Build Back Better Regional Challenge Phase 2 Update

Published: Friday, March 18, 2022

Dear NJIT Community,

On Tuesday evening, March 15, 2022 at 7:39 pm, our colleague from the City of Newark, Jolanda Williams, hit the "send" button to submit the Phase 2 Greater Newark Smart Port Regional Growth Cluster proposal in response to the United States Economic Development Authority's (USEDA) Build Back Better Regional Coalition (BBBRC) notice of funding opportunity.  The proposal was led by the City of Newark, with its development guided by NJIT at the invitation of Mayor Ras J. Baraka. The Greater Newark Regional Growth Cluster (GNRGC) includes seven regional coalition members:

  • The City of Newark
  • The City of Elizabeth
  • New Jersey Institute of Technology 
  • Rutgers University
  • The New Jersey Economic Development Authority
  • The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority
  • The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
  • And more than 30 partner organizations including three counties; municipal, county and regional agencies; marine terminal operators; professional and union organizations; nonprofits and private industry; colleges/universities; and start-up venture organizations.

The purpose of the BBBRC is to produce regional economic development. The development of the GNRGC proposal was initiated in September 2021 and was submitted to the USEDA along with 527 submissions from across the country for a Phase 1, $500,000 planning grant. The GNRGC was one of 60 national planning grant awardees and was the only winner from among seven New Jersey coalition submissions. 

The Phase 2 proposal requests a total of $73,803,100 from the USEDA and offers a match of $27,677,163 for a total proposal of $101,480,263.  The Newark Port, part of the second largest containerized terminal seaport in the U.S., impacts the Transportation, Distribution and Logistic (TDL) industries throughout 31 surrounding counties. The projected economic impact as a result of the proposal, which supports an increase in the "handling" of containerized cargo, includes 40,677 direct jobs, 153,600 total jobs, $14.8 billion in personal income, $44.9 billion in business income, $5.4 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues; and the creation of 150 new or enhanced businesses. Additionally, 35% of the new and upskilled jobs created will go to workers from underserved communities. There also will be a 10%-15% reduction in carbon footprint. A narrative overview of the proposal’s four component projects will be shared in the near future.

The overall GNRGC proposal development was done by: NJIT - Joel Bloom, Atam Dhawan (Co-Chair), Angela Garretson ’21 (Co-Chair), Richard Rosenberg, Cathy Brennan, Lisa Easton, Kamalika Sandell, Oya Tukel, Steven Gomez, Regina Collins ’85 ’10 ’15, Chelsea Li Pomi, Iris Pantoja; Jennifer Vogel; City of Newark -Eric Pennington, Allison Ladd, Phil Scott ’98; Rutgers - Piotr Piotrowiak, Kevin Lyons; NJEDA - Erica Breiterman, Riley Edwards: NJTPA - Mary Ameen, David Behrend, Anne Strauss-Wieder; PANYNJ - Jenny Davis,  Kristen Figaro, Joseph Simenic. 

The proposal had four component project (CP) sub-committees including GNRGC members, partners and were lead by co-chairs: CP1 - Ashish Borgaonkar '11 (NJIT), Deirdre Christofalo (NJII), Bill O’Dea (City of Elizabeth); CP2 - Moshe Kam (NJIT), Jim Pellicio (PNCT), Adam Sulich (PNCT); CP3 - Janice Daniel (NJIT), Bethann Rooney (PANYNJ); CP4 - Pat Natale '70, Colette Santasieri '89 '12, Chris Watson '04 (City of Newark).

About 75 people were involved across the multiple activities required for the development of the Phase 1 and 2 proposals, including conceptualization, economic impact analysis, writing, research, web portal development, and negotiations among the coalition members and partners as well as others at the state and national level.  The overall proposal development  and sub-committee writing teams worked for two months, including weekends, to produce the best possible proposal.  We owe all participants in the GNRGC a very large “Thank you!” for seizing this opportunity to assist in the transformation of the Greater Newark Port and its surrounding regional communities. The USEDA is expected to announce approximately 20 winning coalitions.  We now will monitor the progress of the GNRGC proposal through its review process in Washington, D.C. 

Thank you to all who contributed to this massive effort and for your future contributions if we are successful in this endeavor.

Sincerely,

NJIT President Joel S. Bloom