What’s New?

State budget FY2016 highlights for children and families

Posted on February 27, 2015

public_policyGovernor Christie unveiled his proposed FY 2016 budget on Tuesday. Details are still sparse and will emerge in the coming weeks. The budget will be debated in the state Legislature over the next few months. Earlier this week, a Superior Court judge ordered the Christie Administration to fund the state pension system an additional $1.57 billion in the current fiscal year. Christie has said he will appeal the ruling. It is uncertain at this point whether this will have an impact on the proposed budget. The Legislature must adopt a final budget by June 30.

Read budget highlights for children and families.

New report: Critical supports lift kids out of poverty

Posted on February 25, 2015

Food stamps, school breakfast, tax credits and other anti-poverty supports make a critical difference in the lives of nearly 250,000 New Jersey children who would otherwise grow up in poverty, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

2015_measuring_access_ to_opportunityWhen measuring child poverty based on the real needs of families, 31 percent of New Jersey children would be living in families who lack the resources to meet their children’s basic needs. However, when supports are factored in, that percentage drops to 19 percent, according to the KIDS COUNT® Data Snapshot, Measuring Access to Opportunity in the United States.

Read the release.

Download the report.

NJ Achieves Highest Increase in Nation for School Breakfast

Posted on February 10, 2015

The Food Research and Action Center found that New Jersey’s participation rate jumped nearly 13 percent from the 2012-13 to the 2013-14 school years. The state now ranks 28th in the nation for breakfast participation – up from 37th last year and 46th a few years ago. The average national increase was about 3 percent.

Read press release.

Learn more about FRAC’s reports.

Visit NJschoolbreakfast.org.

Celebrate National School Breakfast Week

Posted on March 3, 2015

Mar. 2- 6

This years theme “Make the Grade with School Breakfast” helps highlight the importance of a nutritious breakfast to help students achieve success in the classroom and beyond. The School Nutrition Association has tools and resources to help you with your celebration.

Learn more about the Food for Thought  NJ School breakfast campaign and its efforts to expand school breakfast after the bell across the state.

NJ Child Care Efforts Advance

Posted on February 5, 2015

ACNJ recently learned that two of our key recommendations on the child care front are moving forward. The New Jersey Department of Children and Families recently hired 16 additional inspectors to ensure the health, safety and quality of care for children across the state. In our December 2013 report, Meeting the Child Care Challenge, we noted that New Jersey was nearly last in the nation for oversight of child care centers and that inspectors had heavy caseloads that may prevent them from conducting thorough inspections. We commend DCF for addressing this important issue.

In addition, the department now has a searchable online directory of child care providers, giving parents a central place to get basic information, including center location, size and the ages of children served. This information had previously been available only in pdf format.

View the new directory here.

State officials say they are still working on posting inspection reports and violations online in a user-friendly format for parents. We’ll keep you posted of their progress.