In Your Neighborhood: Greater Trenton

As part of NJTV’s "In Your Neighborhood" series from Trenton, Steve Adubato talks with the members of Greater Trenton, a nonprofit organization that uses private funding and a network of collaborative relationships to advance economic revitalization in the state’s capital city.

6/29/17 #2042

 

 

 

 

Excerpt:

"Welcome to One on One. I'm Steve Adubato. Trenton was once a booming city. But in recent years, New Jersey's capital city has struggled, to say the least. Here to discuss efforts to bring Trenton back are George Sowa, who is the CEO of an organization called Greater Trenton. You'll find more about that in just a second. Bernie Flynn, President and CEO of New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Group, and the Co-Chair of Greater Trenton. Skip Cimino, partner in Kaufman Zita Group, and Co-Chair of Greater Trenton, and also a former member of the state legislature. And also Eric Jackson, the Honorable Eric Jackson, the Mayor of the great city of Trenton. It is an honor to have all of you with us to talk about Trenton. Now Mr. Mayor, the capital city, that is a big deal and a big responsibility, is it not? Yes it is. It's been proven, so the capital city goes, so does a balance of our region and the state goes. So we're working very hard to make sure that we're a shining light from where we come from to be a good light for the state capital... for the state. Yeah, we'll be talking about some of the challenges that Trenton faces. But in many ways, this program is about the opportunities that Trenton faces. So Bernie, let's do this. You're a prominent board member of public broadcasting, and supporter of public broadcasting, but you pick your spots in terms of what you choose to be involved in with your limited time. You chose to be involved in this initiative. Talk about your involvement in this, because we're also, as we talk about this, we're gonna be talking about a very prominent friend, the late Caren Franzini who really brought a lot of people together, and this was her brainchild. Talk about this. Well, Caren Franzini and Skip Cimino were the two individuals who came to me to talk about this opportunity to help with an organization that could assist with the revitalization of Trenton. Now our company, NJM Insurance Group, we're 103 years old. We were born and raised in the City of Trenton. Hmm. And we have deep roots there. Many employees of ours live in the city. So we maintain those ties, and when I heard from Caren and Skip about the opportunity that was presented, it was a pretty easy sell for them. And it was helpful that Caren Franzini at the time was on our board of directors at NJM. And our board made a commitment to the city and it's represented now by this organization. We're gonna be talking a little bit more about Caren in..."