Executive Director                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Center for Community Planning

Tom Schulze, is Lead Coordinator for the Urban Essex Coalition for Smart Growth, an effort in Newark, East Orange, and Orange.  He is also the Executive Director of the Center for Community Planning, a newly created non-profit community planning group providing planning services to communities throughout New Jersey and he directs the Community Planning Assistance Program for the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association.

Mr. Schulze has been a City Planner in the NJ/NY area for almost 40 years.  He recently retired as Senior Director for Capital Planning at NJ TRANSIT.

Prior to working for NJ TRANSIT he was the Executive Director of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) in New York City.  He has also worked for local and regional governments, including the City of New York, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and NJ TRANSIT, where he did the planning for the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Line.  He has worked for private consulting firms, and consulted for local community development corporations and non-profit housing development groups in and around Newark, New Jersey.

Mr. Schulze is an adjunct professor at Hunter College and Rutgers University Graduate Planning Programs.  He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Rutgers University and Master’s Degree from Hunter College in New York City.