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Tues. July 27th, 2010
Issue 35
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Summit Videos Airing Statewide on Public Access TV |
 The Citizens' Campaign received help from Jersey Access Group (JAG), a statewide coalition of NJ public access TV stations, who produced videos of the Jersey Call to Service Summit Leadership Panels and the Celebration of Citizen Service. JAG is now making the videos available for broadcast by public access stations across the state. Contact your local public access station and ask them to air the Summit videos! All the videos are available for immediate download for public airing from the JAG server. Excite your community about Answering the Call! Special thanks to Bob Duthaler, President of Jersey Access Group and Rich Desimone who coordinated this effort. Additional thanks to East Brunswick TV, Woodbridge TV, Metuchen TV, Bloomfield TV, and Piscataway TV who videotaped the Leadership Panels and Celebration of Citizen Service. |
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Get Insiders Knowledge from Summit Leadership Panel Videos |
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 There has been great demand for the Leadership Panel videos from the June 9th Jersey Call to Service Summit. The videos provide expert advice and knowledge about how to effectively lead in your community in the areas of controlling taxes, developing public policy as a member of a board or commission, leading in your political party and informing and engaging your community in important issues as a citizen journalist. View them now on our website on our Summit Video Gallery Page.
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| Camden County Call to Service Summit Set for Sept 14th |
 Building on the inspiring and informative South Jersey Call to Service Summit held this past spring, South Jersey citizens will be offered a new mini-Summit this fall. Mark your calendars for Tuesday September 14th from 7pm-9pm at Camden County College in Blackwood, NJ for the Camden County Mini-Summit.
Citizens' Campaign's Camden County Chair Joyce Walker and South Jersey Coordinator Renee Koubiadis have been organizing the upcoming Mini-Summit with great support from Camden County organizations who are inviting their memberships to Answer the Jersey Call to Service. Summit sponsors include The League of Women Voters Camden County, The Camden-Gloucester Jaycees, The Gloucester Twp. Democratic Club, The Gloucester Twp. Republican Municipal Committee, and South Jersey Citizens for Change.
Register online now for the Camden County Mini-Summit. Invite people using the Facebook Event Page. For more information about the Summit or to get your organization involved contact Renee at 609-499-1860 or renee@jointhecampaign.com.
Special Note: Set your DVR's to catch Citizens' Campaign Chair Harry Pozycki in an upcoming ABC TV interview on the Camden Call to Service Summit on Channel 6 at 5:30 am Sunday Aug 14th, 2010, and will re-air 6:30pm on Wednesday August 18th, 2010 on Comcast Channel 245 and FiOS Channel 466. |
| Welcome New Paterson Coordinator Charlie Kratovil |
 Charlie Kratovil is the new coordinator for the Citizens' Campaign in Paterson and will be working with businesses and nonprofits throughout the city to recruit citizens to answer the Paterson Call to Service. He will be building on the strong foundation set for him by Orville Morales who has worked with Paterson residents to achieve important public policy developments and political empowerment. Charlie believes strongly in citizen empowerment and has a history of helping citizens achieve their goals of getting involved and being effective as leaders. Charlie K. seeks to reconnect with Paterson, the city of his birth, by using his expertise in advancing civic empowerment and the Citizens' Campaign's no-blame approach. His spirit of ingenuity and warmth is worth admiring. "Charlie will be a great asset to the Paterson Community" said Orville, who is hosting a party to introduce him to the community on Aug 5th from 6-9pm. RSVP on the Facebook Event Page. |
| Citizens' Campaign Middlesex County Chair
Hosts Cost Savings Meeting |
 The Citizens' Campaign's Law and Policy Task Force has developed 20 "Ready for Adoption" cost savings proposals that regular citizens can propose to elected officials for adoption to help their community save money and maintain quality services. These are available for viewing and discussion on the Platform for the People page of our website. Ron Tankiewicz, the Citizens' Campaign's Middlesex County Chair organized a discussion last week on these savings propopals with elected officials from Edison, Highland Park and Middlesex County. The focus was the savings opportunities from shared services: town to town, and town to county. Ideas such as municipalities entering into the County's buying pool for specialized vehicles, and municipalities using the County's road paving services were discussed, among others. New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country and it will take great citizen leadership to address this issue. Also in attendance were Citizens' Campaign Chair Harry Pozycki and Citizen Leader Grace Shackney of Metuchen. A follow up meeting will take place in 6 weeks where more towns throughout the county will be invited. |
Since kicking off our Citizen Journalism Initiative in November 2009, we have been successfully engaging New Jersey citizens in this opportunity to take responsibility for their government. Our Citizen Journalism Conference, online Citizen Journalism Class, online Participation Guide and Leadership Panels have been transforming people into Citizen Leaders, who have started to engage and inform their communitites in politics and government through their reporting. Our partnership with the hyperlocal news website InJersey.com, to train their reporters, was recently profiled in the American Journalism Review.  Answering the Call to Service is Saul Qersdyn, a Certified Citizen Journalist who has created an online magazine for Roselle Park, called 07204. Saul created the magazine "to fill the void of relevant news for our community from other media."
The daily version of his magazine offers a quick look at important community news, bringing breaking news to the people of Roselle Park. The site is very popular and has even become a news source for elected officials. He offers more in-depth reporting on a monthly basis at the home site. Saul attended our Citizen Journalism Conference and took our online Citizen Journalism class. He published the first edition of his online magazine in May 2010 and he credits the Citizens' Campaign as an inspiration, "Following the initiative of the Citizen's Campaign, 07204 is a model of citizen journalism with the goal to research, review, process, and report responsibly what is happening in our community." You can do this too. Answer the Jersey Call to Service and get active now! |
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Expanding Disclosure Can Curb Corruption |
WNYC 93.9 FM, the New York City Public Radio Station, asked the Citizens' Campaign for  comment on the recent formation of the nonprofit Reform Jersey Now. The concern exists that contributions to the organization are being raised from contractors who may seek to bypass State Pay to Play laws. Citizens' Campaign spokeswoman Heather Taylor commented  "While contributions to Reform Jersey Now are not a violation of the State's Pay to Play law, there is still a perception that this fund was established to circumvent the law. We need to find a balance that lets all sides advocate for their issues in a robust way, while simultaneously making sure that political contributions don't undermine the integrity of government contracting. Governor Christie should call on the leaders of Reform Jersey Now to provide real time disclosure of their contributions with a separate and easy to find listing of any contributions by state contractors" said Ms. Taylor |
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Answer the Jersey Call to Service |
Help Us Recruit Others. Invite 10 Friends
Citizens' Campaign is on Facebook! |
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