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Hudson County Community College Vice Chair Bakari G. Lee Named Recipient of ACCT 2023 Northeast Regional Trustee Leadership Award
Vice Chair Lee is the sole nominee from the Northeastern United States for
ACCT’s prestigious M. Dale Ensign National Trustee Leadership Award.
August 23, 2023, Jersey City, NJ – For more than 120 years, America’s community colleges have played a vital role in transforming lives by creating pathways to economic opportunity and financial security. Today, community colleges face myriad challenges such as funding issues, keeping apace of rapidly changing technologies, and, most importantly, developing the means to assist students in continuing and completing their studies. Community college trustees work with college administrators and staff, local and national government entities, and area industries to meet these challenges, and to ensure opportunities abound for those who wish to successfully pursue a community college education.
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Bayonne Mayor James Davis Column
THE LAST WEEKS OF SUMMER
As we approach the end of the summer vacation season and the beginning of school, there are some good things to do before the season is gone.
Clean up the litter: During the summer, a lot of people have been walking around outside. Some of them have dropped litter in front of homes and businesses. Now would be a good time to clean up any litter that has accumulated over the summer. It would be best to get litter off the streets, sidewalks, and ground before it gets caught under the leaves of autumn and the snows of winter.
Cut and trim the trees and bushes: If you have grass, trees, or bushes on your property, please cut the grass and trim the trees and bushes. It is best to make sure that your grass does not grow too tall at this time of year. During the remaining part of summer, cutting the grass keeps down the number of mosquitoes and other bugs on your property. It is easier to trim trees and bushes before the ice and snow of winter make it too tough to do the job.
Clear out those backpacks: Those of you who have children in school have probably not looked in their backpacks since the end of the last school year in June. There may be crumpled-up papers still in them. You should check the papers for anything important, and then throw the unneeded ones out. Otherwise, they will be taking up space that should be saved for items your children will receive in the new school year.
For more information about the concerts, please contact Pete Amadeo at 201-858-6129, or email BAYONNEREC@AOL.COMPlease take advantage of the time remaining in the summer of 2023!
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Starting August 9th La Festa Italiana Read All About this Fun Time for the Whole Family
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Bayonne Mayor James Davis -PROGRESS TOWARDS A PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
Last week, in our City Council Chambers, Bayonne residents had their first opportunity to view plans in person for the proposed 34th Street pedestrian bridge. Once plans are finalized, that bridge will be constructed over Route 440 between the 34th Street Light Rail Station and the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor (the former Military Ocean Terminal).
There is a clear need for better, safer ways for pedestrians to cross Route 440 than running across the highway. Lives and public safety are at stake. Pedestrians have died in the Route 440 corridor in recent years. The need for safe pedestrian crossings has increased as economic development has taken place in the Route 440 corridor. There are various locations where pedestrian bridges could be placed along that highway. We decided to start with the 34th Street Light Rail area because there is already a pedestrian overpass there linking the Light Rail station with the parking lot. This proposed bridge would connect directly to the existing Light Rail passenger overpass. TY Lin, the engineering firm that has the contract for the bridge concept development study, has offered various options for solving the pedestrian safety problem around 34th Street and Route 440. The engineers have presented options that include various types of bridges and upgrading the highway crossing without building a bridge. Let’s be clear. We want a bridge.
The staff of TY Lin believes the best option or preferred alternative would be a single-span, prefabricated, steel truss bridge over Route 440. This proposal would include fully enclosed stairs and an elevator building at the east landing of the bridge, across the highway from the station. That plan would offer a sidewalk at the east landing that would connect to the sidewalk on Goldsborough Drive and at Port Terminal Boulevard. They are major streets at the former Military Ocean Terminal. The engineers envision a twelve-foot-wide space inside the bridge to provide safe access for pedestrians and bicycles. At the public information session on August 2, members of the public suggested that the bridge be enclosed for safety reasons. Several residents also called for more sidewalks in the Route 440 corridor.
At the City Council Caucus on Wednesday, August 9, at 6:00 p.m., TY Lin will offer a presentation about the proposed bridge to our City Council Members. This Caucus meeting will be televised on Optimum cable Channel 78 and on Verizon Fios Channel 42. We expect at least one more opportunity after that for the public to offer comments in person about the bridge proposal.
This bridge project began when the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority awarded Bayonne a $550,000 planning grant. Later, the City of Bayonne received more than $4 million in federal funds for bridge construction through the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. The federal money came from the Liberty Corridor program, a transportation aid package that Senator Bob Menendez championed when he was still in the House of Representatives.
Where do things stand now? There is a concept for the bridge, along with a preferred option for building that bridge. We have more than $4 million for construction. After receiving more public input, we can move towards preliminary engineering, then to the final design of the bridge, and, ultimately, to construction.
As we continue making progress on this project, I would like to thank all of our residents who have offered ideas and expressed concerns about the safety issues on Route 440. If you would like to offer comments or suggestions to TY Lin about the proposed pedestrian bridge, please go to https://34thstbayonnepedestrianbridge.com/contact.
We look forward to working with the New Jersey Department of Transportation to provide more safe crossings in the Route 440 corridor.
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Op Ed: Supreme Court Recent Rulings-Our Resolve is Stronger than the Setback
Christopher M. Reber, President, Hudson County Community College
As a community college located in Jersey City, New Jersey, the most diverse city in the United States, Hudson County Community College serves and supports all who walk through our doors in pursuit of education and a promising future. Our college’s commitment to this open-access mission, anchored to our shared values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, is ironclad. Unfortunately, recent rulings by the United States Supreme Court, including the Court’s decision to strike down Affirmative Action, stand in stark contrast to this mission and our core values.
Hudson County Community College, and community colleges like us all over the nation, provide a vital onramp to the American Dream for those we serve. Our Journal Square campus is located in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, an inspirational symbol of our student’s dreams and aspirations. Our North Hudson campus serves Union City, one of the nation’s most densely populated cities and a diverse and thriving community with a large concentration of Hispanic and Latino citizens.
Our location in the heart of this diverse and vibrant region provides a unique vantage point for serving traditionally underrepresented and marginalized students and community members – people who are adversely affected by the Supreme Court’s recent decisions.
We are proud to support all students in achieving their goals and dreams for a better life. Like our community college peers, HCCC is an open-access institution, so the recent Affirmative Action ruling will not directly affect our admission of all students who come to us seeking a brighter future. But it will affect many of our graduates and employees who succeed at HCCC and go on to pursue baccalaureate and graduate education, including many who apply to highly selective colleges and universities including Ivy League and Research 1 institutions.
Most HCCC students place into English as a Second Language (ESL), Developmental English, and/or Developmental Math courses when they begin their education with us. Many of these students speak little or no English. Most navigate significant financial challenges. Additionally, we proudly serve many DACA and undocumented students.
In recent years, Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice twice surveyed our student body and found that two-thirds to three-quarters of our students reported challenges of food insecurity, housing insecurity, and even homelessness. I invite you to reflect on the immensity of the challenge of attending college while hungry or homeless, and the monumental commitment and drive these students have in seeking a brighter future. And many students are parents, struggling to navigate these life challenges while caring for children, and other family members, and working, often full-time.
Our students represent populations that are too often overlooked and ignored, but we are proud not to overlook anyone. We embrace all students. Through their hard work and with our guidance, support, and love, our students achieve transformational outcomes.
We have worked assiduously and collaboratively to create pathways that enable our students to transfer seamlessly to four-year institutions so they can continue their educational journeys and pursue their career and life goals. While our students endure significant hardships as they strive to complete their education, they consistently overcome these challenges to achieve remarkable outcomes and inspirational points of pride, year after year.
This past year, six of our students were chosen as semifinalists for the prestigious and highly competitive Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship, the most in our college’s history. In recent years, our high-performing graduates have continued their educational journeys at prestigious institutions like NYU, Columbia, Princeton, Rutgers, and Stevens Institute of Technology, sometimes with full scholarships. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s recent decisions restrict and discourage selective colleges and universities from continuing to serve many of our graduates in spite of these institutions’ belief in and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
We are proud that our students tell us repeatedly they feel cared about and “at home” at Hudson County Community College. Indeed, our students have coined a phrase that is now our college tagline – “Hudson is Home!”
At our most recent Commencement ceremony, a record 1,505 graduates, including recent immigrants, first-generation college students, students with disabilities, and graduates from all races, ethnicities, and walks of life crossed the stage to receive their diplomas, united by their hard work in pursuit of a better life and supported by a loving and caring community. Nine of our graduates were incarcerated or reentry citizens, including two students who received their diplomas while incarcerated at the Hudson County Correctional Center.
Beyond the end of Affirmative Action, additional Supreme Court rulings that strike down previously announced plans for student loan forgiveness, and permit businesses to refuse service to LGBTQ citizens, create even more challenges for those we serve. These decisions are a setback to citizens all over the country who are striving to create a better life for themselves and their families and better communities for all.
The recent Supreme Court rulings throw new obstacles into the pathways our courageous and inspirational students traverse on their academic and life journeys, but it’s not only the Supreme Court that is making the world a more difficult and less welcoming place for many Americans. Book bans are being imposed in a growing number of states to clamp down on independent and critical thinking, the very skills we are trying to foster with a college education and the foundation that all democracies are built on. Members of our society’s marginalized communities have incredible and inspirational stories of perseverance and survival to tell. We can all learn from their courage and determination. But, sadly, book bans are being wielded as a weapon to erase these stories and silence their voices.
We have worked hard to mitigate the barriers to success that many of our students face, placing these students on pathways to the American Dream. Progress in creating a more equitable world has been hard fought, and while recent setbacks are discouraging, they ultimately strengthen our resolve to fight harder for the ideals of equity and inclusion for all. Our students are resilient, and with our full support, they will continue to pursue and achieve monumental outcomes.
We will keep going. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
We must redouble our efforts to ensure all have an opportunity for an education and a better life. The poem inscribed on the base of the nearby Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus’ “New Colossus,” famously tells the world to “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Lady Liberty is a powerful metaphor for our college’s mission today.
HCCC will continue to serve all who enter our doors by providing them with educational opportunities, empowerment, and love to reach their full potential. Our nation’s community colleges and all of higher education embody the best our country has to offer in the spirit of inclusion, equality, equity, and hope.
Christopher M. Reber, President Hudson County Community College
Jersey City, Union City, and Secaucus, NJ
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July 15-July 31st River View Observer Hudson County Movies in the Park
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Hudson County Community College Students are First to Complete Nursing Degrees in New Jersey’s Pay It Forward Program
Nineteen HCCC graduates were honored at the celebration with a special toast and pinning ceremony.
Nursing is one of the most in-demand careers in the United States, but obtaining a college degree in this field can be cost-prohibitive for many students.
Caption: Graduates of the inaugural Pay It Forward Associate of Science (A.S.) in Nursing Degree Program at Hudson County Community College (HCCC) are toasted by (from center left) Dr.
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Hudson County Community College and New Jersey City University Complete Year-Long Transfer Project to Design HCCC/NJCU CONNECT Program
Aspen-AASCU Student Success and Equity sessions provided best-practice support for the partnership and program’s development.
Hudson County Community College (HCCC) and New Jersey City University (NJCU) have collaborated to design HCCC|NJCU CONNECT, a transformational program that will provide highly visible, inclusive, and barrier-free transfer pathways to guide students and their families from high school, through studies at HCCC, and on to graduation from NJCU.
HCCC|NJCU CONNECT was developed during participation in the Aspen Institute–American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) Transfer Student Success and Equity Intensive. HCCC and NJCU were selected as a team to participate in the externally funded national project, a one-year initiative comprised of monthly sessions to support community college and university members in advancing best practices for improved and more equitable student success. The strategy- and practice-focused workshops provided practical support in advancing transfer reform.
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Hudson County Community College Hosts NJ Reentry Corporation’s Inaugural Summer Training Institute
Pictured: Participants in the press conference at HCCC announcing the launch of NJ Reentry Corporation’s inaugural Summer Training Institute, including NJRC founder and chairman, former New Jersey governor James McGreevey, HCCC President Dr. Christopher Reber, and others.
May 11, 2023, Jersey City, NJ – On Wednesday, May 10, the New Jersey Reentry Corporation (NJRC) held a press conference to launch its Summer Training Institute for court-involved young adults at Hudson County Community College’s (HCCC) Culinary Conference Center.
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