunteering and it would all be in Newark. I was involved with a number of organizations which led me to my current career as a nonprofit consultant.
Currently I am on the Board of two related social services agencies in Newark - Community Agencies Corporation of NJ(CAC) and Protestant Community Centers, Inc (PCCI).
After the recent murder of three teens the City is yet to recover. The new mayor, Cory Booker, has put a priority on making Newark safer and reducing crime. This murder was particularly chilling. The victims were good kids just spending a summer night at a local school playground in one of the better neighborhoods in the city. They weren't drinking, weren't involved with drugs and didn't provoke anything.
Newark has finally been making progress towards a comeback from its low point of the riots forty summers ago this year. I remember that summer very well. I think that Cory Booker is determined that this will also be a low point and is doing all that he can in marshaling federal, state and private resources to fight gang/drug violence and make Newark a better place to live.
Today Governor Corzine announced expansion of after school programs in Newark as an integral prevention component to a broad-based anti-crime/anti-gang strategy.
I am proud that two of the nine after school programs funded are for the agencies whose Boards I am on. Visit the website for more information about the full breadth of our work. And you can join me in supporting them. See my charity badge in the right column.
CAC and PCCI website
Marion Conway Consulting
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