July Exchange
June 2026 Exchange Justin Kiczek Justin Kiczek, President of the F.M. Kirby Foundation, hosted the July Exchange. His close reading of the Declaration of Independence, as a former English teacher with a passion for these words, generated a dynamic, open-ended discussion around the meaning and intent of our country’s foundational document. As we continue to […]
June Exchange
June 2026 Exchange Brandon McKoy, left, and Nicholas Chiaravalloti, right On Wednesday, June 17, CivicsNJ Steering Committee members Brandon McKoy (President, The Fund for New Jersey) and Nicholas Chiaravalotti (Former Assemblyman for District 31 and advisor to the Maher Family) led an interactive discussion about the New Jersey state budget process. With almost 10 million […]
May Exchange
May 2026 Exchange Eric Kipnis, left, & Fran MacCarrigan, right Because of a scheduling conflict, the May CivicsNJ Exchange was held on June 3. It was hosted by two members of the coalition, Eric Kipnis and Fran MacCarrigan, experts in youth voting. As John Lewis stated, ‘The vote is precious’ and as we know, critical […]
April Exchange
April 2026 Exchange Helen Archontou Helen Archontou, CEO, YWCA Northern New Jersey hosted the April Exchange. Her commitment to the organization’s mission, eliminating racism and empowering women, was palpable. The YWCA Northern New Jersey is currently spearshading the Every Voice Counts campaign designed to make civic participation accessible, inclusive and actionable for every woman in […]
February Exchange
February 2026 Exchange Simon Galperin (Left, The Jersey Bee) & Ayinde Merrill (Right, NJ Civic Info Consortium Simon Galperin, Executive Editor, The Jersey Bee and Ayinde Merrill, Program Officer, NJ Civic Info Consortium, hosted the February 2026 Exchange, ‘Local News as Civic Infrastructure.’ Simon and Ayinde discussed the critical importance and impact of local news, which aims to […]
January Exchange
January 2026 Exchange Ebonie Simpson The first CivicsNJ Exchange of 2026 was hosted on January 28th by Ebonie Simpson, Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Region, Generation Citizen. With her mentee, Camila Perez, a senior at Yale University, they shared not only their personal civics stories, but how civic engagement changed the trajectory of their personal and professional lives. They […]
December Exchange
December 2025 Exchange Audra Watson Audra Watson, Ph.D., Chief of Youth Civic Programs at Citizens & Scholars and CivicsNJ Steering Committee member, as well as her colleagues from Citizens and Scholars, Christine Foley, Program Officer for Civic Youth Programs and Kilan White, a Carnegie Young Leaders Program coach and member of the Citizens & Scholars Youth Consulting Team, delivered […]
November Exchange
November 2025 Exchange Amanda Ebokosia On Wednesday, November 19th, Amanda Ebokosia, CEO/Founder, The Gem Project and CivicsNJ Steering Committee member, Jennymarie Idrobo, Program Associate, The Gem Project and Fatoumata Bah, High School Fellow, The Gem Project shared their deep insight around Authentic Youth Civic Engagement. The Gem Project seeks to decrease barriers to entry in civic […]
October Exchange
October 2025 Exchange Andrea Benites (left) & Shawn Healy (right) Shawn Healy, Chief Policy and Advocacy Advisor at iCivics and Andrea Benites, State Policy Lead, Mid-Atlantic Region at iCivics, led an interactive discussion where they shared not only a national perspective of civic learning and engagement, but also where New Jersey sits in comparison to other states. iCivics is […]
September Exchange
September 2025 Exchange Dr. Beth Rubin On September 17th, 2025, CivicsNJ and Steering Committee member, Dr. Beth Rubin, hosted the monthly Exchange, Citizens of the Now: Supporting Youth Centered Civic Learning in the Classroom with YPAR. Dr. Rubin and her panelists, Leslie Calabrese, Tristian Cox, Amelia Irizarry, Orion Nolan, Lauren Opelia and Noa Ovadia, shared their […]
