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More Than a Grocery Store: How A Better Market Is Transforming Food Access

Post author By Eloisa Hernandez-Ramos
Post date June 4, 2026

Posted on June 4, 2026

By Habibah Johnson
ACNJ Parent Leadership Council, Co-Chair

What if every community had a better market?

I recently had a conversation with Shana Manradge, CEO of A Better Market, and it left me thinking about something we don’t talk about enough: food access isn’t just about having a store nearby. It’s about whether families can actually afford what’s inside.

Shana didn’t plan to open a grocery store. Her journey started with a moment that honestly feels all too familiar. During COVID, she ran into a corner store to grab cereal and saw a box priced at $9.54. Instead of brushing it off, she stopped and asked a bigger question: How is this normal for families?

That question turned into action.

In her hometown of Paterson, she saw what many families already knew. Stores were there, but access wasn’t. Shelves were filled with processed foods, while fresh produce was limited, expensive, or poor quality. For families already balancing rent, childcare, and everyday expenses, healthy food wasn’t just a choice. It was often out of reach.

So, she created something different.

A Better Market isn’t your typical grocery store. About 85% of what you’ll find there is fresh produce. It’s intentional. It’s focused. And it’s built around what families actually need.

But what really makes it stand out is how it addresses the gaps that systems often miss.

For SNAP recipients, the store participates in Good Food Bucks, offering 50% off produce. That alone is huge. But Shana didn’t stop there. She talked about what she calls the “SNAP Gap”: families who work hard, earn just above the eligibility threshold, and still struggle to afford healthy food.

Those families are often left out of the conversation.

So, she built something for them, too: $10 produce bags filled with $20–25 worth of fresh food. Families plan around them. Budget around them. Rely on them. That’s not just a program. It’s a lifeline.

And then there are the everyday moments that show what’s really changing.

A little girl runs into the store, excitedly asking for fruit like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Because for her, it is.

A parent learns how to make fresh juice at home after attending a class and realizes healthy options were within reach all along.

These moments might seem small, but they point to something bigger: when access improves, habits change. Health changes. Communities change.

What’s happening at A Better Market is about more than food. It’s about dignity. It’s about making sure families don’t have to stand in the aisle doing mental math and deciding what they can afford to put back.

It’s also a reminder that solutions like this shouldn’t be rare.

We should be asking: Why doesn’t every community have something like this? Why are families still navigating systems that make healthy food harder to access?

Shana’s vision is clear. This model should be replicated. Healthy corner stores should actually be healthy. Fresh food should be accessible without long drives or impossible price tags. And families should never have to choose between affordability and nutrition. That’s not unrealistic. It’s necessary.

Shana shares her story in creating A Better Market for the Paterson community.

BLOG | Parent voices are key in making change for our youngest

Looking Forward: ACNJ 2026 Board Update

Post author By Eloisa Hernandez-Ramos
Post date May 20, 2026

Posted on May 20, 2026

Chris J. Duncan

With 10 years of banking experience, I’m passionate about helping small business owners and entrepreneurs achieve their financial goals. I leverage Valley’s robust suite of services and banking tools to deliver tailored solutions for clients with complex banking needs. By understanding each business’s unique challenges, I help owners access the support and guidance they need to thrive at every stage. I am also active in organizations like NRBP, Gateway Chamber of Commerce, and WCEC, and enjoy supporting local businesses and driving positive change in the community.

Outside of work, I love spending time with my wife, Amanda, and our son, Shiloh. I also enjoy volunteering, mentoring young men from urban environments, and cheering on the Yankees, Jets, and Knicks.

Stephen Martin Eisdorfer, Esq.

Stephen is now retired. He is a graduate of Haverford College and Harvard Law School. He clerked for the New Jersey Supreme Court. He practiced law in New Jersey for 45 years, including 20 years of public interest practice with the Education Law Center and the N.J. Department of the Public Advocate and 25 years in private practice. His practice focused on public education, civil rights, low-income housing, land use and environmental law. Prior to joining the ACNJ board, he was an ACNJ volunteer for five years.

Rose Marie Ranuro, MSN, RN, CPNP

I am a certified pediatric nurse practitioner and have dedicated more than 42 years to nursing, specializing in pediatric home health and hospice care, with the past 35 years spent in leadership roles at Valley Home Care. My passion is in providing a safe home for children where parents are comfortable and parents are knowledgeable in care.

In 1991, I was honored to receive the New Jersey Governor's Nursing Merit Award. In 1999, we developed the Butterflies Program, which provides care for children with life-limiting diagnoses. This is the only comprehensive pediatric hospice in New Jersey.

Outside of my professional life, I enjoy traveling, spending time at the Jersey Shore, and being with my husband and two sons. My family also proudly owns Biggie's, a restaurant that began in Hoboken.

Dr. Minsun Shin

Dr. Minsun Shin is a Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at Montclair State University, specializing in infant and early childhood studies. She earned her doctorate in Early Childhood Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Shin currently serves on the Board of Directors for Head Start Community Program of Morris County, New Jersey, and the Board of Trustees of Advocates for Children of New Jersey. With a strong belief that education takes place in and through human relationships, her research interests include social development among young children, infant caregiving, caring pedagogy, early childhood teacher education, and professionalism in early childhood care and education.

Newark Future Policymakers Advocacy Training Class of 2026 Fellows

Post author By Eloisa Hernandez-Ramos
Post date May 15, 2026

Posted on May 15, 2026

The Newark Future Policymakers Program, in its fifth year now, is an immersive advocacy training initiative that empowers local youth to shape civic policies. Fellows analyze real-world urban issues, build professional organizing skills, and drive meaningful, community-led change. Read about the fellows in this year's cohort.

Sheguyma Bazile

Kaysi Charrington

Nathan Duguid

Manpreet Kaur

Kaley Klapisch

Lakita Lloyd

Sehar Mehnoor

Yasmina Ouedraogo

Liyalani Roebuck

Deonte Savage

Jocelyn Tapia

Mohamad Wattar

Reflecting on the State of Preschool

Post author By Eloisa Hernandez-Ramos
Post date May 14, 2026

Posted on May 14, 2026

Winifred Smith-Jenkins
Director of Early Learning Policy and Advocacy

The State of Preschool 2025 by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) once again recognizes New Jersey as a national leader in public preschool; an achievement worth celebrating. While NJ consistently meets 9 out of 10 of its quality indicators, now is a good time to consider how preschool expansion intersects with the broader child care system that families rely on.

New Jersey’s success reflects decades of bipartisan investment and commitment to young children. The Governor and Legislature deserve tremendous credit for expanding access to public preschool and fully funding the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), reflecting a growing recognition that early care and education are essential to children’s development, family stability, and the state’s economic future.

As New Jersey continues to build on this progress, there is an important opportunity to think more broadly about how the entire early childhood system functions.

Too often, preschool, child care, subsidy programs, and workforce policies are discussed as separate issues. Families, however, experience them as one connected system. Parents are simply trying to find stable, affordable, high-quality care that supports their children and allows them to work.

That broader perspective matters because CCAP is not just a birth-to-five program. It supports children from infancy through age 13, and up to age 19 for children who are mentally or physically incapable of self-care or who are under the supervision of the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCP&P). CCAP helps families access care before and after school, during holidays, and throughout the summer. Community-based providers are often the backbone of that continuum, offering infant and toddler care, preschool, wraparound care, and school-age programming under one roof.

At the same time, infant and toddler care remains one of the most fragile parts of the system.

A 2023 report from Advocates for Children of New Jersey, Still No Room for Babies: Child Care Staffing Crisis Impacts Supply of Infant-Toddler Child Care, found that licensed child care centers in New Jersey have the capacity to serve only about one-third of infants and toddlers likely to need care because their parents work. In 57 percent of former Abbott communities, qualify as infant-toddler child care deserts.

These shortages are not caused by a lack of demand. Providers and parents consistently report a strong need for infant and toddler care. The challenge is that infant and toddler classrooms are among the most expensive to operate due to staffing ratios and the intensive level of care required, while current funding structures often do not fully cover those costs.

Many community-based providers rely on preschool enrollment to help stabilize the financial viability of infant and toddler classrooms. However, based on calculations using information from the Fiscal Year 2025 and 2026 Report to the New Jersey State Legislature on Preschool Expansion and Mixed Delivery, 87 percent of new state-funded preschool seats were added in district and charter school classrooms. Community child care providers accounted for only 507 of the 2,913 new preschool seats added statewide — approximately 17 percent — while Head Start seats decreased by 4 percent.

As public preschool expansion continues, it will be important to ensure that growth strengthens, rather than unintentionally destabilizes, the broader early childhood infrastructure families rely on.

That is one reason New Jersey’s mixed-delivery model remains so important. Mixed delivery enables school districts, Head Start programs, and community child care providers to collaborate to serve public preschool children across multiple settings. At its best, it preserves family choice and recognizes that different settings meet different family needs.

As the system continues to evolve, there is an opportunity to strengthen these partnerships even further.

Moving forward, the focus cannot only be on creating more preschool seats. It must also include strengthening the broader ecosystem that supports children and families from infancy through school age.

New Jersey has already demonstrated what sustained investment in early childhood can accomplish. The next opportunity is to ensure that preschool expansion, child care, workforce development, and family supports are aligned to create a stronger, more sustainable system for children, families, and communities statewide.

Myths and Misconceptions about Doulas

Post author By Aisha Khan
Post date May 6, 2026

Posted on May 6, 2026

By Rose-Anne Uwague
Parent Ambassador, ACNJ Parent Leadership Council

In a healthcare system that is often criticized for feeling rushed, impersonal, or even unsafe, especially for Black and brown families, there’s someone whose only role is to be fully present for you. A doula!

When I called to learn if my insurance company offers doulas, the customer service representative informed me that there was no one by the name of “Adoula” working there. Welp! Many people have never heard of doulas, and those who have often believe myths, like doulas are just for home births, or that they replace doctors, or that only wealthy families can afford them.

Doulas have deep roots in community care and birth traditions, and today they’re part of a growing movement to make birth safer, more empowering, and more equitable. So today, we want to clear up the confusion, bust a few myths, and spotlight how doulas are transforming birth and postpartum experiences right here in New Jersey.

➤ Doulas replace doctors or midwives.

False. Doulas provide non-medical support. They complement the medical team, not replace them. Simply put, doulas are not doctors. Doulas are not midwives.

➤ Doulas only support natural or home births.

False. Doulas can support all types of births from hospital, home, birthing centers, epidurals, C-sections, VBACs (vaginal birth after C-section), inductions, etc.

➤ Only wealthy people hire doulas.

False. Many community-based doulas serve low-income families. Medicaid reimbursement and nonprofit programs are expanding access.

➤ Doulas make decisions for you or speak for you.

False. Doulas empower, support decision-making, and self-advocacy, but don’t speak on behalf of the mother unless explicitly asked.

➤ Doulas are just for mothers.

False. Doulas support the whole family, offering reassurance and practical help.There are even sibling doulas who work primarily with the other children to explain the process!

Now let's get into some stereotypes…

➤ Many people think that doulas are white, hippie women, but this actually erases the deep roots of birthwork in Black, Indigenous, and immigrant communities. Many doulas of color and culturally specific doulas are leading birth justice movements.

➤ Doulas push anti-hospital or anti-intervention agendas. The role of a doula is to educate and support, not to force their beliefs upon their clients. Some doulas work within hospitals and support informed choice, not one specific outcome.

As you can see, doulas play a critical role, so when I hear the myth that doulas are not professional, I have to debunk it. Doulas are trained, certified, and often part of professional organizations. Many also complete continuing education, have ethical codes, and follow best practices. There are so many other misconceptions but I hope this cleared up the more common ones and that you will share what you learned.

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Rose-Anne Uwague is a productivity coach, maternal health and child wellness advocate, and New Jersey-based mom of three. She was appointed by New Jersey Governor Murphy to serve as a board member on the Maternal Care Quality Collaborative. She is the Chair of the Parent Leadership Council and the Co-Chair of New Jersey’s Unlocking Potential 2.0 Leadership Team composed of multidisciplinary providers.

She shares her motherhood story to spread awareness, ignite hope, and provoke change. Her goal is to uplift the voices of others, encourage them to advocate for their positive health outcomes, and partner with legislators to promote positive change. Her advocacy work in infant and maternal health stemmed from noticing that the challenges her clients were facing were not limited to the woman, but a deeply flawed and broken system. As a productivity coach and life strategist, she helps women redefine productivity so they can experience wellness and total well-being. She was featured in Forbes weighing in on the pandemic productivity debate.

Read the latest on maternal and infant health.