HOME >> VISION 2027
VISION
2027
THRIVE
Engage NJ is the PUBLIC SERVICE BACKBONE of higher education in New Jersey. Since 2011, our presidents' civic engagement coalition has represented public and private, 2-year and 4-year institutions of higher education, equipping campuses to ADVANCE DEMOCRACY and graduate students with 21st CENTURY COMPETENCIES TO THRIVE in life and work. Engage NJ member institutions to empower students to be active and engaged citizens.
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We ensure that these early career professionals have both the skills and experiences to move directly into meaningful careers and contribute to a thriving workplace. With Engage NJ, not only can New Jersey’s colleges and universities be engines of economic opportunity, but also ecosystems for equality – transforming opportunities for this generation and for those to come.
TO THRIVE IN LIFE & WORK
OUR VISION
All NJ graduates possess the competencies for 21st-century life and work that transform our democracy so that all people can be engaged, represented, and can lead fulfilling lives.
OUR MISSION
Engage NJ is a collaborative force in equipping and empowering campuses to foster competencies that advance democracy and enable students to thrive in 21st-century life and work.
OUR
VALUES
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Success for all - We assume that everyone achieves equally when all barriers to opportunity are removed and when just policies and actions prevail
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We advance democracy only when we act each day based on an unshakeable commitment to all people and all life
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Competencies for life and work are interchangeable – the skills developed as a civically engaged student transfer to meaningful and successful work
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We are effective at scale only when we collaborate
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Long-term impact is gauged through the competencies demonstrated by students that lead to impact in communities
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE ENGAGE NJ THEORY OF CHANGE
5-YEAR GOAL
Students graduate from New Jersey’s colleges and universities with demonstrated experience and competence in advancing democracy and thriving in 21st-century life and work.
THE INDICATOR
By AY 2027, we will measure and demonstrate that a minimum of 5,000 students per year within the Engage NJ coalition have completed an educational and experiential pathway that enables them to advance democracy and develop transferable
competencies for life and work.
The success of Engage NJ will be measured by how campuses in NJ function as engaged institutions. The role of Engage NJ will be to bolster existing efforts and partnerships and fill resource or knowledge gaps, both to advance democracy and to ensure all higher ed students can graduate with the tools to succeed. Students will graduate with experiences in advancing democracy and with the capabilities of being successful in their lives and in their work. This is a 5-year journey of transformation, targeting 2027 as the year we achieve depth and scale.
