News

Safety First, Prosperity Next

February 6, 2013 Newark Mayor Cory Booker has an ambitious goal: to dramatically lower crime in the city. “Public safety is Mayor Booker’s number one priority,” says Bari Mattes, a senior advisor to the mayor. “Until the city is safe, it’s going to have an impact on people investing and living here.…

‘Operation Ceasefire’ Takes Aim at Crime in Newark

February 6, 2013 While many are working to help Newark achieve the revitalization it has long sought, high crime continues to be a seemingly permanent hindrance to progress. The crime problems in Newark are well known: a decade of crime ten times the national average; a longtime center for the illegal gun trade; and a solidly rooted and violent drug market.…

Donor Advised Fund Aims to Increase Pedestrian Safety

February 6, 2013 In 2009 the number of pedestrians killed by cars in New Jersey rose by nearly 34 percent to its highest level in almost a decade. This was matched by a fall in total traffic accidents to the point where over a quarter of all traffic deaths were ordinary citizens crossing the street.…

New Turf Field for Morristown High School

February 5, 2013 Morristown High School has a rich tradition of excellence. The school was founded in 1869 and it played its first football game in 1901. The Poet Joyce Kilmer taught at the school in the early 1900’s, Gene Shalit attended in the 1940’s and Craig Newmark, founder of Craig’s List, graduated from the school in 1971.…

Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey

Our fundholders are helping to make a difference in the fight against the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs Our youth desperately need to become aware of the serious dangers caused by the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs. According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted by the U.S.…

NJ Recovery Fund Seeks Project Manager

February 1, 2013 The New Jersey Recovery Fund is a joint effort among local and national foundations, New Jersey corporations, and individuals to provide support to New Jersey’s communities and nonprofit organizations that are affected by or responding to Hurricane Sandy.…

Education for Afghan Girls

In 2008, several local leaders became aware of the need to assist young Afghan women who have been denied an education in their own country with receiving a college education in the United States. These leaders came to CFNJ to establish a fund to help young women achieve their dreams of attending high school or college in the US.…

What was Mark Zuckerberg Thinking?

January 3, 2013 Mark Zuckerberg’s recent contribution to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation had some people wondering why he chose to make the gift to a community foundation instead of a private foundation.  Why didn’t he just establish the Mark Zuckerberg Foundation like so many billionaires before him?…

Todd Ouida Children’s Foundation Chairman & NJ Monthly Seeds of Hope Honoree Recognizes CFNJ

December 27, 2012 Herb Ouida, Chairman of the Todd Ouida Children’s Foundation, who was honored recently by the New Jersey Monthly Garden State Seeds of Hope program for the foundation’s work raising awareness about and promoting early intervention for childhood anxiety, issued the following statement: “We are honored by this recognition and gratified by the progress we have made as an organization; that progress would not have been possible without the support of the Community Foundation of New Jersey,” said Ouida. …

Fundholders’ Family Gives Back to the Community

John and Helen Durante established their fund to create opportunities for others to follow their dreams. Their daughter, Barbara Van Slooten, noted that her parents believed in giving back to the community. The son of Italian immigrants, John started a home building business when he returned home from World War II in 1946, and he became a successful builder in Bergen County.…