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New Jersey — First Congressional District In the News |
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: January 28, 2002 |
REP. ANDREWS OBTAINS FUNDING FORCOMMUNITY REVITALIZATION PROGRAM |
| GLASSBORO, N.J.—Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) today joined with
Freeholder Joe Brigandi, Mayor Leo McCabe and the President of Rowan University,
Donald Farish, to announce the receipt of a federal grant totaling $250,000
for the Environmental Community Revitalization and Research Initiative
(ECCRI) at Rowan University in Glassboro. “Many rural and suburban
communities in Southern New Jersey are confronting an array of environmental
and economic challenges associated with revitalization, including brownfields
redevelopment, wastewater management and pollution prevention,” said Andrews.
“Rowan University has a long tradition of helping local townships deal
with these difficult problems and has developed the ECCRI as a means of
facilitating community-based solutions to many of these challenging quality
of life issues. I am pleased to support this project as it will benefit
many communities in South Jersey.”
The ECCRI will create a formal partnership between the university and the towns in the seven counties of Southern New Jersey. Professors and other staff from Rowan will serve as a resource for community leaders and residents in their struggle to tackle complex socio-environmental problems facing the region. The ECCRI will also allow the faculty at Rowan to collaborate with state and local officials on research into many of the social, economic, environmental and human resource problems facing the state. By creating an academic and community think tank, Rowan will facilitate the dissemination of information to the general public and provide a vehicle for public policy makers to gain insight into critical issues, identify problems and offer creative solutions. In July, Andrews wrote to the House Appropriations committee to request funding for the ECCRI at the request of Rowan University. The funding was included as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Programs and Management account which was funded through the FY 2002 Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development budget. Congressman Andrews will submit an additional request this year for continued federal funding for this program. Congressman Andrews made the ECCRI grant announcement as part of an entire day devoted to touring four new communities that were recently added to the First Congressional District. In the Fall of this year, the redistricting commission of the State of New Jersey drafted a new map for the First Congressional District adding Merchantville, Haddonfield, Glassboro, |