The 2025 City Planning Institute served over 120 students in Paterson, Passaic, Bloomfield and Newark this summer. Students worked on various city planning projects in partnership with their elected officials and local community based organizations. They offered extremely valuable insight, data and proposals to their community and city stakeholders and made theri voices heard! Check out their work below!
Highlights in 2025:
4 cities directly served.
120 + students enrolled.
Over 200 hours of City Planning instruction provided to students.
15 partnering organizations.
$50,000 in student stipends paid.
120+ hours of student led field work in various parts of the state.
4 final projects and presentations
2 students invited to speak as panelists at community events.
Bloomfield, NJ
The Bloomfield City Planning Institute partnered with the Municipal Youth Internship Program, and the City Council to conduct a large scale and double pronged project in the city’s 3 commercial corridors. First the students conducted a full-scale business inventory of all 3 areas, recording each business, its type and condition of building. They organized those businesses and analyzed them to determine possible ways to brand each unique neighborhood. The second focus of their project was to create a new concept to better connect the uptown, midtown and downtown areas of Bloomfield. The students created thematic concepts for each distinct corridor, proposed methods for connecting them through design concepts and bike routes, and even created a online restaurant guide for the entire town. Students presented their work to their mayor, town council, and community stakeholders in council chambers. Several students are continuing their efforts and leading first Bloomfield’s Municipal Youth Guidance Council throughout the rest of the year. They will serve as a team of young liaisons between their elected officials and young community members to ensure that young people remain an integral part of their towns planning process.