A membership association for municipal council members and county commissioners across New Jersey's urban centers — built to speak with one voice on the policy that shapes our communities, to put real leadership and management tools in our members' hands, and to share what works between them.
The purpose of this Association is to build collective advocacy power — which includes taking positions on public policies that impact the vitality and sustainability of urban communities, providing the elected leaders closest to the people with leadership and management tools to be successful, and creating a forum for member electeds to share best practices related to municipal and county management.
Urban governance in New Jersey is practiced in hundreds of separate rooms. NJ-AUCC puts the people doing that work in one.
Sitting members of governing bodies in New Jersey's urban centers, responsible for budgets, contracts and services their residents feel immediately.
County-level officials whose decisions on infrastructure, health and human services cross every municipal line in the county.
Officials in their first term, who inherited a budget, a staff and a caseload with no onboarding and no manual.
Residents considering a run for local office who need to understand the job before they seek it.
Creating structured opportunities for urban municipal officials to exchange best practices, address common challenges, and develop solutions that strengthen local leadership and improve municipal services.
Cross-community training in governance, ethics, and the interpretation and management of municipal and county budgets — with the curriculum set collaboratively by what members actually need.
Building the collective power to endorse or oppose state, county and federal legislation affecting local urban communities — and bringing evidence to the table before decisions are final.
A statewide forum and a practical curriculum for entry-level officials — covering budget oversight, staff management and constituent services, from the week they are sworn in.
The Forum is the members-only space where New Jersey's urban officials work in the open with each other. It is where a first-term councilmember asks what a fair price is for a service contract, where three municipalities discover they are negotiating with the same vendor, and where a question posted on a Tuesday night has four answers by Wednesday.
Access comes with membership. Channels are organized by the work, and by who is doing it.
Reading a municipal budget, capital planning, audit season.
Members determine the curriculum. Courses run on demand, with live sessions recorded into the archive.
Line items, capital versus operating, where discretion actually sits, and what to ask before a vote.
Open public meetings, conflicts, disclosure, and the obligations that attach to the seat.
How county budgets are built, where municipal and county responsibility overlap, and how to read the difference.
Hiring, supervision and the line between policy direction and administration.
Building a casework system that does not depend on remembering everything.
The unified municipal service fair and community job fair, documented end to end.
A position taken by NJ-AUCC is a position its members were polled on. That is what makes it worth something in Trenton.
Legislation affecting urban municipalities tracked as it moves, with alerts routed to the members whose communities are affected.
Before the association endorses or opposes, members vote. Results are recorded and reportable.
Work with researchers producing data on development, housing and education before policy decisions are finalized.
Talking points, data and coordination for members testifying or submitting written comment.
Virtual. Association business, member presentations, and the month's policy watch.
Virtual. Open agenda set by the members attending.
In person, rotating host municipality. One subject, taught properly.
Statewide gathering, best-practice showcase, and the year's policy agenda.
Municipal staff, appointed officials, and residents preparing to run.
Sitting municipal council members and county commissioners.
An entire governing body or county board enrolled together.
Residents exploring a run for local office.
NJ-AUCC exists to make sure the officials carrying that responsibility are trained, connected, and heard.