Dosso Kassimou: A recent African immigrant runs for City Councilman at large

My name is Dosso Kassimou and I am a modern-day Newarker, who respects the history and traditions of this great city. I migrated to the U.S. from Africa like so many others. However, I am committed to contributing to the transformation of Newark for all its citizens. I am a community organizer and leader who works every day to earn the trust and respect of the people of Newark.
As a leader of the African community, I want to facilitate the political involvement of recent African immigrants in the City of Newark and New Jersey as a whole. Africans are among the fastest growing communities in Newark but their voices are not being heard and they have not been fully engaged by the powers that be, maybe because of leadership gap. Many people don’t even believe that Africans can vote. This time around things will be different. My candidacy will give reason for recent African immigrants to vote and to participate in the progress of Newark using their full citizenship rights. Africans are also part of Newark but their votes are not recognized or taken seriously. I believe that Africans constitute a strong voting power that can be a game changer as Newark continues to grow toward its full Renaissance.
I am not running because I am an African. I am running because I am a proud resident of this city and strongly believe that change is needed; and that a new voice and a clear advocate of the people must sit on the municipal council.
I am running because I don’t like the ways things are in the city at the moment.
For the past few years now the youth of Newark have made the streets their daily offices but instead of trying to engage them, many people have been pointing fingers, blaming and even labeling them as “bad guys”. Even if they are bad, we must work hard to find a way to turn them around. That is what a public servant does: try to solve problems. I believe that we must fully engage those young people and assess their needs and help them see the light. Most of them are coming from dysfunctional families and we must not cast them away or turn our back on our own community. I will fully engage them, meet with them and even take them to trips through exchange programs to raise their levels of consciousness.
I am running because the small vendors on the streets of Newark must be empowered to become store owners. We must try our best to help the community stand on its feet. As we continue to invite big businesses into the city and give them tax abasements, etc., we must also understand that the people and the residents of Newark must be taken care of first. I propose that we create a department in the City Hall or the development agencies of the city to identify individuals who have very clear and sound business plans but can’t qualify for credit based loans from traditional lending institutions to be given start- up grants so that we may be able to create more entrepreneurs within the city and grow wealth.
I am running because we cannot have one of the best sea ports in the world, and have most of the warehouses on Frelinghuysen closed down. We can attract business and create jobs by redirecting freight from other parts of the world to Newark and create jobs. We can train people for forklift licenses to begin to work.
Another thing is that we must open Newark to the world as it is already because of its sea port and the International Airport. I am proposing that we take advantage of the US Congress sponsored EB-5 foreign investment visa program to create more jobs in Newark and attract new businesses.
I am ready to work from day one. And I am about making sure that the communities in Newark, including seniors citizens, are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. Seniors are the pedestals of the city and they cannot just be used for election purposes only. They deserve more than “chicken wings or bingos”, they must be respected and listened to.
I am inviting everybody to join my campaign as an independent thinker and candidate of the people for Councilman at Large. Donate to my campaign today and let’s make history together by electing the first African immigrant to become councilman at large in the History of Newark, New Jersey. Vote line B-15. (Democrat)

Join us on social media and on our website:
www.dossokassimou.com
Fabook/Dossokassimou
Contact us at 908-494-9101/973-849-5209
Email:dosso2014@gmail.com

Posted by admin on Apr 24 2014. Filed under Community News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry