Dear Editor:
This application is being sent to all Jersey City community groups to offer residents the opportunity to apply for assistance in improving the parks and public spaces of their neighborhoods; or in developing new ones. Call me if you haven’t received one.
As the founder of the Friends of Van Vorst Park, Inc. (FVVP), I have helped lead hundreds of downtown residents to design and develop Van Vorst Park and have done the same with helping Lafayette residents to transform Ercel Webb Park. These two community-based projects alone have involved over four million dollars, dozens of community gardens and over 50,000 plants and trees. These two projects have also positively impacted the surrounding neighborhoods. These projects have upgraded over 20 percent of Jersey City’s major parks (1 acre or more).
But the City’s capital budget can’t afford many of the worthy projects that our neighborhoods so badly need. And the FVVP has specialized in being a necessary conduit for public input and oversight. This is the help the FVVP offers in seeking a number of alternate or additional funding sources. As a 501(c)(3) group, the FVVP is able to seek funding to help develop and maintain all the parks and public spaces throughout Jersey City.
We thank Rosalyn Browne, Secretary of the Combined City-Wide Block Association for helping to distribute this application. We also thank James Adams for offering his grant related expertise. The deadline for returning this application is December 1, 2003. Mail them to: Dr. Clifford Waldman, Friends of Van Vorst Park, Inc., 276 Montgomery Street – #3, Jersey City, New Jersey 07302.
Before the end of this year, a meeting for all applicants will be announced. For information about us go to: FVVP.org Questions about this application; call 433-5127.
Together the residents of this city can improve their neighborhoods from their parks and public spaces outward. Government can help, but we will do it. Together we can launch a new golden era for Jersey City.
Clifford S. Waldman, Ph.D.
FVVP Founder & C-Chairman