Last week, I was in Atlanta for a day. I went directly from the airport to meet Congressman John Lewis at the King Center, where he and I were to be filmed for a program that Henry Lewis Gates is putting together about our ancestry. As I juggled cell phones...

This week, I was surprised and disappointed to read a story filed by a leading news organization that mischaracterized the community engagement and response to the Partnership for Education in Newark (PENewark). In an effort to provide full transparency for the PENewark progress, what follows is a community...

Recently a heinous incident of animal cruelty took place in our city and shocked the world. On March 16th, the day before St. Patrick's Day, a 1-year-old pit bull was found inside a trash bag, starved and near death after having been thrown down a trash chute....

2010 was a challenging year. Our city, like so many others, faced extraordinary obstacles brought about by the worst economy in decades. Fiscal hardship unrivaled since the early 1970s forced painful decisions. Further, after four years of double digit percentage drops in shootings in Newark, shootings rose compared to 2009....

The public school system in Newark -- the largest in New Jersey -- is no different from most urban school districts across the country. Challenged by such issues as uneven student achievement, cuts in funding and growing mandates, our schools have failed to deliver on the promise of providing a...

Cross-posted with the New Jersey Star Ledger.

Amidst the partisan rancor focusedon by our national media, New Jersey has an opportunity to demonstrate substantive and even transformational bipartisanship.

Newark, New Jersey, leads the nation in reducing gun violence with a 46 percent decrease...

There is too much disagreement for disagreement's sake.

In a time of persistent challenges that still call into question our most sacred aspirations as a country, we cannot afford shallow callous divisiveness in our public debate. We become distracted from productive labors by our perceived opponents; we become focused...

This week, I became a more active tweeter (@CoryBooker)! I was encouraged by the dialogue that came from one of my tweets regarding education reform. There is no doubt that America faces severe educational challenges.

We are a nation that proclaims unalienable rights and "that among these are

I spent Sunday morning visiting black churches here in Newark and heard so many pastors, in poignant praise, illuminate our nation's presidential choice in historical context. My own pastor spoke of years of struggle and tears, years of sacrifice and pain, years of faith amidst oceans of despair that WERE...

My experiences in Newark have been clear. When American citizens pull together, there is little we can't accomplish. Today, millions of Americans united and chose change. This is a historic election for many reasons. Most importantly, the election of Barack Obama now offers a momentous opportunity for us to reclaim...

I learned about community organizing from my parents. As a child, their stories were so instructive. For example, in the summer of 1963, my mother was a teacher in Washington DC. She used her summer months to volunteer with the Urban League. That summer, as the Urban League was preparing...

In barbershops and boardrooms, in newspaper headlines and presidential debates, Americans are questioning the billions of dollars a month being spent on a failing war, and the current "surge" in Iraq.

But we, policy-makers at every level of government, should also be questioning the "domestic surge" at home in the...

March 22nd was a long day on the campaign trail, but I want to take a moment to write a special blog for the Huffington Post. After receiving encouragement from Arianna Huffington to participate, I decided to share some blogs from my web site. However, I realize that in doing...

So many interviews -- it was an interesting day as the press circled around to hear from me what I thought of the city hall theatrics. As reporter after reporter told me how "funny", "sad" or "comical" the display was, they all asked me the same questions:

"What do you...

I live in Brick Towers, a public housing project in Newark's Central Ward. I moved in when the projects were privately owned by a man who the residents and I believed was a grade A slumlord. To fight for change, I worked with the tenant leader, a woman who is...