Building One New Jersey 2016 Forum and Reception

Building One New Jersey will hold a forum on Race, Place, and Opportunity in New Jersey Featuring Mitchell Duneier, Princeton University Professor and author of the new book Ghetto: The Invention of a Place, the History of an Idea. 

The forum will take place at the Frist Campus Center at Princeton University on Friday, December 16, from 1 pm to 4 pm. The afternoon will include a policy forum followed by a brief holiday reception and award ceremony recognizing some of Building One New Jersey’s important friends and allies of 2016.

In addition to Professor Duneier, this year’s forum will include participation and reaction from local and regional leaders, scholars, and practitioners including elected officials and leaders from the labor, faith and civil rights communities.

Professor Duneier’s book is an important and well-timed examination of the history and enduring legacy of the ghetto as a social, psychological, and physical construct as documented by renowned African American scholars throughout the twentieth century.  
It is a history that tells us a great deal about present day segregation in American, and here in New Jersey, and helps us to better understand its impact on society as a whole, including our current political dysfunction, policy failures and our inability to respond effectively - and even speak coherently - about the intersecting issues of racial justice and economic inequality.

In the immediate aftermath of a tumultuous national election and the opening of the gubernatorial campaign season here in New Jersey, the conversation about racial segregation and its enduring effect on education, economic opportunity and political polarization couldn't’t be more timely and needed. 

This conference follows and builds on our successful labor/civil rights forum held last year with local and national labor and civil rights leaders. It will help set the stage for Building One New Jersey’s policy agenda and organizing approach going into 2017 and beyond. 

As we prepare for a renewed opening and new opportunity to address long-standing issues effecting all New Jersey residents, how we frame our intersecting problems around race and economic justice including jobs, property taxes, schools and housing, will determine our effectiveness and ultimately success in moving our state and all its people forward.