A Yard Sale and Community Conversation June 26th
By Albert B. Kelly
A couple of weeks back, I wrote in this space about the
Cumberland County Thrive Initiative being headed up by the County Prosecutor’s
Office. If you recall, Cumberland County was one of handful of jurisdictions
selected to receive $750,000 from the Federal Safe and Thriving Communities
Program to help our youth, especially those at risk as it relates gangs,
violence, and crime.
Now we need to hear from you on how you think we should
spend that money and how best to target the resources. This is important. As an
elected official, and particularly as the a mayor of a community perceived to
have its share of problems, there is no end to the number of people who might
stop me on a given day to share their thoughts, frustrations, ideas, and hopes
as it relates to youth, safety, security, crime, violence, and quality of life.
Often, these things overlap and they become part of a big
package of issues that a person wants to talk about and that’s fair enough as I
am always glad to hear from people, only now there is an opportunity to come
out and help shape exactly what we do with the $750k provided to us by the
federal government to deal with that package of issues (i.e., youth, safety,
security, crime, violence, etc.)
Tomorrow (June 26th) from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the
Marino Center located at 11 Washington Street, representatives from the
Prosecutor’s Office and the Cumberland County Positive Youth Development
Coalition (CCPYDC) will be on hand specifically to hear from you, our
residents, about conditions in your neighborhoods; what you think the problems
are at present and what you might like to see as far as addressing these
issues.
This is a community-driven and resident-driven process which
means that rather than a few people at the top making decisions about where and
how to spend the money, we want to listen to what you have to say and use your
input as the guide for what comes next. This no small thing because in the
world of government and bureaucracy, the last voice to get heard is usually
that of the public.
This will be a community conversation, it will be informal
and relaxed and there will also be free food and an indoor yard sale beforehand
at 5pm with proceeds going to the Bridgeton Police Athletic League. My point is
that everyone has something to add and everyone has a point of view and an
opinion, but they often don’t have a say in how resources make it into their
neighborhoods. June 26th is an opportunity to share your views.
This community meeting is open to every resident and the
more who attend, the better the program will be at addressing the problems as
defined by you. I recognize that there will always be a limited few in any
community who simply like to criticize and complain…just because. These are the
limited few for whom nothing is good enough and their focus has nothing to do
with solutions. Every community has a few and that’s just the way it goes.
But that’s not what the June 26th meeting is
about. We need to hear from residents as to how things look from their living
room windows and we need to know what they see from their front porches and how
they feel walking their sidewalks. This is not about snitching, it’s about
general conditions. Are illegal drugs in your neighborhood? Do you note the
presence of gangs? Do you have other nuisance activity? Do kids skip school and
hang out around the neighborhood? How safe do you feel walking the dog? What’s
your view on why?
These are just a few of the questions and areas that will be
discussed. If you cannot attend the meeting on June 26th, then
please visit http://njccpo.org/thrive/
and complete the anonymous survey which covers these same issues that will be discussed
in detail at the community meeting.
This program will really only be as effective as the
feedback we get from residents. Lacking that feedback, those administering the
grant will be forced to make educated guesses about what’s going on in your
particular neighborhood and for all of that, they could be wrong.
So grab a bite and help us get it right tomorrow (June 26th)
from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the Marino Center located at 11 Washington Street.