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ABOUT US

MISSION

The mission of Shaping Summit Together (formerly SUMMIT 2005) is to maximize Summit's potential as a mature diverse suburban community.

Shaping Summit Together is a grass roots, strategic planning organization working since 1995 to implement the strategic plan developed by its members to address issues critical to Summit's future. The 1 and 1/2 year planning process was co-sponsored by the City of Summit and Overlook Hospital. Once the plan was developed, it was agreed that the plan's implementation should be done by an organization independent of the City and Overlook Hospital. And so it was that Shaping Summit Together was born. We were incorporated as a New Jersey not for profit corporation on August 29, 1996, and have been designated by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) not for profit exempt from Federal taxes.

ADMINISTRATION

Shaping Summit Together is a totally volunteer driven organization. There is no paid staff and all activities are developed, overseen and administered by volunteers. The activities of the organization are overseen by a Board of Directors.

CURRENT PROGRAMS

YOUTH PROGRAMS SUB-COMMITTEE

The Mission of the Sub-Committee is to identify unmet or under-met program needs or other problems affecting Summit youth and develop collaborative solutions. The membership of the Sub-Committee includes the leadership of the various not for profit program-providing agencies in the City, City agencies with a youth program component as well as organizations with an interest in children and families.

The Sub-Committee was originally a part of the Community Programs Committee. Since the Community Programs Committee ceased to function, the Sub-Committee's activities have been and will continue to be sponsored by the organization's Board of Directors. The Sub-Committee's activities accounts for approximately 80% of the organization's time.

Activities further the organization's tax-exempt status by providing the community's youth with programs necessary or important to their educational, health and social wellbeing.

Continuing and recent activities of the Youth Programs Sub-Committee include:

• Providing and facilitating the community's first cooperative effort enabling all of Summit's major youth program providers and interested community agencies to meet regularly to discuss local youth programming and other youth related issues. The group meets monthly from September through June. January, 1997 to date.



• Developing and distributing, with the back to school packet mailed prior to the beginning of each school year to families of Middle School students, a brochure of programs offered for such students by the Department of Recreation, Board of Education, Connection for Women and Families, the Summit Youth Center, The Boys and Girls Club of Union County - Summit Club, the Summit Area YMCA and the Summit Free Public Library i.e. the 7 largest program providers. 2000 to date.



• Facilitating the provision of a fee based, extended day program for Middle School students. The program began operation in the Fall of 2004. It is run by the Boys and Girls Club of Union County in partnership with the Summit Board of Education and the Area YMCA. Scholarships are awarded on a sliding scale.



• Developing a process to engage youth and adults in providing community coordinated programs and activities to develop services, support and opportunities for Summit's middle school and high school youth to grow and thrive. The goal is to provide a menu of supervised, social activities for middle and high school students each weekend.



• Developing a needs assessment vehicle to be administered to program providers, parents and middle and high school youth to identify current unmet and under-met program and other problems affecting the City's children and youth.

The above listed activities and projects were the first of their kind in Summit.

In the past the Youth Programs Sub-Committee:

• Developed Needs Assessment Instrument to ascertain programs provided to Summit Youth ages 0-18. (1997)



• Completed an Inventory of Programs offered Summit youth ages 0-18 based on information received from approximately 74 % of agencies surveyed. (1997) The completed Inventory became a strategic planning tool for the Sub-Committee as well as the member agencies.



• Provided each interested participating program provider with computer disk of all Inventory data. (1997)



• Developed report listing youth programs as resource for Summit residents. Report available in Library and Clerks Office. (1997)



• Helped AT&T to develop and refine the software for the Internet-based Summit Community Calendar by providing input to AT&T from Summit's the City's agencies and from the Summit not for profit agencies currently providing programs to our youth, on or about April, 1998.



• Provided training to Summit's not-for-profit agencies so they could download their programs onto the Summit Community Calendar. On or about 1999.



• Developed and administered to Summit Middle School youth, a needs assessment designed to ascertain the percentage of students who were supervised after school, the level of after school programs in which they participated and their desire to participate in after school programs. Spring, 2000



• Developed tool to evaluate the effectiveness of programs provided by the 6 largest program providers. 2001



• Developed training model for all staff of each of the 6 that offer programs to Middle School students. 2002



• Presented a Gang Prevention Workshop to education, recreation and law enforcement professionals in Union County, New Jersey on April 30, 2003. The full day workshop offered participants training on how to identify gang activities - history, terminology and symbols and provided participants with intervention and prevention strategies.

The above listed activities and projects were the first of their kind in Summit.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY OF SERVICE

The goal of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service is to better enable its many individual participants -- coming from all walks of life and from all corners of our diverse community -- to more thoughtfully answer what Dr. King called "life's persistent and most urgent question 'What are you doing for others?'" In furthering the mission of Shaping Summit Together, the Day of Service is designed to help motivate all who live, work or worship in Summit to volunteer and work together so as to educate, inspire and improve the community and to better achieve city unity. The activity furthered the organization's tax exempt status by helping the community to maximize its potential as a mature and diverse suburban community so that its residents and those who work in Summit or have substantial contacts with Summit can benefit from programs necessary to their educational and social well-being.

In a strong show of community support and unity, between 25 and 30 area charities are involved each year. Each year, Co-Chairs convene a committee of representatives of local agencies, schools and community volunteers to coordinate the planned activities of the day. Co-Chairs of the Days of Service have included: J. Andrew (Andy) Lark and Kay Lark, 1999 and 2000; Sarah and David Rosen, 2001; Sarah Rosen and Andy Lark, 2002 and 2003; Andy Lark and Annette Dwyer, 2004; Annette Dwyer and Andy Lark, 2005; Annette Dwyer, Andy Lark and Reverend Denison D. Harrield, Jr., 2006; and Annette Dwyer, Andy Lark and Reverend Denison D. Harrield, Jr., for 2007. To join the Planning Committee please call Shaping Summit Together at 277-4400.

This activity is sponsored by the organization's Board of Directors and accounts for approximately 19% of the organization's time.

In the spirit of Dr. King's strong beliefs in active citizenship and service to others, the goal of this ongoing, annual event is to make the holiday a day on, not a day off. The public will continue to be invited to participate in as many activities as possible so as to collectively create a lasting, living legacy to honor Dr. King, and to better ensure that his memory lives on from generation to generation. Youth and adult volunteers will continue to be invited to take advantage of the numerous opportunities to join their fellow citizens in extending a helping hand to the community. The Day of Service has been held each year since 1999. Activities have included:

Drives for donations of clothing, non-perishable food, toiletries, toys and children's books to benefit Summit's needy and others living in the greater Newark area. Donations are accepted in advance and then sorted and distributed on the Day of Service.

The YMCA's Black and Latino Achievers program. In recent years, the Black and Latino Achievers have been performing afternoon multi-media presentations of poetry, drama, film and public declamation to convey the Civil Rights Movement and the work of Dr. King to younger generations. In the past, they have sponsored a free breakfast.

Free hot community luncheon, cooked and served by volunteers, rotates to various houses of faith and worship each year, e.g. Wallace Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, United Methodist Church, Christ Church, Temple Sinai, St. Teresa of Avila Church.

A mid-day Community Celebration is held featuring a keynote speaker, music, singing and a celebration recognizing approximately ten Middle School "Hero" essay winners. This essay contest is part of the Lawton C. Johnson Middle School curriculum and invites all sixth graders to participate. It is sponsored by the Summit Municipal Alliance to Prevent Substance Abuse.

A community blood drive is held in conjunction with the Summit Area Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Rotary Club all afternoon at a local hotel.

One-time and ongoing programming is highlighted and/or launched. In 2003 we launched a new intergenerational read-aloud program for seniors and pre-school children, "Sharing Stories", co-developed by Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF) and a local early learning center. In 2006, we announced our intention to launch the One Book, One Community initiative which invites citizens aged 17 and older to read A Hope in the Unseen, by Ron Suskind and converse about it in a way that positively impacts the mindset of community-life celebrating diversity of affiliations across race, culture, religion and class. In November, the book's protagonist, Cedric Jennings, will visit Summit for a day-and-a-half to participate in a community-wide book discussion event as well as small group sessions hosted by the Summit Public Schools, Wallace Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, Temple Sinai and the Mayor's Task Force on Diversity.

The Visual Arts Center of New Jersey invites citizens of all ages to create artwork "that honors the life of Martin Luther King". In the past, the artwork has brightened the lives of local senior citizens through programs such as Meals-On-Wheels, Spend-A-Day, etc. In 2006, the Visual Arts Center sponsored the creation of a "paper quilt" depicting the chronology of Dr. King's life in art and words. It currently hangs in City Hall.

In 2004, the Summit Area Red Cross recorded video messages to be sent to American troops on duty in foreign lands. From time to time, the Day of Service has worked with the local cinemas to offer free showings of youth-oriented films about Dr. King.

A mid-afternoon Program of Remembrance is held each year at Summit's Senior Citizens' Housing. Summit citizens, young and old, celebrate Dr. King's life and accomplishments with local speakers, musical groups and sing-a-longs.

Beginning with the January, 2005 (6th annual) Day of Service, the organizing committee now annually awards a "Keeper of the Dream" award to several community members who perhaps best personify Dr. King's commitment to helping others through lifelong and exemplary community service.

The Day of Service always fittingly concludes with the Annual Summit Community Martin Luther King, Jr. Service. All are invited to come together and attend this memorable and highly inspirational ecumenical evening service reminding us of Dr. King's dreams. A guest speaker delivers a keynote address with music by the Community Choir of Summit. This program is sponsored by Fountain Baptist Church, the Tri-City Branch of the NAACP and The Connection For Women and Families.

"Study Circles" are open to citizens and community leaders to come together to discuss issues and opportunities of diversity and the shaping of progress in our community.

In 2006, we engaged senior citizens who vividly remember the Civil Rights Movement to give "oral histories" to student interviewers. The interviews were read aloud on the Day of Service and are now on reserve at The Summit Free Public Library.

Reeves-Reed Arboretum sponsors a project that engages citizens to preserve the environment. Overlook Hospital offers free blood pressure and glucose readings. The Seeing Eye of Morristown, NJ also hosts an awareness event.

PAST PROGRAMS

DIVERSITY COMMITTEE

The Diversity Committee worked to ensure that Summit would become a racially harmonious and inclusive community where its citizens value and respect all racial, ethnic and religious groups and understand and respect gender equity issues. The Committee was formed on or about April, 1998 and operated until on or about June, 2002. Membership included residents of Summit as well as people who worked or had substantial contacts with Summit.

Activities furthered the organization's tax exempt status by helping the community to maximize its potential as a mature and diverse suburban community so that its residents and those who work in Summit or have substantial contacts with Summit can benefit from programs necessary to helping them recognize diversity as one of Summit's strongest assets and to provide members with the opportunity to benefit their educational and social wellbeing.

Diversity Committee activities included:

SUMMIT CULTURAL HERITAGE FESTIVAL

The purpose of the Summit Cultural Heritage Festival is to recognize diversity as one of Summit's most important and defining assets. The objective of the Festival was to collectively celebrate the traditional and folkloric arts, crafts, music, dance, demonstration arts and food of the various cultures and ethnic groups that together have built Summit into one of New Jersey's most extraordinary and diverse communities. The Festival activities were free. Attendees could buy from the craft vendors if they chose to do so.

Activities furthered the organization's tax exempt status by helping the community recognize that diversity is one of its strongest assets and to maximize its potential as a mature and diverse suburban community so that its residents and those who work in Summit or have substantial contacts with Summit can benefit from programs necessary to their educational and social wellbeing.

The first Festival, planned as one of the City's major centennial events in 1999, was cancelled because of poor weather. The Festivals for 2000 and 2001 were held in Summit as scheduled. The activities of the Festival included:

• Performances
  
  1999 (cancelled because of bad weather)
  Black Achievers - poetry, songs and dance of various cultures
  Dixie Land All Stars
  Hester Street Troupe - Klezmer Music
  Gospel Harmony
  Caribbean Cruisers Steel Band
  Summit High School Vocal Music Department
  Swedish Dances - Dalarna Blaklockan Swedish Club
  Dance of India - Indian Institute of Performing Arts
  Traditional Dance "Korea Ensemble"
  Galacian Celtic Bagpipes & Dancers- Club España
  2000
  Essex Shillelagh Pipes & Drums
  Jung Ah Sohn "Korea Ensemble"
  Indian Institute of Performing Arts -Dance of India
  Danza Fiesta: Baile y Teatro Puertorriqueo (Danza Fiesta, Present Pan American Dances)
  Galecian Celtic Bagpipes & Dancers- Club Espaa
  Calvary Episcopal Church Adult Choir & Cannon Choir
  Hester Street Troupe - Klezmer Music
  Summit High School Vocal Music Department
  Chuck Slate Dixieland Band
  Caribbean Cruisers Steel Band
  2001
  Gamelan Son of Lion Dance & Music of Java & Bali
  Russian Carnival Ensemble
  Pyramyd Dance Company Dance & Rhythms of West Africa
  Fountain Baptist Church Choir
  Ecumenical "Moment"
  Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra - Music of Italy
  Summit High School Vocal Music Department
  Jung Ah Sohn "Korea Ensemble"
  Danza Fiesta Presents Latin American Dances
  Club España - Galecian Celtic Dance and Bagpiples
  Hester Street Troupe - Klezmer Music



• Food Vendors
  
  1999 (Cancelled because of bad weather)
  Vendors offering food traditional to India, Korea, Caribbean, Ireland, Italy
  2000
  Vendors offering food traditional to India, Korea, Caribbean, Ireland, Italy, China
  2001
  Vendors offering food traditional to India, Korea, Greece, Ireland, France, Italy, Chinaand Israel.



• Demonstration Arts
  
  1999 (Cancelled because of bad weather)
  Latin American Dance
  Summit Folk Dancers Mexican Dancers
  2000 Bindi and Mindi - Ritual skin painting from India
  Ritual Sand Mandala - Tibet
  Origami - Japan
  2001
  The art of Bonsai
  Bindi and Mindi - Ritual skin painting from India
  Ritual Sand Mandala - Tibet
  Origami - Japan
  African Drums
  Weaving



• Children's Activities
  
  1999 (Cancelled because of bad weather)
  Story Tellers The Stories of India African American Stories Latin American Stories
  Crafts - 12 different craft projects
  Face Painters
  2000 (Same as 1999)
  2001
  Story Tellers African American Latino Appallacian/Irish/Itialian
  Crafts - 14 different craft projects
  Face Painters



• Craft Vendors
  
  1999 (Cancelled because of bad weather)
  Traditional and folkloric arts, crafts and painting from West Africa, Puerto Rico, Tibet, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Guatemala and Mayan cultures, Ghana, Japan, China, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Haiti, Honduras, Scotland, Lithuania, Costa Rica, Taiwan, Native American crafts and, African American jewelry. 2000
  Traditional and folkloric arts, crafts and painting as above plus Poland 2001
  Traditional and folkloric arts, crafts and painting Israel/Judaica, Ecuador, Ukraine, Bolivia, Germany, Kenya, India, China, Haiti, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Lithuania, Caribbean, African American dolls and jewelry, Sierra Leone, South East Asia, Native American.



• Exhibitors
  
  As a community service, free space was provided to not for profit community clubs, organizations and agencies of the city government. Exhibitors at the Festivals included the City of Summit, Summit Fire Department, The First Aid Squad, Summit Historical Society, Pathways, Summit Area YMCA, French Club, Clan Currie Society and Commission on Ellis Island, Shaping Summit Together, Lions Club Eye Mobile, Overlook Hospital, Area NAACP, Calvary Episcopal Church



• Parade
  
  In 2000 and 2001 the Festival was opened with a parade through Summit downtown to the Festival site. The community was encouraged to march in the parade to show their pride in their culture and their community. In 2000 the parade was lead by the Essex County Shillelagh Pipes and Drums Corp. In 2001 the parade was lead by the Pyramyd Dance Company- West African Dance, drum rhythms.



• Public Access Television Series
  
  A "Summit Cultural Heritage" television program was done on the local access cable channel. The purpose of the program was to promote the mission of the Festival, to educate the community on the importance of valuing diversity and encourage the community to participate in the Festival. Six (6) half hour television programs were offered in 1999. Eight (8) programs were done in 2000 and six (6) programs were done in 2001.

STUDY CIRCLES

Study Circles is a program designed to foster interaction, dialogue and understanding among diverse groups of people. Study Circles is a nationally recognized program that brings together citizens of a community to share their experiences of racial prejudice and ways to promote greater tolerance and cooperation between diverse groups. The program is promoted by the State of New Jersey, which provides training for the program's facilitators. Study Circles provides guided exploration of issues related to diversity, bigotry and solutions to the potential problems related to multicultural community, The effort was co-chaired by the Reverend Bob Morris who works in Summit but lives in another community and Mary Zimmerman, a Summit resident. The Shaping Summit Together Board of Directors and Youth Programs Sub-Committee participated in the Study Circle process in 2003. After the Diversity Committee ceased operations, the Board of Directors sponsored this effort. In 2004, the program was moved to another organization. The activity furthered the organization's tax exempt status by providing participants with an activity important to helping them recognize multiculturalism as an important asset and providing a program important to their educational and personal growth.

VITAL AND PEDESTRIAN FRIENDLY DOWNTOWN COMMITTEE

The Vital and Pedestrian Friendly Downtown Committee was formed in 1995 and operated until on or about September, 2002. The group worked to maintain a pedestrian-friendly small town atmosphere while striving to bring the merchants together with the community to ensure the downtown's economic health in the face of strong competition from the Short Hills Mall and other market forces.

Activities furthers the organization's tax exempt status by providing residents and those who work in Summit or have substantial contacts with Summit with programs necessary or important to their educational, economic wellbeing.

The Vital and Pedestrian Friendly Downtown Committee:

• Collaborated with the City and the Chamber of Commerce to continue and expand pedestrian safety in the City's downtown, school crossings and other key locations



• Made major contributions in the planning of the Downtown Improvement project-1997- 1999.



• Instrumental in getting City to conduct city wide traffic and bicycle safety study - 1999- 2002.



• Provided community forums to facilitate public participation in the development of the Strategic Plan for the City of Summit - 1999-2000.



• Prepared proposal to NJDOT with support of several state and county agencies on a citywide bicycle and pedestrian safety study - 2000



• Defined traffic and pedestrian safety issues in East Summit neighborhood in cooperation with local residents - 2000-2001



• Involved in the bike and pedestrian safety studies - 2001-2002.

The Communications Committee acted to improve communications between Summit citizens, government and community organizations, and to promote greater citizen participation in city government and the community activities. The Committee ceased operations on or about June, 2001. The Communications Committee provided regularly scheduled forums for community agencies, City agencies and interested citizens to work cooperatively for development of programs for Summit residents that would help them better understand municipal government, i.e. Summit Common Council, and issues being decided by Common Council.

Activities furthers the organization's tax exempt status by providing residents and those who work in Summit or have substantial contacts with Summit with programs necessary or important to their ability to better understand the government that was created to serve them as well as their educational and social wellbeing.

The Communications Committee:

• Helped the City to better communicate with its residents by providing regularly scheduled neighborhood-based Community forums, i.e. mini town meetings. Members of Common Council provided information and answered questions from residents.



• Working with AT&T, Expanded and refined Summit's first internet-based Community Calendar accessible to all Summit residents at home, at school or through the Shaping Summit Together computer, which the organization donated to the Summit Free Public Library. The cite www.quintillion.com/caalendar/summit, was operative from on or about 1998 though 2003.

LIFE LONG LEARNING COMMITTEE

The purpose of the Committee was to maximize each individual's potential; to provide opportunities for life-long learning to members of our community...and to be stewards of education and educational opportunity. The Committee/Committee was formed in 1995 and ceased operating on or about June 2000. Membership of the group included citizens of Summit. The Committee met in Summit.

The Life Long Learning Committee created an inter-generational technology program in which senior citizens and third (3rd) graders worked together to explore technology. The program was begun in the Fall of 1998 as a pilot project at Brayton Elementary School and continued through 2000 school year

Activities furthered the organization's tax-exempt status by providing residents and those who work in Summit or have substantial contacts with Summit with programs necessary or important to their educational and social wellbeing.