Posted on November 6, 2018
What’s New?
BLOG: #CountAllKids in 2020 – Form a Complete Count Committee
Posted on November 2, 2018
Kids Count Coordinator
Recently, ACNJ policy counsel Peter Chen and I had the opportunity to speak to the Paterson Alliance—a coalition of non-profits focused on the city of Paterson—about the importance of the upcoming 2020 Census. We were impressed by the enthusiasm and eagerness of the audience to spread the word about the Census and to ensure that all are counted.
Notably, Paterson is taking a proactive approach to this work, forming their own complete count committee this past summer. Complete count committees are state or municipal entities created with the goal of encouraging residents to fully participate in the decennial count.
Paterson is home to a wide range of hard-to-count communities, such as immigrant groups, young children under the age of 5, people of color and non-native English speakers. These groups may not understand the purpose of the Census, may be reluctant to share personal information with the federal government or may live in non-traditional dwelling arrangements—making it difficult for the U.S. Census Bureau to reach them. In Paterson, a complete count committee is crucial in determining the type of outreach needed to ensure full Census participation. Local, municipal complete count committees are useful because they are better able to assess the unique messages and strategies needed to convince residents to complete their Census forms. They are also better equipped to identify who within the community is trusted to relay these messages.
On August 24th, New Jersey passed legislation to establish its own statewide complete count commission, asking a number of elected officials, advocacy organizations, and business representatives to develop outreach strategies regarding the Census. State efforts may be just beginning, but this shouldn’t preclude other localities from creating their own groups dedicated to a complete count. Paterson is a strong example—other cities can and should get involved too. April 1, 2020, Census Day, may feel like ages away, but the sooner planning and outreach begins, the better.
Here are some ways organizations and municipalities can start right now to prepare:
- Assess the need. Do you live or work in a hard-to-count community? Resources, such as these fact sheets created by ACNJ and these interactive maps, allow you to identify particular areas of the state where a complete count may be difficult.
- Become a Census partner. Census partners receive the most current information and resources from the U.S. Census Bureau. Learn how you can partner.
- Form a local complete count committee. You know your community best. A complete count committee based in your town or city can leverage its community knowledge to tailor outreach strategies to specific populations. The U.S. Census Bureau offers these resources to help get the effort started.
Organizations within Paterson already had ideas about how best to reach hard-to-count groups—such as at places of worship, schools and grocery stores. They inquired about materials in a myriad of foreign languages from Turkish to Spanish. All of this planning and inquiry will have far-reaching effects in bringing Paterson closer to a complete count of its residents in 2020.
ACNJ’s Peter Chen quoted in New York Times article, “In Echo of Flint, Mich., Water Crisis Now Hits Newark”
Posted on November 1, 2018
In a recently published article by The New York Times, reporter Liz Leyden highlighted ACNJ’s Newark Kids Count data: about a quarter of the more than 14,000 children under 6 who were tested in 2016 had measurable levels of lead in their blood. “This suggests a pervasive problem throughout the city coming from a variety of sources, and water could easily be one of them,” said Peter Chen, ACNJ policy counsel. Click here to read article.
The Progress Made by New Jersey’s Juvenile Justice System Gives Me Hope
Posted on October 26, 2018
ACNJ vice president
In September, David Goodman, a New Jersey-born actor who graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden, spoke to the state Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC) Class of 2018 about facing hardships and not giving up. The ceremony had all the making of a traditional high school graduation, complete with six graduates receiving academic awards, family and friends celebrating with lots of photos, and even government officials Attorney General S. Gurbir Grewal, Lieutenant Governor Sheila Y. Oliver, JJC Executive Director Kevin M. Brown, and JJC Director of Education Tremaine Harrison in attendance.
The main difference? This graduation was taking place at the state’s largest youth facility for juvenile offenders, the New Jersey Training School for Boys, otherwise known as Jamesburg.
Listening to the speakers share statistics about ongoing juvenile reform efforts, and the cheers of the audience as smiling graduates tossed their caps in the air, congratulating each other, gave me some hope that we are on the right track.
In addition to the 60 students participating in the graduation, 72 students received their diplomas or their High School Equivalency Diplomas (HSEDs) earlier in the year and have since been released from JJC supervision or did not participate in the ceremony.
During his remarks, Attorney General Grewal explained that since 2003, there has been an 85 percent reduction in the number of youth committed to the care of the JJC by the courts, from 1,200 annually in 2003 to approximately 176 statewide in 2017. Youth of color account for 85 percent of this reduction. While there is still an overrepresentation of youth of color in county detention centers, the JJC and its partners through the New Jersey Council on Juvenile System Improvement (Council) continue to have data-driven conversations to identify strategies to address this serious problem.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently commended New Jersey for its success under the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), an effort to reduce the number of youth unnecessarily or inappropriately placed in detention, while protecting public safety and helping troubled youth address issues that led to criminal behavior. Since its nationwide implementation, JDAI has helped more than 300 locations safely reduce their juvenile detention populations.
New Jersey, a national model in JDAI, has decreased its average daily juvenile detention center population statewide by almost 80 percent between 2003 (pre-JDAI) and 2018 without impacting public safety, and has closed eight county-operated detention facilities since JDAI reforms began, resulting in an annual savings of $21 million. Research by the Casey Foundation has also demonstrated that in addition to the large reduction in daily detention populations, jurisdictions participating in JDAI, including New Jersey, have seen an equally steep decline in the number of youth committed to state juvenile correctional facilities.
But there is more to be done.
The JCC has been working to safely and significantly reduce out-of-home placements and incarceration, particularly for youth of color, who are still overrepresented within the system and remain in care longer than white youth, despite the positive impact of JDAI. Stakeholders, including the Casey Foundation and other national experts, are working together with officials in Camden County to determine why the racial disparities exist and how to solve them. The lessons learned in Camden County will then be shared throughout the state. Though difficult and time-consuming, the work is needed if New Jersey wishes to achieve better outcomes for our youth.
The most recent report of their progress was given at the last Council meeting. I was impressed by the effort and commitment of the judges, court staff, probation staff, prosecutors, public defenders and mental health professionals in transforming the culture and practices in Camden County. Families, schools, law enforcement and members of the community are all being engaged to build relationships that can help our neediest youth.
The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice led the charge to close Jamesburg and Hayes, the secure youth facility for girls, a goal that ACNJ supported and advocated for as well. The former Christie administration committed to the closure in December 2017, planning to replace existing large secure facilities with smaller, state-of-the-art regional facilities that are closer to the homes of these juveniles. Smaller, treatment-intensive, developmentally appropriate facilities, will allow for the delivery of therapeutic wrap-around services in a non-institutional environment, as recommended by national experts such as the National Institute of Justice and Casey Foundation. Closing Jamesburg is projected to save approximately $20 million a year, which should be applied to therapeutic and delinquency prevention services. We need to make sure that investment happens!
For more information, contact Mary Coogan at mcoogan@acnj.org
BLOG: What a Fantastic Week for Babies!
Posted on October 24, 2018
ACNJ Pres/CEO
Last week was a fantastic week for babies!
We had some big wins recently, thanks to your advocacy. I could not let another day go by without recapping what happened and thanking all of you for everything you did to produce the results for New Jersey’s littlest residents.
First, Governor Murphy, First Lady Tammy Murphy and Department of Human Services Commissioner Carole Johnson issued a joint announcement about how $38 million in new federal funds will be used. $30 million is targeted to raise child care subsidy rates, the first meaningful increase in more than 10 years, with the greatest increase – 25 percent – for programs caring for babies. Infant programs will also receive a higher rate for quality improvements through Grow NJ Kids. While this does not bring infant programs into full parity, it is a great step forward in addressing some of the disincentives that have made high-quality child care for babies in such short supply.
The remaining $8 million is targeted to help programs come into compliance with licensing requirements and/or to improve quality. I am particularly excited by the $1.2 million that was set aside to develop more child care for babies. Since completing our 2017 reports on the cost of child care quality and the lack of capacity for infant care, ACNJ mounted a targeted campaign to develop more options for infant care, particularly for families relying on child care vouchers. Now, more babies will get the quality and affordable care that they deserve. This is a win!
On Wednesday, the 17th, ACNJ brought independent consultant Louise Stoney to NJ to meet with a number of policymakers and advocates. A national expert on child care financing, Louise engaged her audiences with new approaches to child care funding. She met with foundations, legislative staff and representatives from the governor’s office, as well as our Think Babies Coalition.
On Thursday, the 18th, Louise testified at a hearing on child care before the Assembly Women and Children’s Issues Committee (AWI). Her ideas about shared services, tax credits and other strategies generated a lot of interest. ACNJ helped organize the hearing on child care, which featured parents, child care providers and other advocates, as well as DHS Commissioner Johnson. Monique Baptiste, a parent and great advocate from Newark, provided very compelling testimony on the challenges of finding child care, bringing the room to tears. Thanks go to Assemblywoman Mosquera, chair of the committee, for her leadership.
On Saturday, the 20th, ACNJ participated in the 1st Annual Essex County Prenatal to 3 Summit, which was sponsored by several legislators and featured Lt. Governor, Sheila Oliver. Pictures from these events are on the ACNJ Facebook page.
Finally, we are gearing up for our 3rd annual breakfast celebration! Supporters, advocates and staff are gathering at the Clubhouse at Galloping Hill Golf Course in Kenilworth on December 5th to celebrate big wins for kids, reminisce about the past 40 years ACNJ has been in existence, and look ahead to our future. Reserve your seats today!
We are already planning our next steps – we don’t want to lose momentum – but I want to celebrate these wins and to acknowledge the remarkable ACNJ staff for their dedicated advocacy. Right from the Start NJ/Think Babies team – Diane Dellanno, Cynthia Rice, Patricia Canning and Hannah Korn-Heilner – you guys rock!
