EAST ORANGE, NJ — East Orange Mayor Ted Green has joined the Eta Pi Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi organization, which operates out of the Ambrose Ward Mansion on South Harrison Street.
The Eta Pi members are nicknamed the “Community Q’s,” and the fraternity’s colors are purple and gold, which Green wore on his hat along with its Greek letters at the Mayor’s Community Cookout at Campus High School on Saturday, July 27.
“I’m very happy to be a part of the organization,” said Green at the event. “I’m still new to the organization, but it’s a great organization and we’re all about community, we’re all about uplift, we’re all about perseverance and I’ve been about all three of those principles all my life so, to me, I fit right in with the principles of Omega Psi Phi and Eta Pi.”
Green instituted his “Mayor on the Block” campaign, designed to bring local city government out of City Hall and into the neighborhoods where his constituents live, work and play every day, so he feels being a part of the Community Q’s is appropriate. He also said that’s why he decided to host his first Mayor’s Community Cookout, with a little help from his new fraternity brothers.
“They have the mansion right there on South Harrison Street, plus they were out here today doing a voter-registration drive,” Green said. “Omega Psi Phi Eta Pi was doing a voter registration drive today and that’s mandated in the organization. So, again, they registered people to vote, talked to people about the importance of voting today, so we’re very happy about that also.”
Barry Devone, the chairman of the Eta Pi Chapter Male Mentoring Program, said the Community Q’s are happy to have Green in their fraternity. Devone recently held the annual Welcome 2 Work youth mentoring event at the Ambrose Ward Mansion, which also serves as the headquarters for the Greater Essex Community Uplift Foundation.
“I am happy to call Mayor Ted Green my fraternity brother and friend,” said Devone on Monday, Aug. 5. “He is dedicated to serving the community, just like the brothers of Eta Pi Chapter are. I look forward to many years of working with him to serve the East Orange community.”
For more information about the Omega Psi Phi Eta Pi Chapter and its youth mentoring workshop and other community-oriented events, call 973-332-7496.