Dr. Janice Fine’s Organizing for Social Change Class Assists GANE with Ports Campaign Research.

The students in Rutgers professor Janice Fine’s class on community organizing had a chance to hone their research skills on real-world problems this semester, as they helped GANE conduct a power analysis of the region and do the research needed to plan a campaign to secure quality jobs for local residents at Port Newark.  Dr. Fine, a dynamic professor whose academic training is informed by many years of community and labor organizing, had a vision of her classroom as a place where academics and organizers could cross-pollinate.  Her energy was infectious, and the students, a mix of Rutgers undergraduates and graduate students at the university’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, dug deep, worked creatively, and produced research and analysis that is helping inform GANE’s direction in 2009.

We are eagerly exploring other similar partnerships in the coming year; this semester, we have launched a similar project with Dr. Donal Malone at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City.