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	NEW JERSEY’S CITIZEN CORPS INITIATIVES *Joseph Geleta, New Jersey State Citizens Corp Council, New Jersey* In the State of New Jersey, Governor James E. McGreevey has embraced the President’s Citizen Corps initiative. He established the New Jersey State Citizen Corps Council to facilitate Citizen Corps activities throughout the state. Thanks to the efforts of Governor McGreevey and the State Council, New Jersey has 94 local Citizen Corps Councils established. Working together, our goal is to make the Citizen Corps Program a success in this state. Our next state initiative will involve the National “Make a Difference Day” campaign.
“Make a Difference Day” is the largest National Day of service in the United States. The event is sponsored by USA Weekend and nearly 600 carrier newspapers. Now in its 13^th year, “Make a Difference Day” has more than 2 million participants. For “Make a Difference Day New Jersey 2003" the New Jersey Department of State, Office of the Attorney General, New Jersey State Police Office of Emergency Management, New Jersey State Department of Personnel, and the State Citizen Corps Council a partnership has developed to support the Governor’s Homeland Security Campaign. This partnership will allow State employees to be given an opportunity to receive Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training while on state time.
The training will provide them with the knowledge to ensure their own safety while being given the capability to provide vital services in the absence of emergency responders. More importantly, they will have the knowledge and training to safeguard their families in the event of a disaster. This initiative will allow state employees to make a difference in the state government facility where they work, but also be part of an emergency response team for the communities in which they live.
The training for state employees in CERT for “Make a Difference Day” will likely commence in January 2004. Preliminary feedback on this initiative has been tremendous as state employees want to get involved and receive training in this important program. The State of New Jersey expects nearly 5,000 State employees to participate in the CERT program to build upon our Citizen Corps initiative. More information about the CERT Program in New Jersey can be found at www.state.nj.us/njoem.
	Another goal for the State of New Jersey in preparing for homeland security is to involve our educational community. Montclair State University is the first of our State’s Educational Institutions to have members of their staff trained in CERT. The state is looking to expand the CERT Program to the educational community by partnering with the New Jersey Council of Community Colleges. By working with this organization, we can get our message out to the 19 community colleges throughout the state and train their staff in CERT. Additionally, they can be used as a means of recruiting interested students into the CERT community. Currently, we are discussing the possibility of offering the students a CERT course into their core curriculum in order to obtain college credits.
The New Jersey State Citizen Corps Council has focused our initial efforts on CERT. As of this date, we have over 300 CERT trained instructors and over 600 CERT members throughout the state. We have established a toll free CERT information phone number to give citizens a main number to call to leave their information and get connected to CERT training in their area.. We hope these ideas and initiatives will enable our Citizen Corps Program to flourish in New Jersey and answer the President’s call to service.

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