DAVID GREENBLATT — Daily Research Log

Monday May 21, 2007 (9-5)

• Researched information on the websites of Rescue Mission of Trenton, Salvation Army of Trenton, Homefront, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton, Farmers Against Hunger, Trenton Area Habitat for Humanity, and East Trenton Neighborhood Center;
• Entered data for each organization on the FileMaker (Policy Options — Trenton) list;
• Included Research Questions from Princeton University’s Community Organization Profiles
• Conduct background research concerning Youth Policy Institute, CBR Grants, and J-Lab Grants

Tuesday May 22, 2007 (9-5)

• Created a list of Funding Sources for the Rescue Mission of Trenton, Salvation Army of Trenton, Homefront, Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton, Farmers Against Hunger, Trenton Area Habitat for Humanity, and East Trenton Neighborhood Center;
• Gathered research questions from Princeton CBLI organizations that were relevant to policy options or that included program models;
• Created an informal organization chart for the Department of Military and Veteran Affairs, Department of Personnel, Department of the Public Advocate, Department of State, Department of Transportation, and Department of Treasury.

Wednesday May 23, 2007 (10-5)

• Confirm paperwork through Career Services
• Met with Pat Donohue at the TCNJ Bonner Center
• Created an organization chart for the Mercer County Boards and Commissions
• Called Mercer County and Spoke with Pete (Communications Dept.); said will get back to me on whether or not county budget is accessible online
• Created a large visual organization chart of Mercer County government, and the City of Trenton government

Thursday May 24, 2007 (9-5)

• Created organization chart for State of New Jersey Departments;
• Familiarized myself with Trenton.policyoptions.org;
• Corresponded with Deputy Director of Communications for Mercer County Pete Daly concerning the accessibility of the Mercer County Budget. Mr. Daly indicated that the budget would have to be obtained through an OPRA request with a fee of about $27;
• Called, and left a message for several City of Trenton employees: Alphonso Jones (Budget Examiner), Elana Chan (Budget Officer), Bill Valochi (Dept. Housing and Community Development), Nancy Diehl (coordinator for state and federal grants), and Andrew Carten (Director of the Division of Planning);
• Spoke with Nancy Diehl who indicated that we should examine audits instead of budgets because budgets are the projections while audits illustrate spending and income. Ms. Diehl also indicated that departments at the federal, state, and county all give money to Trenton, but she was unaware of which agencies in Trenton received this money; and
• Created a rough sample of an issue brief for childhood lead poisoning prevention.

Friday May 25, 2007 (9-5)

• Worked on the lead poisoning issue brief
• Organized categories and issue areas for the Trenton.policyoptions.org
• Researched other websites’ format for issue areas
• Created spreadsheets for the most recent format of categories and their issue areas
• Spoke with Bill Velochi (he called me back); Bill indicated that the Trenton Planning Board gets money from Escrow accounts, which come from applicants, and are then given to professionals. He also indicated that we might be interested in looking at the Municipal Land Use Law for the source of the money that is given to the planning board.