Carteret, NJ – On Tuesday, November 12th, Mayor Dan Reiman joined with representatives from B4NJKids and the Boys and Girls Club of Carteret for a book bag giveaway. The event, held at the Borough-operated educational facility at St. Elias Church, was attended by approximately 90 participating children of the local Boys and Girls Club, all of whom received new book bags donated by B4NJKids.
The Carteret chapter of the Boys and Girls Club was first established in 2010 through a $2m grant from the 21st Century Community Learning Center Program (NJ Department of Education), and a partnership between the Borough’s administration, the local school district, and the Jewish Renaissance Foundation. A new after school program was begun this September to provide after-school activities and resources for Carteret youngsters, with an emphasis on the following components:
- One-on-one and small group tutoring
- SAT/HSPA preparation
- Academic enrichment clubs
- Rutgers Saturday and Summer Program
- Community service projects
- Challenge Day
- Mentoring
- Family programs, including a resource center and weekly programs
“We along with our advocates of better learning recognized that improvements within the lives of our youngsters can mean going beyond school hours to provide new social and educational resources for our children” Mayor Reiman stated. “Carteret is fortunate to have so many friends in the Boys and Girls Club, and in B4NJKids, who have been willing to go the extra mile to facilitate the success of our school bag giveaway and so many other youth based programs here in Carteret.”
B4NJKids (B4K) is an independent voice for common-sense education reform in New Jersey. B4K stands for the proposition that the first priority of the New Jersey public school system must be the best interests of New Jersey students, not the special interests that dominate the status quo. It maintains as its priorities that every class must have an effective teacher and every school an effective principal, and teachers and principals should be given the necessary training and resources to be effective., that public policy and all administrative and personnel policies should support these goals, and that parents must be empowered with access to data and other information to hold educators, leaders and elected officials accountable for their performance.
“We’re happy to help. This is a great project to help Carteret kids succeed in the classroom. Here at (BEI) Better Education Institute we try to reach out to as many children as we can in NJ and supply them with the school supplies they need in order to have a successful school year. We’d like to thank Mayor Reiman for providing us with a way to do that,” said Art Cifelli of B4NJKids.
“It is encouraging to see groups like this from all over the state come together to support the work that Boys & Girls Club is doing in our community,” said Daniel Croson Jr., the Borough’s Director of Community Development and member-elect of the Carteret Board of Education. “I thank B4NJKids for their generous donation and look forward to our continued partnership.”
Added current Carteret Board of Education member Dennis Cherepski, “As a member of Boys & Girls Club’s Board of Directors, I know how much donations like this mean to the programs we run and the students we serve. We are very grateful.”
