This year for Black History Month, we invited professionals and practitioners from around the university to share their experiences as Black professionals: the highs, lows, most impactful lessons and their advice to the next generation. Here is what they had to say.
As an anchor institution, Rutgers University in Camden has consistently provided educational and social services to Camden adults and children. Residents will now benefit from six newly designated Rutgers–Camden Community Partnership Centers thanks to a $1.4 million federal appropriation awarded to the university.
The Rutgers Asian Student Council offers space for its Asian population to get together, contribute to campus activism and participate in group activities.
As grocery prices have increased in 2022, so have the numbers of students turning to the food pantry serving the Rutgers University–Newark community. “We've had a lot of new users,” says Hend El-Buri, director of PantryRUN. “Many are people who have never needed to ask for help.”
When racist, antisemitic graffiti was spray painted at Scotch-Plains Fanwood High School in 2018, officials reached out to the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center at Rutgers-Newark to help address the hatred behind the vandalism.
The effort helped ease tensions, which had long existed in both towns, and resulted in heightened awareness of bias and discrimination. Since, the center has held several “racial healing circles” in Scotch Plains and Fanwood, guiding participants to discover what they share with people of diverse backgrounds.
Fiserv, Inc. and Rutgers University–Newark celebrated their commitment to minority business owners in New Jersey last week at an event announcing the statewide launch of the financial tech company’s Back2Business program, which will support the state’s minority-owned small businesses with a total of $1 million in funding.