UPDATE: New Jersey NAACP Echoes President's Comments on Camden's Progress

The New Jersey NAACP praised Camden’s progress in addressing chronic problems that has left the city one of the most violent and poorest in the country, but noted “there is still work to do,” in the wake of President Barack Obama’s trip to the City last week.

“The President’s visit to Camden this week to highlight the improvements being made here was very encouraging, but while much has changed for the better in the city there is still work to be done,” Richard T. Smith, President of the NAACP New Jersey State Conference, said. “As the President stated, ‘change does not happen overnight’ so we must expand our efforts to include addressing disparity, housing and neighborhood development without losing our focus on the city’s core problems -- crime, education and economic development.”

During his appearance, Obama mentioned a new policy that puts a limit on the ability of local police departments to acquire surplus military equipment through a federal program and referenced the Task Force on 21st Century Policing report.

Obama also said true change is not just a police matter.

“If we as a society don’t expand opportunity to everyone who’s willing to work for it, then we’ll end up seeing conflicts between law enforcement and residents,” Obama said last week. “If we as a society can’t deal with problems of race, we can’t expect police departments to solve these problems.”

He also said there needs to be a focus on the youth, making sure everyone knows they have an equal opportunity to succeed. Smith echoed those comments on Tuesday.

“The welfare of our society is dependent upon the health of its component parts,” Smith said. “Overhauling crime is just the start and must stretch out from the family to the community and beyond. It will take strong and effective leadership that is solution not complaint oriented. It is premised upon our consistent call for quality education and a safe haven for the young, as well as the elderly.”

Smith said he is inspired by the dialogue he has begun with the leadership in Camden that includes stakeholders like Cooper University Health Care Chairman George E. Norcross, III and indicated that “if any relationship is to work that will ultimately make the dream of a better Camden a reality, that relationship must be built on trust, transparency and accountability.”

“When business and communities flourish, unemployment declines and hope rebounds. Our goal is to foster inner as well as intra-city relationships so that we have model cities to emulate what happens when there is a commitment to change,” said Smith. “It involves innovation, making good use of technology and vital resources, the most important of which are human resources.”

Smith closed by stating that the NAACP New Jersey State Conference looks forward to meeting with Camden’s Mayor Dana Redd, Camden County Police Chief Scott Thompson, Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli, Jr., State Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney, General Assembly Leader Majority Leader Lou Greenwald and continuing its efforts to work with the local NAACP Camden Branch leadership.

“Last week President Barack Obama held up the Camden County Police Department as a national model for community policing,” Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli said. “Based on the President’s historic visit to roll out several new federal law enforcement initiatives, we are working with the NAACP’s New Jersey State Conference President, Richard Smith, to continue to ensure a safer city, new development and aggressively targeting disparity by enhancing education and economic opportunities for all residents.

“I’m looking forward to sitting down with Richard and talking about the strides the city has made in partnership with the county. The past two years have been transformational in so many ways for Camden and I want to have an in-depth conversation with him about Camden’s brightening future. I’m looking forward to talking about the reduction in crime in the city and the more than $600 million in new investment that has come here in the last year.

“In addition, I want to talk about the significant amount of work that still needs to be done to stabilize all 21 neighborhoods in Camden. We have come a long way in a short period of time, but our job is by nowhere near done. Having the NAACP pulling in the same direction as the Freeholder Board, Mayor Dana Redd, City Council, Senate President Steve Sweeney, Governor Chris Christie and President Barack Obama will only strengthen our resolve to make Camden a stronger city.”