Mercer County Community College (MCCC) and The Citizens Campaign Partner Establish Citizen Leadership Center based in Trenton

Trenton – The Citizens Campaign and Mercer County Community College today announced the establishment of a Citizen Leadership Center designed to train students and members of the community in no-blame, pragmatic problem-solving skills and provide opportunities for them to put their training to use as “citizen leaders” working to better their communities and our country. Mercer County College is  one of 11 community colleges around the nation where model Citizen Leadership Centers are first being developed in partnership with The Citizens Campaign. 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 Citizen Leadership Service that generates principled, pragmatic citizen leaders. 

The Mercer County Community College Citizen Leadership Center will have three  core components: (1) offering training in leadership and no-blame problem solving in one or more undergraduate courses; (2) offering citizen leadership training to the broader community via the college’s continuing education program; and (3) hosting a Civic Trust on its James Kerney Campus in Trenton, where those who have completed the citizen leadership training  work together in No-Blame Problem Solving sessions to better their communities by searching for and advancing cost-effective, evidence based solutions. 

“We know our students and the public at large are committed to improving Trenton, the surrounding communities in Mercer County and the nation as a whole. It is part of our mission to give them the skills and knowledge to do so, said President of Mercer County Community College Jianping Wang. “Partnering with The Citizens Campaign in establishing a Citizen Leadership Center at Mercer County Community College will help us fulfill this critical mission. It will empower our students and interested members of the public to be effective, active leaders contributing to the betterment of their communities and our country.” 

Harry Pozycki, Founder of The Citizens Campaign, said, “The work done here at Mercer County Community College will help create a national model for the development of citizen leaders whose example of unselfish service and No-Blame Problem Solving can bridge our divides and heal our nation.”  

“By training students and residents in leadership and no-blame problem-solving, the Mercer County Community College Citizen Leadership Center will help us expand our problem-solving capacity in one of New Jersey’s most diverse communities,” said Mayor of Trenton W. Reed Gusciora.  “I look forward to working with Mercer County Community College, the Citizens Campaign and the Trenton Civic Trust to develop the next generation of leaders and build a better Trenton.”

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

·     Leadership and no blame problem-solving 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. 

·    Leadership and no-blame problem-solving 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, Mercer County and the nation, Mercer County Community College will provide Power Civics as a continuing education offering. 

·       Hosting the Trenton Civic Trust:  The Mercer County College James Kerney Campus (JKC) in Trenton will serve as the host of the Trenton Civic Trust, comprised of 24 Civic Trustees, who come together in monthly no-blame problem solving sessions, searching the nation to identify successful solutions to better Trenton. Trustees commit to at least one year of service and pledge to work to “leave their city better than they found it.”

Other Citizen Leadership Centers located at community colleges include: Bakersfield College (Bakersfield, California);  Cascadia  College (borders Seattle,Washington) Highline College (borders Seattle, Washington); Hagerstown Community College (Hagerstown, Maryland); Harold Washington College (Chicago, Illinois); Houston Community College (Houston, Texas);  Miami Dade College (Miami, FL); Middlesex College (Perth Amboy, New Jersey); Pikes Peak Community College (Colorado Springs, Colorado) and Trident Technical College (Charleston, South Carolina).  A Citizen Leadership Center is also being established at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. 

About Mercer County Community College and The Citizens Campaign 

Mercer County Community College: (MCCC) is a publicly supported comprehensive educational institution that provides opportunities for higher education through an open-door admission policy. The scenic 292-acre West Windsor Campus was opened in 1972 to serve the needs of Mercer County residents. The James Kerney Campus, located in downtown Trenton, serves as an educational and cultural hub for city residents. 

The Citizens Campaign is a community of problem-solvers dedicated to restoring service, mutual respect  and pragmatism to America’s political culture by establishing a new, national Citizen Leadership Service based in community colleges across the Nation.  It designed all aspects of the Leadership and No-Blame problem solving training, including toolkits for professors, online videos, and drop-down course notes.  The course text is Citizen Power authored by Harry Pozycki and published by Rutgers Press.   

The Mercer County Community College Citizen Leadership Center Kick-Off will take place October 20, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. To join, click on the link below: 

Event link: Citizen Leadership Center Kick-off