About Avery

The Concerned Citizens of Long Branch Coalition is a grassroots community organization that serves as a ‘watchdog’ for the remediation of a 17- acre contaminated coal gasification plant, and other environmental justice issues. The Coalition was the first to be approved as an official Environmental Justice Petitioner under Governor McGreevey’s Executive Order 96 in April 2004. Mr. Grant is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel, and he also retired as a civilian Supervisory Electronics Engineer from Fort Monmouth. For 4 1/2 years he was the City Engineer and Public Works Director for East Orange, New Jersey. He is a Long Branch Board of Education member, and a New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance board member. Mr. Grant served on the New Jersey State Enviromental Justice Advisory Council.  As Senior Vice President of Caldwell and Company, Inc., Mr. Grant coordinated with National Football League Films Inc., producing promotional videos for clients. He was Co- Founder and Editor of the COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER, a 4500-circulation, bi- weekly African American newspaper in Monmouth County. He has served on the Monmouth County Red Cross Board, Metropolitan Red Cross Council, United Way, Habitat for Humanity, Monmouth County Fair Housing Board, New Jersey School Board Association, Long Branch Board of Education, EXODUS (a halfway house), New Jersey State African American Festival, Veterans of Foreign Wars, New Jersey State Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, Monmouth County Office on Aging Advisory Council, Essex County Urban Contractors Council, Pan- African Chamber of Commerce, and many other organizations. In 1997, Mr. Grant was selected as one of the NEWARK CITY NEWS “100 Most Influential in New Jersey” and presented at their banquet in the Newark Airport Marriott Hotel. Mr. Grant is a Bronx High School of Science graduate, and he received a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from The City College of New York, a Master of Transportation Planning and Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York, and a diploma from the US Army Command and General Staff College.