Part of First Cohort in the Nation

Press Release 12/2/20, MIDDLESEX COUNTY – The Citizens Campaign and Middlesex County College today announced the establishment of a Citizen Leadership Center designed to train students in pragmatic problem-solving skills of community issues and provide opportunities for them to put their training to use as “citizen leaders” working to better their communities and our Country. Middlesex County College is the first of 10 community colleges around the nation where model Citizen Leadership Centers will be launched in partnership with The Citizens Campaign in the coming year. These pioneering Citizen Leadership Centers are designed to pave the way for putting our nation’s 1,100 or so community colleges at the center of a new national public service generating pragmatic and principled citizen leaders.

The Middlesex County College Citizen Leadership Center will have three core components: (1) offering Power Civics© citizen leadership training in one or more undergraduate courses; (2) offering Power Civics citizen leadership training to the broader community via the college’s continuing education program; and (3) hosting a Civic Trust at the MCC Perth Amboy Center, where those who have completed the citizen leadership training work together in No-Blame Problem Solving sessions to better their communities by searching for cost-effective, evidence based solutions.

“The missions of the College and the Citizens Campaign align well,” said Mark McCormick, President of Middlesex County College. “The mission of The Citizens Campaign is to educate all Americans to the fullness of their political power as citizens and to introduce them to the shared experience of public service performed by participating in seeking solutions to issues in local communities.”

Harry Pozycki, Founder of The Citizens Campaign, said, “The pioneering work done here at Middlesex County College creates a model for the development of Citizen Leaders whose example of unselfish service and No-Blame Problem Solving can heal the Nation. President McCormick and the talented professors, administrators and students at the college are ideal partners for this exciting new venture in restoring our democratic standards.”

Bart Oates, President of the NFL Alumni Association and a member of The Citizens’ Campaign Citizen Leadership Centers Selection Committee said, “The NFL Alumni Association provides its enthusiastic backing of this essential effort to empower citizens to take responsibility for governing themselves and develop the leaders we will need at all levels of our nation. As a former Giant, who enjoyed the support of so many New Jersey fans over the years, I am especially pleased to see this nationwide effort here in the heart of the Garden State at Middlesex County College.”

The core components of the Citizen Leadership Center are elaborated upon briefly below:

• Power Civics citizen leadership training incorporated in undergraduate courses: Both as stand-alone courses and as a course component, Power Civics Leadership Training will be incorporated into undergraduate course offerings. Power Civics introduces students to the power levers of local government, a proven No-Blame Problem Solving method developed by ‘successful practitioners’ in local and state government, and accessible opportunities for your students to put this knowledge to work as non-partisan Civic Trustees.

• Power Civics citizen leadership training added to the Continuing Education Offerings: To provide the broader community with the opportunity to learn how to become effective leaders improving their own hometowns, Middlesex County and the nation, Middlesex County College will provide Power Civics as a continuing education offering.

• Hosting Civic Trust: The Middlesex County College Perth Amboy Center serves and will continue to serve as the host of the Perth Amboy Civic Trust, comprised of 24 resident Civic Trustees, who come together in monthly no-blame problem solving sessions, searching the nation to identify successful solutions to better Perth Amboy Trustees commit to at least one year of service and pledge to work to “leave their city better than they found it.” Students who complete Power Civics at Middlesex County College will have the opportunity to become a Trustee, participating as part of the Perth Amboy Civic Trust and then potentially forming a Trust in their own hometown.