The Chamber

On Monday, November 1st more than 250 people gathered at Raritan Valley Community College for Somerset County’s first Business Call to Service Conference. This conference was held jointly by the Somerset County Business Partnership and the Citizens’ Campaign. The goal of the conference was to empower local business leaders and area residents by providing them with the tools they need to become actively engaged in leadership and service opportunities in their communities. The Business Call to Service conference was held part and parcel to the Business Partnership’s Make New Jersey Affordable campaign, the statewide initiative to make New Jersey a more affordable place to live and to grow a business. President/CEO Michael Kerwin said, “getting businesses of all sizes involved in the Call to Service movement is critical and it can help spur economic recovery and development in New Jersey.” Listen to Mike’s podcast interview.

Harry Pozycki, Chairman of the Citizens' Campaign, started off the conference with recruiting the audience to answer the Jersey Call to Service, the movement to inspire and empower 5,000 people to constructively participate in the leadership of New Jersey government and political parties. His presentation featured an introduction to the tools and training the Call to Service offers to empower individuals to get results in their communities and beyond.

Pozycki described the "People's Tool Kit," and its model "Ready for Adoption" waste cutting laws that Cherry Hill and Vineland citizens recently used to cut wasteful spending in their government and school districts, resulting in savings of over $6 million. Montgomery Township Administrator Donato Nieman also presented on cost-cutting measures he implemented that are now being used as a statewide model for taxpayer savings. The Citizens' Campaign interviewed people after the presentation, and it was clear that they were inspired to take advantage of the offer of power to make positive change. (Click to watch video interview) 

Kelly Johnston, VP of Governmental Affairs, Campbell Soup, who has been involved with the Jersey Call to Service since its launch gave an inspiring keynote address about Campbell Soup’s corporate citizenship activities in southern New Jersey. Campbell Soup is nationally recognized for its leadership in corporate citizenship, and Johnston described how the company has tied its activities to increases in their bottom line.  You can watch the complete video recorded live by the Home News Tribune by clicking here.  The Courier News also covered the event (read story and view photos) as well as New Jersey Newsroom (read story) and NJ BIZ (read story).  

The Somerset County Business Partnership organized a panel of business leaders to discuss how they are exploring ways to support and promote employee involvement in public service within Somerset County. This panel titled, Corporate Citizenship: Where Business and Community Come Together, was moderated by Dennis Bone, President of Verizon and Chairman of Choose New Jersey. He told the audience that he had invited all his employees to the statewide Jersey Call to Service Summit held this summer and had hosted a number of leadership forums for his employees. Mr. Bone expressed his determination to do even more.
 
Members of the panel included Melissa Feltmann, US Community Affairs Director of sanofi-aventis, Courtney Billington (pictured), Vice President of Manufacturing and Technical Operations at Janssen Supply Group, a Johnson & Johnson Company, and Finn Caspersen Jr, Executive Vice President & General Counsel at Peapack-Gladstone Bank. These panelists discussed the impact that businesses can have when they get involved in their communities and agreed that they would like to engage their employees more in constructive citizen leadership by promoting the Jersey Call to Service.

A number of non-profit organizations presented their programs as a possible venue for employers to encourage employee volunteer activities and contributions. The Somerset County Business Call to Service was sponsored by Affinity Federal Credit Union, Allstate New Jersey Insurance Company, New Jersey Press Media Solutions, Verizon Communications and others.

How can a business best Answer the Call? Connect your employees to free events offered by the Jersey Call to Service.  For more information on how to offer your employees the tools and training to have a real impact on decisions within their communities, contact Heather Taylor of the Citizens’ Campaign at (732) 548-9798 x 1.

Watch it live! Click here! 

Photo Gallery

Sponsors:

Philosophy:  Verizon is deeply invested in using communications technology to connect people to the larger resources of the community – education, health care, accessibility and safety – in ways that help make lives better.
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Philosophy:  At Allstate, we care about the world beyond our walls not because it’s expected or required. Not because it scores PR points or wins awards. We do it because of who we are as people and where we come from as a company. Our job is to restore lives.  We take that to heart.
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Philosophy:  The Gannett Foundation, a corporate foundation sponsored by Gannett Co. Inc. supports non-profit activities in the communities in which Gannett does business. Through its other programs, the foundation invests in the future of the media industry, encourages employee giving, reacts to natural and other disasters, and contributes to a variety of charitable causes. The Gannett Foundation helps to improve lives in the many communities served by Gannett Co., Inc. and beyond.
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Philosophy:  The primary mission of Affinity's philanthropic programs and community outreach is to unite corporate citizenry through the spirit of our volunteerism with monetary donations that are gifted through our charity foundation.  Our objective is to establish engaged and ongoing affiliations with a group of not-for-profit community-based service organizations located within our touch – the communities of our membership.  We endeavor to capably provide the most good for the most deserving.  At the same time, we hope to create opportunities that will inspire the Affinity employee body to discover the joys of volunteering.
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Raritan Valley Community College
SJP Properties
Carrier Clinic