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Trenton, NJ (May 17, 2007) - New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation (SCC) has earned a New Jersey Future 2007 Smart Growth Award for Octavius V. Catto Community School – a project that is helping to revitalize an East Camden neighborhood.
Scott Weiner, CEO of SCC, will accept the School-Based Community Revitalization Award at a dinner June 7 at the Newark Club in Newark hosted by New Jersey Future, the state’s leading smart-growth advocacy group. The awards honor local officials, developers and corporations for work in promoting the group’s mission to secure economic opportunity, community vitality and quality of life for all residents of New Jersey. Aside from the SCC, others honored by New Jersey Future for their involvement in the Catto School project include Boys & Girls Club of Camden County, the Camden Board of Education, the Camden Redevelopment Agency, Universal/Keating Ventures LLC and Hillier Architecture.
"We are honored to be recognized by New Jersey Future, which is in the forefront of promoting smart growth initiatives to benefit residents throughout the state." Weiner said. "Catto School is an example of how, through collaboration with the public and private sectors, we can make real progress in infusing smart-growth strategies into the process of revitalizing urban neighborhoods for the benefit of students and the community at large."
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Demonstration Projects are public/private community development initiatives that require new schools to incorporate a community component into their design. SCC is responsible for the school component of Demonstration Projects, which have been designated for Camden, East Orange, New Brunswick, Trenton, Union City and Vineland.
The Catto project incorporates the Boys & Girls Club of Camden County and serves as a revitalization anchor encompassing mixed-use development and sustainable economic and social growth. Currently under construction, the 122,000-square-foot school at Westfield Avenue and Dudley Street will ease overcrowding and provide quality education for 540 pre-kindergarten through 6th grade students. The school also will include areas accessible to the community, including a library/media center and auditorium.
This marks the third time the Catto School project has received accolades. Last fall, the SCC and Hillier Architecture received a 2006 Smart Growth Architecture Award for Catto’s community-oriented design.
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The award was presented by the NJ Department of Community Affairs’ Office of Smart Growth and New Jersey Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. More recently, the Catto School and Boys & Girls Club project was selected for exhibition at the National School Boards Association’s 2007 Exhibition of School Architecture.
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