Phil Alagia, the chief of staff to Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, was honored by The North Ward Center in Newark with its annual Monsignor Geno Baroni award.
Alagia was presented the award by DiVincenzo and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz.
The award is given annually in honor of Monsignor Geno Baroni, a priest and social activist from Washington, D.C., who inspired and helped Stephen N. Adubato, Sr. found The North Ward Center in 1970.
The event, held Tuesday, November 26, in a room at The North Ward Center named after the monsignor, marked the 29th year that the award has been given.
“The North Ward Center is the soul of what Monsignor Baroni stood for – giving voice to people who don’t have one and creating and changing policy to create bridges to bring people to a better place,” Ruiz said. “Phil certainly secures that in his capacity day to day as chief of staff.”
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who attended the event, said Alagia has played a key role in the administration of DiVincenzo in bringing about change in Essex County.
“Lots of attention is given to the executive, but really it’s the people they have around them that get things done,” said the former Newark mayor, who credited Alagia with helping him win the special election to the Senate in October.
“It’s the team that you build. If you want to look at the success this county has had, you have to look at Phil,” Booker said.
DiVincenzo said Alagia is a key member of his team along with Ruiz and Bill Payne.
“You are only as good as your team. For the last 12 years in Essex County, we’ve had the best team in the entire state of New Jersey,” DiVincenzo said.
Alagia launched his career at The North Ward Center after graduating from Rutgers University with a degree in accounting. Alagia said he worked at The Center while attending college, but he assumed he would join a big accounting firm after graduating. Adubato, however, had other plans for him.
“Steve calls me into his office and says, son you are graduating this year and we expect you to work here full time,” Alagia said. “I laughed and I said, ‘I am going to get a real job.’ He was never so mad at me as he was that day.”
After working at The North Ward Center, Alagia joined DiVincenzo’s administration in 2002 as chief of staff, a position he has held ever since. Alagia is also considered one of the top Democratic strategists in the state. In addition to working on Booker’s campaign, he has worked on numerous gubernatorial, congressional and local campaigns.
Adrianne Davis, the executive director of The North Ward Center, said Alagia is an example of the core teaching of Monsignor Baroni – that in order to change the community, you need to change the lives of those in the community.
“During his professional career, whether it was while he was working with us or with our county executive, Phil has taken Monsignor Baroni’s message to heart,” Davis said.
Adubato said the community is better off that Alagia decided to start his career at The North Ward Center rather than at an accounting firm.
“Phil has never forgotten the community where he came from,” Adubato said. “He has committed himself to public service and to giving back.”
Also in attendance was the current mayor, Luis Quintana, who, like Alagia, got his start at The North Ward Center.
“I have learned how to run government because of what I was taught here,” Quintana said. “You have to come early and leave late. That’s Steve Adubato’s way. Monsignor Baroni today would be happy. We are all beneficiaries.”
Baroni, who died in 1984, was instrumental in the founding of The North Ward Center. In the late 1960s, Baroni was director of the urban taskforce of the U.S. Catholic Conference and Adubato was a Newark Public school teacher.
Baroni encouraged Adubato to leave his teaching position and start what was then called the North Ward Educational and Cultural Center. He also helped Adubato land a grant from the Ford Foundation, one of the initial supporters of The Center.
Alagia lives in Fairfield with his wife and three children.
