Harvey J. Nutter, the Executive Director of the Greater Paterson OIC since 1978. Harvey is an active Board Member at Passaic County Community College (PCCC) and has served as Board Chairman for more than 20 years. Harvey is also an active member of Calvary Baptist Church in Paterson, NJ. The Greater Paterson OIC is one of the oldest community-based organizations in the Silk City and Harvey is at the helm.

Ever the eternal optimist, Harvey Nutter said, ” I obviously have faith in this program, in my staff and in most of the students who come here initially unaware that we even exist.” Often, those students are trying to get off public assistance. Others may have had run-ins with the law, and then there are those who are simply are tired of the same old, same old and want to start anew.

Many former OIC students now work in the city’s municipal government while other have gone on to higher education obtaining Master’s degrees and beyond.

In June, GPOIC sponsors its annual Breakfast of Champions event where area residents as well as outstanding students from GPOIC are feted. For the sake of public disclosure, this writer was both a counselor and instructor there many years ago and can readily attest to the number of success stories that can be recalled.

At one time GPOIC offered GEDs for anyone who had not obtained a high school diploma; today, the organization, as a whole, concentrates its efforts on high-tech skills in order to prepare students for job-readiness in this formidable marketplace. Harvey Nutter has received numerous community awards regarding the success rate of the program and also garnered much admiration from countless people. He could have left GPOIC itself and gone to make more money in the corporate arena, but instead stayed the course because, in his words, “If we don’t teach our own, who’s gonna’ do it?” Who, indeed?