Protecting and Preparing Coastal Communities
We build partnerships by bringing stakeholders and interested parties from all sectors to the table to optimize expertise, and to integrate all elements related to coastal resilience such as, but not limited to, land use and future development, transportation, housing, economic development, public facilities and infrastructure, natural resource protection, and historic properties and cultural resources.
We help make resilience a priority by working directly with communities to raise awareness, identify challenges and build support for addressing them; implement beneficial solutions.
We share information with this network and the public by using continuous and open communication to learn and leverage from other’s successes and failures, to avoid duplication and to improve and enhance resiliency among coastal communities.
We inform decision-making to foster action through the development of science, tools, and data; by using common and consistent messages, promoting best practices and providing accessible education and training.
Our Purpose
The New Jersey Coastal Resilience Collaborative (NJCRC) is a network established to foster sustainable and resilient coastal communities and ecosystems by generating informed action.
Who We Are
NJCRC partners include, but are not limited to: state and private universities, non-profit and for-profit groups, national estuary programs and reserves, advocacy groups, state agencies and regional planning groups.
Leadership
The following professionals help guide the goals and programs for New Jersey Coastal Resilience Collaborative.
Co-Chairs
- Ed Mahany – Former Mayor City of Cape May (1995-96; 2008-16), Mahaney Consulting
- Elizabeth Semple – Director of Adaptation, The Nature Conservancy
- Martha Maxwell Doyle – Programs Director, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary
Managing Directors
- Tom Herrington – Associate Director, Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University and
Coastal Community Resilience Specialist, New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium - Laura Kerr – Senior Research Engineer, Coastal Engineering REsearch Group at Stevens Institute of Technology and Coastal Resilience Specialist, New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium
- Jun Cheng – Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Sustainability Sciences at Kean University
Board of Directors
Term 2024-2025
- Elissa Commins – NJAFM (NJ Association of Floodplain Management)
- Stan Hales – Barnegat Bay Partnership
- Charlene Kiley – Monmouth County
- Tony MacDonald, Monmouth University Urban Coast Institute
- TBD – NJFuture
Term: 2024-2026
- Tim Dillingham – American Littoral Society
- Terry Doss – Meadowlands Research & Restoration Institute at NJ Sports and Exposition Authority
- Jon Miller – Stevens Institute of Technology
- Tanya Rohrbach – Sustainable Jersey
Term: 2024-2027
- Lisa Auermuller – NJ Climate Change REsource Center
- Nick Brown – HDR Inc
Ex-Officio
- Nick Angarone – Chief Climate Resilience Officer, NJ Department of Environmental Protection
- Becky Hill – Principal Environmental Specialist, NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Workgroup Leads
- Angela Andersen – Long Beach Township, NJ – Municipal Workgroup
- Amanda Archer – JCNERR (Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve) – Technical Assistance Coffee Chat Workgroup
- Meredith Comi – Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University – Ecological Restoration and Science Workgroup
- Terry Doss – Conference and Event Planning Workgroup
- Mike Galvin – JMT Consulting – Field Site Visit Workgroup
- Danielle McCulluch – US Fish and Wildlife Service – Coastal Habitat & Aquatic Resources Research and Monitoring (CHARRM) Workgroup
- Karl Vilacoba – Urban Coast Institute at Monmouth University
- Adrianna Zito-Livingston – The Nature Conservancy – Beneficial Use Learning Network Workgroup