Person to Watch: Cory Booker

The University of Rhode Island's commencement speaker for this year's graduation ceremony has been a very popular topic of conversation in recent months. Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, has been featured on several major news networks. Booker, a Democrat, campaigned for Obama during the 2008 Presidential Election. He is often compared to Obama, and there is talk Booker may run for President in 2012.

Cory Booker grew up in a wealthy town with parents who had high-paying jobs at IBM. He was one of the few African Americans in his town. Since his youth, Booker felt a strong desire to help others. He studied at Yale, Standford, and Oxford. After working with several organizations and coalitions, Booker became a member of the Newark Municipal Council. He gained attention by holding a 10-day hunger strike to protest drug dealing and violence. He also lived in a motor home and drove it around the city. He parked at corners where drug dealing was most prominent.

Booker is the third African American mayor of Newark. People debated if he was "black" enough when he ran. This was also a sentiment held by voters during Obama's campaign. Booker has drastically reduced crime in Newark, which was once a city with a horrible reputation. He is known to patrol the streets and reach out to citizens. Murders have dropped by 42%, rapes by 41%, and robberies by 12%. Newark had its first murder-free month in 44 years in March 2010.

Mayor Booker is also working to improve the Newark school system. He created the Newark Charter School Fund to pay for reforms and new schools. During his time as mayor, Booker has received over $100 million in private donations. He keeps Newark citizens and the general public updated with his Twitter page. Booker personally responds to each person's questions almost immediately. In one instance, a Newark citizen wrote to Booker about how her father needed someone to shovel his driveway, and Booker personally came and shoveled the driveway. It is his personal touches and proactive manner that are marking Booker a popular water cooler topic.