"South Jersey is a wonderful place to live and work.  My job as a public official is to listen to my constituents and their elected local leaders and continue to search for new and innovative ways to ensure that our community continues to attract new businesses and new residents," said Andrews.  "The best way that we can accomplish that goal is to continue to improve our communities existing infrastructure by aggressively seeking out federal resources to help improve every aspect of our community."

Congressman Andrews first pointed to the fact that 82% of individuals who live in South Jersey also work in South Jersey.  This statistic shatters the once held belief that South Jersey serves as a bedroom community for Philadelphia.  Instead, South Jersey has developed its own regional economy, which according to Rep. Andrews, is rooted in an outstanding labor force, high quality of life, superb educational opportunities and state-of-the-art medical facilities.  While Andrews had high praise for South Jersey in these areas, he was quick to point out that South Jersey must continue to improve to remain a competitive region.

Job creation is one of Andrews' top priorities in respect to improving South Jersey.  In April of 2001, he announced the creation of the ACIN Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology in Camden City.  Andrews secured $12.5 million dollars for FY 2001 to fund the initial startup and operations and an additional $7 million dollars to fund the second year of operation of the new Technology Center in center city Camden, bringing the two-year total for the Center to $19.5 million.  This new high tech center, which serves as both a business incubator and Department of Defense buying center has already attracted 12 new companies that employ over 50 people.  Rep. Andrews has worked closely with the management of the center and individual companies located within it to help them develop contracts with the Department of Defense and other federal offices.  As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Andrews will work again this year to secure another round of funding to support continued operations of this high tech center.

While the Congressman focused on a need for continued job creation to proliferate the region's outstanding reputation, Andrews also recognized the need for a skilled workforce to attract employers and fill these new jobs.  Here, Andrews suggested a need to attract new talent to the region as well as to train existing residents.  In the effort to attract competent workers to our region, Andrews suggested that we may need to look outside the country for competent, skilled workers and pointed to the recent nursing shortage in our region and country as evidence of that fact.  Andrews has spearheaded an effort to create a new Immigration and Naturalization Facility in South Jersey to help expedite processing times for legal immigrants seeking to enter the country on work visas.  Currently, South Jersey companies seeking to hire competent workers from outside this country must work through the INS South Jersey sub-office of the main INS office in Newark, which has an 11 month backlog for residence applications.  Congressman Andrews is hopeful that this new South Jersey INS facility, to be completed by the end of 2004, will cut that time in half.

In the area of job training for current residents of South Jersey, as a member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Rep. Andrews will be working this year to re-write the Federal Higher Education Law to make higher education more affordable for all South Jersey residents.  Rep. Andrews has also been a huge proponent of the welfare to work initiative first passed in 1996.  This federally sponsored program provides critical funding to South Jersey's communities to pay for transportation solutions and job training for those who are out of work.  This program has enabled thousands of out-of-work South Jerseyans to get access to more stable, higher paying forms of employment to break the cycle of welfare.  Since the inception of this program, the welfare roles in South Jersey have been cut in half.

Following his speech outlining his vision for improving South Jersey, Rep. Andrews hosted a meeting at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Stratford with the mayors and council members of every town in the First Congressional District.   Mayors and council members were invited by the Congressman to identify and discuss innovative ideas and projects for their individual communities as well as the South Jersey Region as a whole.  Rep. Andrews focused on issues related to transportation given that the Federal Highway transportation funding legislation will be up for re-authorization this year and will work with these communities to obtain federal highway funding to help improve South Jersey's transportation infrastructure.

"I am extremely proud to represent South Jersey given the caliber of the local elected officials I work with.  Their dedication to improving their communities and the region is outweighed only by their expertise in running the daily operations of their towns," said Andrews.  "As I stated today, my office stands ready to assist in any way we can to help these officials develop and implement plans to improve the quality of every community in our region.  I thank these men and women for taking time out of their hectic schedules for the good of the community."

Rep. Andrews continued his day devoted to improving South Jersey as a region by meeting with local school superintendents at the Voorhees Township School Administration Building to discuss current issues affecting South Jersey's schools.  As a result of the work of Congressman Andrews, school districts throughout the region will now have the option to create in-school Pre-Kindergarten programs paid for through federal funding.  This new initiative will allow parents to send their three and four year old children to a school district sponsored accredited Pre-K program if they so desire.  Congressman Andrews also focused on a new initiative designed to help teachers improve their skills.  As a result of legislation signed into law last year, New Jersey will receive over $65 M under the Title II State Grants for Improving Teacher Quality.  Congressman Andrews encouraged the superintendents he met with to take advantage of this new funding and offered his assistance to help them in the application process.

"The education of our region's young people is of paramount concern to me.  I am pleased to have worked with President Bush to help develop the No Child Left Behind Act that was signed into law last year," said Andrews.  "With these federal tools in place, I am hopeful that South Jersey school districts will be able to obtain some federal help to assist them in providing an outstanding education experience to our region's students."

The Congressman concluded his day by meeting with Camden County Prosecutor Vince Sarubbi in the Congressman's district office in Haddon Heights to discuss initiatives aimed at reducing drug use in our community.  Since 1994, Rep. Andrews has been successful in obtaining over $33 M in federal funding to hire 594 new police officers in the First Congressional District.  However, the Congressman and Prosecutor Sarubbi recognize that a more innovative strategy must be developed to help reduce demand for illicit narcotics in addition to prosecuting those who buy and sell illegal drugs.  Sarubbi and Andrews are currently working to obtain a federal grant to help institute a drug rehabilitation program for South Jersey that would create a 24-hour rapid response team.  Such a program would concentrate on addressing the problem of drug use through intervention and treatment by having paid counselors available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to work with drug abusers to help them kick the habit.

"Illegal drug use remains one of the biggest problems our society faces.  This problem does not discriminate based on race, class or age.  Instead, it affects a broad cross-section of our community," said Andrews.  " No matter how many police officers we put on the street, we will never stop drug abuse until we begin to attack it at the root.  That is why I am optimistic that this effort to reduce demand, spearheaded by Prosecutor Sarubbi, will be a positive step in preventing drug abuse and crime in our community."