Three candidates are running for two Maplewood Township Committee seats in 2024: incumbents Nancy Adams and Jamaine Cripe, and Malia Herman. The primary election is on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. The general election takes place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Read all of our Election Coverage here.
Malia Herman is a volunteer and community activist who has served on numerous local committees and boards, including as President of the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee and the Pool Advisory Committee. She is seeking one of the two seats up for election to the Maplewood Township Committee to bring balance, compromise, unity, new ideas and a fresh perspective to local government.
She’s already championed several of the Township Committee’s current policies, such as making access to the community pool more equitable, offering water safety and swim lessons to all ages, centering sensory and neuro-divergent residents in recreational programming, implementing an All-Access Committee, committing to an all-inclusive playground, and rethinking our traffic calming, circulation and mobility.
Ms. Herman, a Latina with Mexican and Native American roots, is running an inclusive campaign composed of volunteers and supporters from all walks of life who desire a forward-looking Maplewood that embraces the charm and beauty of our town while thoughtfully planning for the needs of our future generation.
Her priorities include:
– Safer roads for all by executing a mobility and circulation plan that includes bike lanes, more traffic calming, and better lighting and crosswalks, especially around schools.
– Affordable access to our community pool and swim lessons, reliable youth athletic fields, accessible playgrounds, and greenspaces so residents of all ages can enjoy outdoor recreation.
– Championing more shared services with South Orange and other surrounding municipalities to reduce our tax burden while maintaining services.
– Creating more inclusive programming, including options for children and adults who need support to participate; ensuring that all programs and events include quiet, sensory-friendly spaces.
– Increased transparency and accessibility of local government by promoting proactive community engagement through virtual or in-person office hours, coffees, conversations with local businesses, and town hall forums.
Ms. Herman is a longtime reporter/writer who got her start at The Associated Press in Charleston, W.Va., where she traversed the state writing an award-winning series on home health care disparities. She then worked for the AP’s elite Washington, D.C. Bureau, where she covered Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court, as well as national campaigns, federal legislation, and the inner workings of the federal budget. She also wrote for USA Today/Gannett News Service, including covering New Jersey lawmakers Sen. Cory Booker and the late Rep. Donald Payne for The News Journal and The Asbury Park Press.
Ms. Herman and her husband, a West Orange native, moved their young family to Maplewood in 2014, choosing a town with a direct train line to maximize work-life balance. Their two kids, who were in preschool at the time, are now 12 and 14 in grades 6th and 8th. (When she talks about pedestrian safety – she knows first-hand what it’s like to have kids walking to and from school every day.)
Her family, which now includes two dogs, enjoys biking around town, shopping in the Village or Ridgewood Row, or enjoying the amazing restaurants on Springfield Avenue and Newark Way. As a longtime runner (four marathons; 35 half marathons), her training runs have taken Ms. Herman down nearly every road in town.
She has also volunteered or supported nearly everything in town. Ms. Herman has been a Girl Scout leader, Boy Scout committee member, class parent, Tuscan Show Director, Tuscan PTA member, Maplewood Middle School HSA member, President’s Council member, and Teacher Appreciation coordinator. She and her husband are founding donors of The Maplewood Foundation. She volunteered on a communications team for the Achieve Foundation to help promote the Honor Your Teacher campaign. She ran communications for the grassroots political organization SOMA Dems during the 2017-2018 gubernatorial cycle. And, as a SOMA Shares volunteer, she makes sure donated books, winter coats and toiletry kits are regularly delivered to MMS social workers.
For the past 10 years, Ms. Herman has worked as a freelance writer for Education Week Market Brief and the American Heart Association’s Million Hearts Collaboration. She has also written about local issues, programs and businesses in Matters Magazine and The Village Green.
Additionally, she has volunteered on the campaigns of former Township Committeeman Greg Lembrich, former Maplewood Mayor Frank McGehee, former Maplewood Mayor and current Township Committeeman Dean Dafis and served as co-campaign manager for former Deputy Mayor and current Committee person Deborah Engel.
Ms. Herman is a natural communicator and independent thinker who knows how to ask the tough questions, and more importantly, how to listen. She is committed to working to build an inclusive, safe, equitable and dynamic community for all Maplewood residents. Her approach is balanced, thoughtful and practical – just what you’d expect from a working mom. She brings years of collaborative problem-solving skills and a unique ability to think outside of the box to get things done.
For example, when there was a gun scare at the local middle school in 2015, Ms. Herman gathered with other concerned Maplewoodians to start a Moms Demand Action chapter in SOMA. She has been a tireless advocate for students with physical, intellectual, learning, and behavioral challenges in the South Orange-Maplewood School District. As a nine-year member of the Pool Advisory Committee, Ms. Herman has worked hard to reduce prices and open swim lessons to more Maplewood residents.
During the last 10 years, as a community member, she has:
– Championed offering swim lessons to non-members of the Maplewood Pool.
– Successfully expanded swim lessons to adults and older children, held on weekends.
– Fought for lower pool fees for residents and school groups.
– Worked with the South Orange mayor to purchase and furnish the Sensory Activation Vehicle now used at community events.
– Advocated to state grant agency in support of the All-Access Playground at Maplecrest Park
– Mobilized neighborhood to block a Township Committee effort to remove a “No Turn on Red” sign from a dangerous intersection located between two schools.
– Helped plan and host first-ever SEPAC Resource Fair.
– Organized virtual and in-person seminars and parent gatherings to support families with children who are neurodivergent or disabled.
– Advocated for students left behind during the COVID-19 shutdown, including bringing some children back to classrooms.
– Participated in interviews for the last two heads of Special Services, as well as other SOMSD administration officials.
– Co-founded the former SOMA Moms Demand Action chapter, which later merged with the Essex County Chapter.
– Given BE SMART community presentations on gun safety and hosted training sessions for others to become certified as presenters.
– Promoted Wear Orange Day in Maplewood and South Orange.
– Met with local police departments about distributing gun locks.
– Organized numerous Girl Scout meetings, including school and park trash pick-up days, and a six-week summer gardening program in which scouts cleared, weeded, and planted flowers at Prospect Church.
