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What about the kids? 2025 Social Media Campaign

Posted on June 30, 2025

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Your Voice Matters

Ask New Jersey candidates "What about the kids?" Help us get these issues on their campaign agendas. Share the posts below and make sure to tag candidates in your district.

Because better outcomes for children lead to thriving communities and a stronger economy when we invest in:

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Maternal & Infant Health
Child Care
Positive Youth Development
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Maternal & Infant Health

Child Care

Positive Youth Development

Investing in Positive Youth Development to Address NJ’s Youth Mental Health Crisis

Posted on June 30, 2025

Will NJ's Future Governor Address Youth Mental Health?

Isaiah-Fudge-2024_5-cropped-web
Isaiah Fudge
Director of Positive Youth Development

For more information on this topic, contact Isaiah at ifudge@acnj.org.

Young people are struggling to cope with stress, anxiety and depression, and it’s persistently showing up in their daily lives, especially post-COVID. New Jersey is facing a mental health crisis. It's time the state prioritizes investment in positive youth development (PYD) to address and reduce mental health issues early, before they lead to more serious problems.

In June 2023, Rutgers’ New Jersey State Policy Lab found:

  • 42% of high school student respondents felt sad or hopeless, with the percentage among middle school respondents reaching 50%.
  • 37% of youth were seen as not “flourishing” (showing interest and curiosity; remaining poised when facing new challenges; and being able to complete tasks they start).
  • 23% of children were reported to have an emotional, mental, developmental, or behavioral issue.  

Beyond the most visible consequences—violence, self-harm, and youth detention—these issues can lead to declining academic performance, chronic absences, or disengagement from school altogether.

Nearly 24,000 or 5% of New Jersey youth are disconnected from school and 15% of students are chronically absent.

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Let's make children and their
families the center of the
2025 Election Campaign.

Our Schools: Underequipped to Meet the Mental Health Needs of Youth

Not only are there gaps in resources, but access to those essential supports can also be difficult. Nowhere is this challenge stronger than in schools, where kids spend most of their time. While struggling with teacher shortages, the crisis is magnified by the lack of mental health professionals.

New Jersey’s school-based mental health professionals-to-student ratios are all beyond recommended ratios. These high ratios do not take into account that school psychologists and social workers are often overburdened with Child Study Team duties like assessment, evaluation, and IEP case work management, limiting their capacity to provide actual mental health supports to students.

Worse yet, despite recognizing the need for increased access to youth mental health supports, Governor Phil Murphy recently shared that the U.S. Department of Education has canceled nearly $1 billion in nationwide school-based mental health funding. This is likely to widen an already large gap in supports for New Jersey’s nearly 1.4 million students.       

Beyond the School Walls: Community Supports

Although there are some accessible resources to assist youth with their mental wellness, many of them are mostly available during emergency situations. But to curb the mental health crises, support services are needed to address issues before a problem becomes an emergency.

Throughout New Jersey, in 15 locations, there are regional hubs focused on supporting mental wellness for youth. New Jersey’s Statewide Student Support Services (NJ4S) is a preventive initiative with three tiers of services. Services in the first tier are available for all students in the state, their parents and school faculty. These include workshops on substance use, conflict resolution and lifestyle changes to improve mental health. The program also offers short-term, youth treatment through their tier 2 and 3 levels, available via referral from schools.

Although NJ4S can be a great resource, supports that emphasize positive youth development are needed to address, early on, the issues causing mental health issues and their effects.

Investing in the Whole Child: Fostering Learning and Mental Wellness

An enhanced whole-child approach in schools is all about tailoring support and interventions to meet the unique needs of every student, which ultimately cultivates learning. This approach is strongly complemented by positive youth development (PYD), an initiative that leverages the strengths of young people and their communities to support their holistic growth across areas like safety, health, and education.

Investing in PYD not only helps cultivate student learning but also plays a crucial role in promoting mental health wellness. Two of the most effective whole-child initiatives are social-emotional character development (SECD) programs and community-based violence intervention and prevention (CBVIP) strategies. These initiatives directly contribute to creating supportive environments where students can thrive both academically and emotionally.

Social-Emotional Character Development – This whole-child approach supports youth mental wellness through creating the conditions for youth to be their authentic selves. 

Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention – This whole-child initiative addresses the root causes of violence by providing wrap-around supports to at-risk students. Specifically, CBVIP, among other issues, addresses lack of housing, employment, and even access to food, effectively mitigating some of the factors that lead to poor mental health and ultimately catalyze violence. However, funding for this initiative has been cut by $811 million at the federal level leading to a $35 million shortfall here in NJ. With all the work resulting in consistent decreases in gun-violence in 2023 and 2024, its sustainability is now being threatened.  

What can you do?

Ask the gubernatorial candidates about their plans for ensuring our youth have mental wellness. Specifically:

  • What will you do to ensure NJ’s students have access to more mental health professionals while in school?
  • What is your plan to expand and sustain the best practices that promote healthy, holistic youth development in and around schools?

Child Care in New Jersey: Why Everyone Should Care

Posted on June 23, 2025

Child Care is Everyone's Business

winifred headshot
Winifred Smith-Jenkins
Director of Early Childhood Policy and Advocacy

For more information on this topic, contact Winifred at wsmith-jenkins@acnj.org.

Child care is not just a concern for families with young children–it’s everyone’s concern. Every child deserves a strong start in life. Every parent deserves the opportunity to work, go to school, and build a stable future knowing their child is being cared for in a safe and nurturing environment. But in New Jersey, child care is out of reach for far too many families, and it's costing us all.

This election year, voters have the power to demand action. It’s time to ask: What’s your plan to provide safe and stable care for all our babies?

The Real Cost of Inaction
Inadequate child care isn’t just a burden on families. It’s a billion-dollar public economic challenge:

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  • Multiple studies have shown that high-quality child care for young children yields significant long-term economic benefits. New Jersey loses $3.6 billion every year in lost earnings, productivity, and tax revenue due to child care challenges (ReadyNation, 2023).
  • Without reliable child care, parents miss work. Businesses suffer absenteeism, lose workers, and lose their investments in worker training. The economy measurably suffers, and New Jersey is less prosperous. 
  • Parents who cannot work because of lack of child care place additional, costly burdens on the social welfare system.
  •  Without reliable high-quality child care children are less safe and miss out on early learning that prepares them for school and adult life as citizens and contributors to the state’s prosperity.

What Families in New Jersey Need
New Jersey families need leaders who will:

  • Expand access to affordable, high-quality child care.
  • Invest in the child care workforce so providers can stay open and staffed
  • Support family choice: from centers to in-home providers.
  • Ensure funds reach those who need them most.

What Are the Types of Child Care in New Jersey

  • State-funded preschool.
  • Free, full-day programs for 3- and 4-year-olds in participating districts.
  • Head Start and Early Head Start
    Comprehensive early learning and family support programs for low-income families, serving children from birth to age 5 and pregnant women.
  • Child Care Centers
    Licensed care for six or more children, typically offering structured learning environments for infants through school-aged children.
  • Family Child Care (Home-Based)
    Small group care in a provider’s home. Some are registered and subsidy-eligible; others operate privately.
  • In-Home and Family, Friend, Neighbor (FFN) Care
    Trusted individuals who provide care in the child’s home or their own. Some may be eligible for subsidies under specific requirements.
  • Summer Youth Camps
    Seasonal care for school-aged children. Certified camps may qualify for subsidies.

Why Should Everyone Care?
Consider the impact on:

  • Children
    • Builds early brain development, social-emotional skills, and school readiness.
    • Lays the foundation for lifelong success.
  • Parents
    • Supports participation in the workforce or higher education.
    • Reduces stress and supports family well-being.
  • Grandparents
    • Allows older adults raising or helping raise grandchildren to pursue their own personal, health, or financial goals.
  • Employers
    • Increases employee retention, reduces absenteeism, and improves productivity.
    • Strengthens the local workforce.
  • Community and Economy
    • Reduces future costs for education, health, and social services.
    • Builds a stronger, more inclusive economy by supporting working families
      Ensures all children, regardless of background, have a chance to thrive.

Why Public Investment Matters Now

  • High-quality child care is too expensive for most families and unsustainable for most providers. 
  • On average, most centers in NJ operate around 70% of their licensed capacity. Many programs are operating below capacity due to workforce shortages and underfunding.
  • New Jersey loses $3.6 billion every year in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue due to the lack of accessible child care (ReadyNation, 2023).
  • Without public investment, parents, providers, and the economy will continue to suffer.

What You Can Do

  • Partner with us and engage with candidates. 
  • Ask candidates:
    “What is your plan to expand access to affordable, quality child care in New Jersey?”
  • Share your story to help others understand what’s at stake. Use #NJVotes4Kids on social media to join the conversation on making children’s issues a priority in the state elections.
  • Support public funding for child care as part of a thriving, equitable New Jersey.

Need help finding child care or applying for financial assistance?
Visit www.ChildCareNJ.gov or call 1-800-332-9227.

The Missing Curriculum: Why Social Emotional Character Development (SECD) Matters

Posted on June 19, 2025

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Authored by:
Adriana Bland
Deborah T. Poritz Summer Public Interest Legal Fellowship Program, LSNJ

For more information on positive youth development efforts, contact Isaiah Fudge at Ifudge@acnj.org.

Social Emotional Character Development is a Whole-Child Approach to Youth Success

Social Emotional Character Development (SECD) is a whole-child approach designed to help youth form strong, healthy relationships, manage emotions effectively, and develop the necessary skills to thrive in life. Rather than cultivating entirely new skills, SECD extracts and strengthens the emotional and interpersonal skills that youth already possess, helping them navigate their positive life purpose with confidence, compassion, and control. Key competencies such as emotional awareness, self-regulation, and collaboration are at the heart of SECD. Encouraging and inspiring these abilities not only supports youth in academic success, but also empowers them to make thoughtful and positive choices about their futures. Without this clear sense of purpose, many youth make poor decisions that can have lasting negative effects. This is why SECD is so critical–it builds resilience and emotional well-being.

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Let's make children and their
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Maurice Elias quote

SECD is a powerful strategy for youth success but, it is important to understand that this method is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Each youth is unique. As such, the approaches used must be flexible and meet youth where they are.

Watch our Lunch and Learn on Social Emotional Learning featuring Dr. Maurice Elias, Professor of Psychology and Director of The Collaborative, Rutgers Center for Community-Based Research, Service, and Public Scholarship

While academic achievement often takes center stage in youth development, social and emotional skills are embedded in everything we do, further underscoring the need to incorporate SECD before problems arise, not after. As Dr. Maurice J. Elias notes in his recent Lunch & Learn Webinar, “A test score does not give a kid a future, but a future can motivate a kid to improve a test score.” By prioritizing SECD, we are not just equipping young people for academic success, we are preparing them for life. 

SECD Key Takeaways: 

  • Success in school and life is dependent on healthy social and emotional development.
  • Strong relationships with trustworthy adults can aid in young people’s development of important skills.  
  • A unified SECD approach addresses five core competencies in young people: self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness.
  • While SECD programs exist, adults often do not have adequate training to effectively lead and maintain them.
  • Social emotional character development often begins at home, where its influence is both earliest and strongest.
  • Mental health depends largely on one’s social emotional competencies. 
  • It does take a village to raise a child.