NJRC Annual Leadership Assembly Jan 24, 2010

CaucusOver 100 New Jersey Regional Coalition leaders gathered on Sunday, January 24, for a powerful annual statewide NJRC Leadership Assembly, hosted by Rev. Darrell Armstrong, at Shiloh Baptist Church in Trenton.

Leading the meeting were NJRC President Rev. R. Lenton Buffalo, Jr., of Union Baptist Church in Elizabeth, and NJRC Vice President Marlene Lao-Collins of St. Joseph ’s Catholic Church in Trenton.

The picture shows attendees from a Local District Council in a caucus session to plan their Power Event for the spring of 2010 and to identify leaders to participate in the March 2010 Weeklong Leadership Training. Each Local District Council held a caucus session during the meeting.

Other officiating clergy included Father Javier Diaz, St. Joseph Catholic Church, Trenton , Rev. Reginald Johnson of Grace Temple Baptist Church in Lawnside, Rev. Charles Stephens of the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing in Titusville, and Bishop John Grandy of Abundant Life Church in Egg Harbor City.

The leadership program featured an effective training session on “Power Analysis” by NJRC Executive Director Paul Scully on how to measure up your adversaries in the continuing fight for social justice. Among the session’s most memorable questions: “Who are the people with power and what is the source of their power?” And the session's most important observation: “Nobody is an island in the public arena.”

Host pastor Rev. Darrell L. Armstrong presented a powerful first-hand account, with photographs, of his recent experience in Haiti during and after the catastrophic earthquake of January 12, 2010. Rev. Armstrong was part of a 20-member delegation, which included three physicians, from Shiloh Baptist Church, Lawrenceville Presbyterian Church, and Kingdom Church in Ewing. The group arrived in Haiti on January 12 on what was supposed to be a five-day service trip to provide food, medical services, and medical supplies to residents of the mountain towns of Thoman and Leogane. The delegation was enroute to Thoman during the quake; after providing extraordinary services in Thoman and Port-au-Prince, the group returned home safely.

All six NJRC Local District Councils were represented at the statewide leadership meeting. The reported attendance by each LDC was:
Atlantic Area Local District Council, 8
Bergen/Hudson Local District Council, 4
Capitol Local District Council, 25
Lower Delaware Local District Council, 12
Southern Local District Council, 11
Union Local District Council, 34

Members voted to elect NJRC 2010 slate of officers; adopted the 2010 budget and 2010 proposed calendar; and amended the by-laws to provide additional representation by LDCs on the Board of Directors. NJRC by-laws are online at

http://www.njregionalequity.org/content/about-us

Featured NJRC 2010 events include:

  • Week long Community Organizer Training in Meriden , CT , from March 21 to 26
  • Six individual Local District “Power Events” that bring NJRC members together with legislators and community leaders during April and May, 2010
  • The first day-long “Building ONE New Jersey ” Statewide Summit with Senator Stephen Sweeney and other legislators during June or July, 2010
  • The NJRC Annual Victory Banquet in Trenton in November 2010.

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