New Brunswick Tomorrow Mentors Leaders of Today

According to Jeffrey Vega, president of New Brunswick Tomorrow (NBT), the organization's founder, John Heldrich, often said "We need to prepare the next generation of revitalists."

New Brunswick Tomorrow recently announced its newest class of people poised to revitalize New Brunswick: 14 "Leadership Now" students.

"Leadership Now" is offered once every five years, and requires a one-year commitment from its students. Participants will go through six training modules that each last two days, tackling topics such as community leadership, wellness and health management, decision making and ethics and accountability.

They will also attend seminars, work with professionals from the Community Charge Center at Rutgers University, and receive coaching from past Leadership Today graduates.

Finally, the class is split into groups and tasked with creating a project that will bring change in the community, to be presented to community stakeholders in September.

All 14 people in the program are graduates of NBT's "Leadership Tomorrow" program, a similar program that is less intensive.

The class of 2013 includes the following participants, according to NBT:

• Luis Berrios, Assistant Site Facilitator at A.C. Redshaw Elementary School with New Brunswick Youth Services System
• Cpt. William S. Borke III of the New Brunswick Fire Department
• Marisol Conde-Hernandez, Summa Cum Laude Rutgers University graduate and winner of the Dee Garrison Award for Peacekeeping and the Human Dignity Award.
• Daniel Dominguez of the New Brunswick Police Department
• Rev. Martisha Dwyer, minister with Tabernacle Baptist Church and a Chaplain with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
• Catherine Feaster, undergraduate student at Rutgers University
• Zachary A. King, Rutgers University graduate with both bachelors and masters degrees and middle school science teacher
• Genevieve Kumapley, co-founding Executive Director of My Gateway to Overcoming Autism in Life Inc. (MyGOAL, Inc.)
• Franchesca M. Rodriguez, New Brunswick Board of Education member and employed with a multimedia developing and consulting firm
• Jaymie Santiago, program coordinator of the New Brunswick Community Farmers Market
• Rev. Douglas Shepler, Senior Pastor of Second Reformed Church in New Brunswick
• Jose R. Sibaja, past New Brunswick High School valedictorian and Rutgers University graduate
• Elder Rev. Kevin E. Taylor, Pastor of United Fellowship Church in New Brunswick
• Vipul Verma, State Farm insurance agent in Middlesex County

Vega said that NBT's leadership programs have yielded a crop of prominent names in the community, including Mario Vargas, executive director of the Puerto Rican Action Board, Lt. Mike Bobadilla of the New Brunswick Police Department and New Brunswick city councilwoman Rebecca Escobar.

For more information on New Brunswick Tomorrow's leadership programs, visit http://nbtomorrow.org/what-we-do/leadership.