November
2002
DOWNTOWN
NEWS
Spirit
of Edison Awards highlight at TESC Foundation annual gala
On Saturday, Nov. 16, 2002, the Board of Directors of the Thomas
Edison State College Foundation will host The Grande Ball, Trenton
2002 at the Trenton Marriott at Lafayette Yard, where two recipients
will be presented with the prestigious Spirit of Edison Award.
The black-tie gala event will begin with a silent auction and
cocktails at 6:30 p.m. followed by an evening of dinner, dancing
and entertainment from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m The evening will also
include the presentation of the ninth annual Spirit of Edison
Awards. Prior to dinner, Thomas Edison State College President
Dr. George Pruitt will present N.J. assemblywoman and N.J. Democratic
Party chair Bonnie Watson Coleman with the Spirit of Edison-Distinguished
Alumnus Award. Thomas A. Bracken will receive the Spirit of Edison-Community
Leadership Award.
Watson Coleman graduated from Thomas Edison State College with
a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1985. Bracken, named president and
CEO of the Sun Bancorp in February 2001, leads the bank holding
company that serves customers throughout the region.
Those selected to receive the award have demonstrated that they
embody the commitment to innovation, concern for public good and
the spirit of excellence associated with the mission of Thomas
Edison State College and its namesake.
Mercer
Street Friends receives truckful of food from Wegman's
The Mercer Street Friends Food Co-operative, which reclaims donated
excess food and redistributes it to local charities that feed
people in need, last month received a donation of 25,000 pounds
of nonperishable food from Wegman's Food Markets in West Windsor.
Mercer
Street Friends works with 60 nonprofit and faith-based agencies
in Mercer County, including Trenton organizations such as the
Trenton Area Food Kitchen, HomeFront, the Rescue Mission of Trenton,
the Mount Carmel Guild and the Crisis Ministry. They expect to
distribute about 1.25 million pounds of food in 2002. All organizations
that belong to the food bank are serving approximately 12,000
people a month who are in need of some kind of charitable food
assistance.
This is not the first time that Wegman's has contributed to the
food bank, but it was the first time they provided nonperishable
foods at the level they did. Twenty-five thousand pounds of food
is a tractor-trailer's worth and by itself is enough to feed into
the thousands of people.
National
Foundation Funds $80,000 Effort to Spur Minority Business Development
in Trenton
Three
nonprofit economic development agencies in Trenton-The Trenton
Business and Technology Center (TBTC), the Metropolitan Trenton
African-American Chamber of Commerce (MTAACC), and the Trenton
Downtown Association (TDA)-have joined forces to launch the Trenton
Minority Business Incubation Initiative. The initiative is aimed
at recruiting, developing, and retaining minority-owned small
businesses in Trenton.
The
program is funded through a one-year, $80,000 grant from the Garfield
Foundation. The Garfield Foundation, based in Marion, Mass., is
a national foundation that partners with nonprofit organizations
to develop innovative strategies for revitalizing communities,
promoting sustainable growth and environmental conservation, and
developing youth.
Using
the Trenton Business and Technology Center as a base of operations
and technical assistance for aspiring entrepreneurs, the three
organizations administering the initiative will play distinct
roles in cultivating entrepreneurial talent in the city. MTAACC
will coordinate outreach to minority entrepreneurs in Trenton
through seminars, educational workshops, and information sessions.
TBTC will assist entrepreneurs in developing business plans, launching
their ventures, and working through the challenges of operating
an entrepreneurial venture. And TDA will work with small business
owners to identify commercial locations in Trenton.
According
to John Harmon, president and CEO of MTAACC, "This program
provides a tool to fuel the growth of minority enterprises in
the city of Trenton. It represents an incredible resource to build
on the skills of minority entrepreneurs."
Adds
Al Spiewak, executive director of the Trenton Business and Technology
Center, "This initiative re-enforces the role of our incubator
as a small-business engine for the local community. We now have
additional resources to serve entrepreneurs who live in Trenton
and are thus more likely to remain in Trenton and build their
businesses here."
The
initiative is open to small business of all types - start-ups
and existing firms, in industries ranging from retail to technology
to construction. In addition to direct counseling and assistance,
the Trenton Minority Business Incubation Initiative provides limited
scholarships for attendance at entrepreneurial training and small
business development workshops. For more information on the Trenton
Minority Business Incubation Initiative, please contact the Trenton
Downtown Association at (609) 393-8998. MTAACC will sponsor a
special luncheon on Tuesday, November 12th from 11:30am to 1:30pm
at the Sovereign Bank Arena to introduce entrepreneurs to services
available through the initiative.
Local
agencies demonstrate new approaches in Trenton
Children's
Futures has awarded $366,852 in new grants to four more local
agencies, bringing its total support for Trenton's prenatal, early
childhood and parenting programs to more than $3 million.
The
newest grants will support the Trenton School District, Homefront,
The National Council on Aging, and the First Book-Mercer program.
They are geared to improve child health and development and outcomes
for children from birth to three years old. These programs complement
a series of activities already underway in Trenton, including
the establishment of neighborhood parent/child centers in each
ward, and initiatives to engage fathers in parenting, reduce substance
abuse, improve quality in child care and promote literacy.
The Trenton School District has been awarded $150,000 over two
years for The Trenton Teen Topics Program for Pregnant and Parenting
Teens. Targeted at high school teens between the ages of 14 and
19 who are pregnant or parenting, the program combines two components:
an after-school, for-credit course to help teens become better
parents; and quality child care for infants and toddlers of parents
attending high school.
Homefront,
a leading provider of services for homeless in Mercer County will
receive $149,850 over the next three years for the establishment
of an emergency shelter dedicated to pregnant women. The funding
will also support development and implementation of a curriculum
to improve parenting skills for homeless mothers with newborns
in Trenton. Homefront will participate with the Center for Music
and Young Children to enhance parent/child bonding.
The
National Council on Aging has been awarded $59,502 over three
years to create a child care training program for seniors. This
grant taps into the rich experience of seniors, who will bring
their background as parents and grandparents to improve the quality
of care for infants and children up to age three being served
in Trenton's child care centers.
The First Book-Mercer program, a community service of the United
Way of Greater Mercer County, has been awarded $7,500 over three
years to assist in funding a literacy and book ownership program.
Through this grant, low-income families who have little or no
access to books, will receive books so they will have the opportunity
to read to their children from day one.
Rush Russell, president of Children's Futures, says of these efforts,
"The grants represent the community's enthusiasm and willingness
to work together to achieve the vision that all of Trenton's children
enter pre-school healthy and ready to learn."
The Children's Futures initiative was created to improve children's
health and development in Trenton with a particular focus on strengthening
prevention for children zero to three. Funding for Children's
Futures primarily comes from a $20 million Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation grant. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in
Princeton, N.J., is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted
exclusively to health and health care. It concentrates its grant-making
in four goal areas: to assure that all Americans have access to
basic health care at reasonable cost; to improve care and support
for people with chronic health conditions; to promote healthy
communities and lifestyles; and to reduce the personal, social,
and economic harm caused by substance abuse - tobacco, alcohol,
and illicit drugs.
The
City of Trenton is contributing another $700,000 annually for
the next four years from a federal Healthy Start grant to support
this program.
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