Building One New Jersey would like to recognize and thank our 2014 Year End Celebration Sponsors

Building One New Jersey's annual awards ceremony to celebrate our progress and honor our partners, allies, and outstanding leaders in promoting an inclusive, stable, and economically prosperous New Jersey.

Click here for more information and to purchases tickets or sponsorships.

For a printable version of the registration form, click here.

Tuesday, December 16th, 2014
6:00 PM through 9 PM
Mountain View Golf Course
890 Bear Tavern Rd, Ewing, NJ 08628

Regular Ticket Price $ 150.00
Building One New Jersey Members $ 75.00

Sponsorship Levels

Building One New Jersey Champion	$ 7,000.00
Building One New Jersey Patron	$ 4,000.00
Building One New Jersey Partner	$ 2,000.00
Building One New Jersey Leader	$ 1,000.00
Building One New Jersey Ally	$ 600.00
Building One New Jersey Supporter	$ 350.00
Friend of Building One New Jersey	$ 100.00

On November 14, 2013 BONJ held its Tenth Anniversary Banquet at the Masonic Temple in Trenton.

Left: BONJ banquet honorees included Rev. John Scotland of Community Presbyterian Church in Brigantine, Asm. Troy Singleton, Marcia Marley of Succeed2gether, and President of the West Orange Board of Education Sandra Mordecai. Jim Simpson, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Transportation, represented Governor Chris Christie at the banquet, and pledged on behalf of the Christie Administration to work with BONJ to increase infrastructure investment where it's needed most.

Bottom photos: Crowd shot of banquet attendees, and jazz great Lonnie Youngblood performing during the cocktail hour.

On January 27, 2013 BONJ welcomed its new president, Bishop John Gandy, of Abundant Life Worship Center Church in Egg Harbor City. He commented in his opening remarks on why he is here: "Let me answer the question that might be on the minds of some: Bishop Gandy, why would you pause and stop preaching the gospel and get into something that is so political? I am doing this is because I feel like it is my responsibility. In fact I feel like it is the responsibility of every leader of people of faith. When things in a culture or in a community... occur that intersect with scripture we have to talk about it...."

Nearly 100 BONJ leaders heard Bishop Gandy and several other distinguished speakers, including a panel of local elected officials from Edison, Franklin Township, Lawrence, Teaneck, and Highland Park discuss the state of their towns (see photos here). Afterwards, attendees broke into working groups, as shown above, to plan leadership events for the spring to continue our successful program to promote diverse, inclusive and economically vibrant communities.

The featured and inspiring speaker was Councilman Rev. Marlon Millner from Norristown, PA and a leader of Building One PA (B1PA). He spoke about strategies B1PA used to secure a commitment of $500,000 by HUD for a demonstration project in southeast Pennsylvania to reform practices within the Housing Choice Voucher program that reinforce the concentration of poverty and limit opportunities for families.

For more pictures from the event, click here.

Nearly 1,000 religious leaders, mayors, local elected officials, labor, business, and other community leaders from across the state participated in Building One New Jersey’s Statewide Public Meeting on September 30, 2012 (Building One New Jersey was formerly known as New Jersey Regional Coalition). We pressed state and national policy makers to act on bipartisan solutions to urgent problems impacting our communities including high property taxes, inadequate education funding, lack of jobs, underfunded infrastructure investment, and an exorbitant and discriminatory criminal justice system. Participants included U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, Congressman Frank Pallone, Senator Barbara Buono, Senator Ron Rice, Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan, Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, Assemblyman Joe Cryan, Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula, and Kevin Drennan (Chief of Staff for Senate President Sweeney). Pictured above: Building One New Jersey's President, Rev. R. Lenton Buffalo, Jr., with U.S. Senator Robert Menendez at the September 30 event.

Leaders of Building One NJ including Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, Mayor Jerry Fried of Montclair, Council President Sal Anderton of West Orange, Councilman Victor Cirilo of West Orange, and Roselle School Board Member Archange Antoine (pictured above) met with US Senator Robert Menendez at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Orange on November 4, 2011, to present details of BONJ's federal policy priorities. (Photo by Jewel Scott Jones).

BONJ will honor Senator Menendez at our Building One NJ 2011 Banquet on Thursday, November 17, for his support of our campaign to win in-state tuition for undocumented students in our 2009-10 campaign. Senator Menendez is Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development, and is a member of the Senate Finance Committee.

At the November 4 meeting, NJ Assemblywoman Mila Jasey updated the Senator on our work with older suburbs across the state, particularly our co-sponsorship of the historic "White House Forum on First Suburbs, Inclusion, Sustainability and Economic Growth" of July 2011. The national forum brought together 170 local elected officials, business, labor and civic leaders, including a delegation of 20 from New Jersey. BONJ followed up its success in Washington DC, with regional policy briefings with elected officials and leaders in the Fair Lawn and Hamilton areas.

Mayor Jerry Fried of Montclair presented Senator Menendez with our federal policy priorities and asked him to work with us toward our goals. These are: to secure federal assistance for our older, diverse suburbs in the areas of stronger fair housing policy, infrastructure investment and jobs, and federal transportation reauthorization. Most importantly we introduced the senator to our Municipal Opportunity Index (MOI), a tool to ensure the fair distribution of regional resources. The MOI is a formula that rewards communities for economic diversity.

In response to the BONJ presentations, Senator Menendez pledged to help our older, diverse suburbs and promote inclusive communities by agreeing to work with us on the federal level in the areas of stronger fair housing policy, infrastructure investment and jobs, and on Federal Transportation Reauthorization. He noted that he sees the best opportunity for success in the reauthorization and reform of Section 8 housing policy and the Livable Communities Act. The Senator also confirmed his attendance at the BONJ annual banquet on November 17.

Also participating in the meeting with Senator Menendez were: Deacon Paul Bellan-Boyer, St. Matthew's Lutheran Church, Jersey City (ELCA); Rev. David Ford, St. Matthew Baptist Church, Roselle; Father Jack Martin of St. Mary's of the Ascension Catholic Church, Elizabeth; BONJ Leader and freeholder candidate Machell Still-Pettis of Burlington County; Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Jennings of Willingboro; Rev. Ramon Collazo of Santa Isabel Lutheran Church in Elizabeth; Cynthia Cumming of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Orange; and Nicole Plett, Vice President of Building One NJ and Trustee of the League of Women Voters of Lawrence Township who chaired the meeting.

BONJ looks forward to working with Senator Menendez and his staff this month and in the future.

Twenty BONJ leaders attended the Building One America (www.buildingoneamerica.org) weeklong leadership training from August 14-19, 2011 in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Attendees from NJ, MD, OH, NY and PA included elected officials such as councilpersons and members of boards of education, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clergy and lay leaders, as well as a refugee from Darfur, Sudan who was imprisoned for a year for human rights work. BONJ attendees were from Atlantic, Camden, Gloucester, Mercer and Union Counties. For information on upcoming weeklong leadership trainings in 2012, including scholarships, please email njrc@njregionalequity.org.

A delegation of twenty five BONJ leaders participated in the historic White House Forum on First Suburbs, Inclusion, Sustainability and Economic Growth on Monday, July 18, 2011.

This was a nationwide event -- 170 local elected officials, business, labor and civic leaders from 22 metropolitan regions from across the United States crowded into the White House South Court Auditorium to discuss the strengths and assets as well as the fiscal, social and environmental issues facing America’s first suburbs.

They were joined by some of the Obama Administration’s most important and influential officials including Counselor to President Obama Pete Rouse and Secretary of US DOT Ray LaHood, some of the nation's most respected policy experts and an exceptional group of inspired local leaders who served as our panel experts. BONJ’s New Jersey delegation included: Assemblywoman Mila Jasey, Mayor David DelVecchio of Lambertville, Mayor John Bencivengo of Hamilton in Mercer County, Mayor Joseph Florio of Union Township, Mayor Paul Medany of Deptford, Mayor Gail Cook of Beverly, Mayor Victor De Luca of Maplewood, Mayor Albert Kelly of Bridgeton, Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Jennings of Willingboro, Councilwoman Diane Stinney of Pemberton, Councilwoman Lizette Parker of Teaneck, Councilman Nicholas Lewis of Montclair, Member of Board of Education Archange Antoine of Roselle, Member of Board of Education of Hamilton Township Kim Melton of Atlantic County, Former NJ Commissioner of Banking and Insurance Neil Jasey, Dr. Roland Anglin of Rutgers University, Dr. David Trout of Rutgers University, Rev. R. Lenton Buffalo, Jr. of Union Baptist Church in Elizabeth, Marty Johnson of Isles, Rev. Darrell L. Armstrong of Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton, and Kiki Jamieson of the Fund for New Jersey.

You can also read a number of local stories about the event. Here is a selection:

• Bridgeton: http://www.njregionalequity.org/files/Bridgeton_White_House_2011_07_18.pdf
• Burlington County: http://www.njregionalequity.org/files/BurlCo_White_House_2011_07_18.pdf
• Essex:
  http://www.njregionalequity.org/files/Jassey_White_House_2011_07_18.pdf
  
• Teaneck: http://www.njregionalequity.org/files/Teaneck_White_House_2011_07_18.pdf

For full details about the event, visit the Building One America website at http://buildingoneamerica.org/content/white-house-event-report