The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation announces Congressman Rob Menendez and Paula Figueroa-Vega, Director of Jersey Water Works, will speak at the 2025 Hackensack River Nation Summit. The Summit takes place on the 55th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, 2025. The Summit takes place from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Fairleigh Dickinson University in the Student Union Building located at Sub Lane in Teaneck, New Jersey.
Congressman Rob Menendez will be a special guest speaker at the Hackensack River Nation Summit.
Congressman Rob Menendez
United States Representative Rob Menendez from New Jersey District 8 will be a special guest speaker at the Summit. Congressman Menendez’s priorities include climate change and environmental justice.
In addition, Paula Figueroa-Vega, Director of Jersey Water Works, will share her insights about building successful environmental alliances through collaboration and organizational development. Jersey Water Works, the state’s leading advocate for clean water, boasts more than 800 members.
Captain Bill Sheehan, Executive Director of Hackensack Riverkeeper, will present the keynote address, The State of the Hackensack River. The Summit’s attendees will also help to shape an environmental art project about the Hackensack River. Environmental artist and landscape architect Larissa Belcic, the co-founder of Nocturnal Medicine, will gather the public’s ideas for a new public artwork on or along the river.
The Summit brings together public officials, leaders of environmental and community organizations, and business leaders seeking to protect the Hackensack River watershed ecosystem and to connect more people to the waterway. The Hackensack River flows and impacts these municipalities in Bergen and Hudson counties: Oradell, Haworth, Emerson, New Milford, Hackensack, River Edge, Bogota, Teaneck, Ridgefield Park, Little Ferry, North Bergen, Secaucus, and Jersey City.
Presentations and Workshops
Featured presentations and workshops will discuss the following:
- cleaning up the Hackensack River Superfund site, led by the US Environmental Protection Agency;
- collaborating for better and more cost-effective stormwater management planning, led by the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and New Jersey Future;
- choosing green infrastructure for watershed protection, led by United Energy Advisors;
- building trails in urban and suburban communities, led by the New York/New Jersey Trails Conference; and
- creating Strong Watershed Alliances, with the Hackensack Riverkeeper, Musconetcong Watershed Association, and also the Waterfront Alliance.
Workshop Sessions
These workshops are confirmed and scheduled to take place.
- Collaborating for Better Stormwater Management Planning with Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP from the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation. Other speakers include Chris Sotiro from New Jersey Future and Kristina Korervo and Miranda Muniz from New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
- Building Strong Watershed Alliances with panelists Cortney Koenig Worrall, President, CEO from Waterfront Alliance and Thomas G. Dallessio, AICP/PP/CPM/FRSA, from Musconetcong Watershed Association, and Paula Figueroa-Vega, Director of Jersey Water Works
- Green Infrastructure: Leaves and Branches with André Masud and Kevin Parham, United Energy Advisors
- Building Trails in Urban and Suburban Communities with Peter Dolan, New York/ New Jersey Trails Conference
- Hackensack River Superfund Cleanup with presenters from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, District 2
At the Summit, attendees meet exhibitors to discuss their missions. They also can learn how to get involved with their work. The organizations scheduled to exhibit include Jersey Water Works, New Jersey Future, and also New York-New Jersey Trails Conference. In addition, representatives from the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, Ramapo College, and Sewage Free Streets and Rivers will be available. With the 2025 Earth Day theme focusing on renewable energy, Dimension Energy will provide information about community solar options.
Registration
Register for the Summit conveniently online. Ticket prices include the following: general public $80, government and nonprofit environmental commission and green team members $40, and students and green infrastructure champions $20. Students attending Fairleigh Dickinson University, Montclair State University, and Ramapo College, as well as Rutgers University purchase tickets with a valid student email address. For additional information, contact the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation’s Executive Director, Leonardo Vazquez, at leo@nnjcf.org or call 201-568-5608 extension 2.
Sponsors and Donations Appreciated
The NNJCF seeks sponsors, as well as donations to support the Hackensack River Nation Summit. Furthermore, donations assist with growing greener, cleaner and healthier places through the Foundation’s work in the region. To date, sponsors for the Summit include Dimension Energy, PSEG Foundation and also M&T Charitable Foundation.
The NNJCF welcomes donations to continue its work. Make a donation of any size online. Contributions may also be sent by check made out to ‘The Northern N.J. Community Foundation’, with ‘Hackensack River Nation Summit’ entered in the memo line. Send checks to the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, 1 University Plaza, Suite 102, Hackensack, New Jersey 07601. For further information about sponsorships, donations, or the NNJCF, call 201-568-5608 or send an e-mail to nnjcf@nnjcf.org.
