OFFICIAL SITE OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Mission and Vision Statement

The Community Collaborative Initiative (CCI) is an groundbreaking partnership between state & local governments, and community-based groups that promotes sustainable, vibrant, and resilient community development in Environmental Justice communities. CCI coordinates with local leaders and change makers interested in a shared vision of community revitalization, equitable economic development, and enhanced public health outcomes. CCI strives to make state resources work for local EJ communities to continually ensure that the state’s best and brightest are using their talents to engage the community as a partner. Through combined efforts with local actors and community leaders CCI hopes to better realize the Governors mission of creating an equitable, resilient and vibrant New Jersey. Together we can become Jersey Strong.

Background

The Community Collaborative Initiative (CCI) is a groundbreaking effort between the NJ Department of Environmental Protection, local governments and community leaders to transform New Jerseys environmental justice communities into centers for economic progress and sustainable development. CCI is committed to working closely with local communities on our mutual interests of environmental quality, economic development, and community revitalization. CCI started by focusing the states resources on developing brownfields in environmental justice communities. Brownfields present a consistent environmental, social, and economic burden to already overburdened communities preventing them for realizing goals of vibrant, sustainable development. Environmentally brownfields are public spaces that may contain environmental contamination and therefore present a potential health risk to environmental justice communities. Socially, brownfields hold space in a community but provide no benefits or uses for community residents, they are often dangerous and dilapidated, preventing the community from making use of valuable space and bringing down community moral. Economically brownfields hold taxable space for city governments but provide no tax, they also hold valuable real-estate for places of business but do not contribute to the local economy. Addressing brownfields is a key step towards community revitalization and sustainable economic development. CCI addressed brownfields through grass roots partnership in Camden through the community stakeholder process implemented by the NJDEP Office of Brownfield Reuse’s (OBR) Brownfield Development Area (BDA) program. OBR was instrumental in leveraging resources to help transform brownfield sites and support broader community revitalization by collaborating with a diverse set of partners and empowering residents to engage on environmental issues in their community.  NJDEP’s cross program expertise – facilitated by one dedicated NJDEP point-of-contact – united stakeholders to realize successes in Camden, including: forming Camden SMART, a groundbreaking initiative that became the model for cross-sector partnerships nationwide; enabling a world-class community center to be built on a former landfill; and amplifying neighborhood voices to drive change. By turning former brownfields in community assets the NJDEP’s CCI program, along with local leaders, laid the foundation for future efforts for community revitalization in Camden.

The Camden Collaborative Initiative was formally launched in 2013 to expand OBR’s role to partner with the City of Camden, Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, Camden County (led by the Municipal Utilities Authority), and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Through this partnership many successful projects were completed. Following the successes in Camden, the Community Collaborative Initiative grew in 2015 to include Trenton and Perth Amboy, and Bayonne in 2017.

The Community Collaborative Initiative formally became a program in 2019 and is housed in the office of Local Government Affairs. With Governor Murphy’s support CCI expanded into eight additional cities, Bridgeton, Jersey City, Millville, Newark, Paterson, Paulsboro, Salem, and Vineland. CCI Liaisons are now embedded in 12 underserved communities to work with our public and private partners on our aligned interests, find and leverage resources, and facilitate innovative and multiple-use solutions to better support these communities. The Community Collaborative Initiative works closely across all NJDEP programs and with the Office of Environmental Justice to advance the Governors mission to create a strong, vibrant, and sustainable New Jersey.