Richard Cammarieri

Richard Cammarieri was born, raised and remains a lifelong resident of Newark with a family history in the city that began with the immigration of his maternal grandfather from Southern Italy in 1899.

He is employed with the New Community Corporation (NCC) in Newark as director for Community Engagement. He has had extensive experience in Newark grassroots community organizing and neighborhood policy development. Previous positions include Executive Director for the Newark Coalition for Neighborhoods and Associate Director for Economic Initiatives, Newark Fighting Back Partnership.

He currently serves as the Chairperson for the Newark Community Development Network which includes NCC and all major community development groups in Newark. He is among the founding appointees of the Newark Mayor’s Equitable Growth Advisory Commission and serves on the Newark Homelessness Commission.

He is an Executive Committee member of the Newark Branch NAACP and a Board member of Invest Newark and serves on the Newark CDFI Coalition and the N.J. Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) Board Committee for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. And he Chairs the Believe in Newark Foundation

Previous Board affiliations include Chairperson of the Newark Master Plan Working Group; member the Fair Lending Coalition of N.J. and founding Board member of the Community Loan Fund of N.J and Board Chair of Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art in Newark.

Between 2002 and 2008 he served two terms as an elected member of the Newark Public Schools Advisory Board and chaired the Facilities Committee, Finance Committee and Curriculum Committee during the course of his tenure.

He is a published poet having performed with the Kimako’s Blues People Poetry and Jazz Collective, a group established by Amina and Amiri Baraka and he has served as the poetry editor for the Newark Arts Council Newsletter.

He graduated from Rutgers University Newark with a Bachelors Degree in English.