I’m proud to announce a bold new effort by OceanFirst Foundation to inspire us to reinvigorate the human connections that serve as a foundation for our communities. OceanFirst Foundation is launching Join! – an effort directly aimed at promoting collective action to solve needs in our communities.
Through Join!, OceanFirst Foundation will enhance its partnerships with nonprofits and local leaders, to encourage people to join together to tackle the unique challenges in their communities – such as economic empowerment, food insecurity, housing solutions, and educational opportunity.
OceanFirst Foundation kick-started Join! this morning by hosting its biannual gathering of nonprofit CEOs and board leaders representing more than 200 organizations across New Jersey, greater Philadelphia, and metropolitan New York. At the event, held at Monmouth University, leaders screened the documentary Join or Die, which explores how communities have disconnected from many of the traditional activities and organizations that kept our society moving forward — and the benefits of rebuilding those connections.
Join or Die explores the work of Harvard University professor and social scientist Robert D. Putnam who has extensively researched the value of social capital in American society. He has noted that belonging to organizations like the Rotary, Lions, faith-based, and other public-spirited groups was once commonplace, and served as a motivation to be personally “invested” in the wellbeing of society. Those social connections have frayed over the years and our communities are worse off as a result; more divided and less likely to come together to find solutions to common problems.
OceanFirst Foundation’s Join! initiative is focused on seeding the growth of social capital. At the screening, film co-director, Pete Davis, shared his perspective about how participating organizations can apply the concept of social capital in their own communities.
Since 1996, OceanFirst Foundation has provided over $49 million to support the work of nonprofits across our region. Now, through Join!, we’re excited by the opportunity to bring people together — to build new sources of social capital that can be invested for the good of our communities. To learn more about Join! or get involved visit oceanfirstfdn.org.
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