JERSEY CITY — Mayor Steven Fulop on July 12 announced the appointment of former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey to serve as the executive director of the Jersey City Employment and Training Commission.
The commission is charged with the responsibility of overseeing workforce training in the city, linking training with job creation, and identifying job opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed. McGreevey will also be responsible for working with the business community, local colleges and universities, labor unions, and non-profits to identify potential job opportunities and skilled training.
“Gov. McGreevey has worked hands-on with the inmate population and with re-entry programs and will be a valuable asset to us as we develop a re-entry program for Jersey City,” said Mayor Fulop. “We are fortunate to have such a distinguished and knowledgeable individual to lead what is one of the most critical positions.”
In addition, McGreevey will work to design and implement a Jersey City Reintegration Program for ex-offenders being released from New Jersey State Prisons and the Hudson County Correctional Center. Working closely with the Hudson County jail, County Re-Integration Services, and the Hudson County Re-Integration Task Force, Jersey City will develop a case management system to work with ex-offenders toward identifying work, housing and social services.
City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill did not immediately return an e-mail Friday seeking information regarding what McGreevey’s salary and starting date of employment will be.
“Having a former governor with 10 years’ experience in this field that he is an expert in is a unique and exciting opportunity for Jersey City,” Fulop stated in a release Friday. “With Gov. McGreevey’s background and portfolio, we can leverage private investment and develop a prisoner re-entry program that becomes a national model.”
Currently, McGreevey works with the women of the Hudson County Integrity Program with Director Oscar Aviles of the Hudson County Correctional Center and Integrity House, and will continue to volunteer with the women. Having pursued seminary education and training, he served with formerly incarcerated women and men in Harlem, New York. He also works with the women upon discharge to secure mentoring, a continued commitment to principles of recovery, and reintegration into the Hudson County workforce. The Hudson County program has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice Second Chance Program. It is one of two re-entry programs in the nation to be funded through 2015.
“It is a privilege to work for and with Mayor Fulop in addressing a critical need,” said McGreevey. “Having been born in the Hague [hospital in Jersey City] and baptized at St. Patrick’s, it is wonderful to be coming ‘home’ to the place where my grandparents and parents raised a family. It is an honor to serve people who need a second chance, something I’ve valued in my life.”
Previously there had been reports that Fulop was interested in hiring McGreevey to be the city’s business administrator, but had to find another post for him after the state would not give McGreevey a waiver to be business administrator without the required professional license.
The hiring is the first major government position for McGreevey, who left his post running New Jersey government in 2004, announcing that he had engaged in a consensual affair with a male official in the administration. At the time, McGreevey was criticized for matters unrelated to his sexuality, as some said that the other official in question was unqualified for the homeland security job to which the governor had hired him.
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