According to Hunger Free New Jersey, New Jersey’s most impoverished schools are reaching less than half of their low-income students with federally-funded school breakfast, mainly because many continue to serve breakfast before school when most children have not yet arrived, according to a report released today.
That why Advocates for Children of New Jersey and Hunger Free New Jersey teamed up for The Food for Thought Campaign and worked towards the passage of the Breakfast After the Bell law, effective starting September 2019. The law mandates schools in high-poverty districts across the state to serve breakfast after school begins, promising to provide this all-important meal to our neediest children.
New 10-year Data Snapshot with State-by-State Data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation Shows Progress, and Some Failures, as National Rates Improve
In New Jersey, 94 percent of children in foster care are placed with families rather than in group placements, putting the state in an optimal position to begin implementing the Family First Prevention Services Act, a 2018 federal law which focuses on placing children who need foster care in family-centered settings. New Jersey is one of four states that placed 73 percent or more of teenagers in families and 20 percent or fewer teenagers in group placements in 2017, according to “Keeping Kids in Families: Trends in Placement of Young People in Foster Care in the United States,” a new data snapshot released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation as part of its KIDS COUNT® project. View release.
ACNJ is proud to be a signer of an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief, in opposing the citizenship question on the 2020 Census. Today, 178 groups, including ACNJ, are urging the Supreme Court of the United States to strike the citizenship question. Read the brief here: http://bit.ly/2K27S4g
Newark Kids Count 2019: Special focus on the city’s young men of color shows they remain optimistic in the future of their city.
Newark’s young men of color fall disproportionately behind in education, access to health insurance and exposure to violence and the juvenile justice system, when compared to their female peers and among young men in the same age group across the state, according to the 2019 Newark Kids Count, released today. Despite these challenges, they remain optimistic in the future of their city, as well as their own aspirations. Read Release.
This year’s report features a special section on the city’s young men of color, in partnership with My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Newark. ACNJ and MBK Newark held listening sessions with young men of color, asking them to reflect on their experience growing up in the city and to share ways to improve outcomes for young men.
In addition to this year’s special section, the Newark Kids Count annual report contains the latest statistics on the state of children in New Jersey’s largest city, including 5-year trend data, in the following areas: demographics, family economic security, food insecurity, child health, child protection, child care, education and teens. Watch the event livestreamed on Facebook Live at 9:30 am. View report. Power Point Presentation. Agenda and bios of panelists.
Pictured from left to right: Donald A. Borden, President of Camden County College; Laura Overdeck, Founder of the Overdeck Family Foundation; Reginald Lewis Executive Director of NCLC; and Harvey Kesselman, President of Stockton University.
Executive Director of the Newark City of Learning Collaborative (NCLC) and ACNJ board member Reggie Lewis was named co-chair of one of five working groups to help the state implement its new higher education plan. Reggie will co-chair the working group on Student Success along with Stockton University President Harvey Kesselman.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Secretary of Higher Education Zakiya Smith Ellis unveiled the expansive statewide higher education plan at Rutgers University-Newark on March 26th. Known as “Where Opportunity Meets Innovation: A Student-Centered Vision for New Jersey Higher Education,” the plan will ensure every student will have the opportunity to obtain a high quality education that prepares them for life after college.
“I am truly honored to be part of such a historic moment for New Jersey. It has always been our firm belief at NCLC that every student should have the adequate preparation, information, and resources needed to succeed in college or another post-high school option. I am excited to bring the expertise of NCLC and its partners to this important statewide initiative,” said Reggie.
The other four working groups are focused on (1) Creating On-ramps to College, (2) Safe and Inclusive Learning Environments, (3) Research, Innovation, and Talent, and (4) Making College Affordable, which will be co-chaired by Rutgers University-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor.
For more information on the statewide higher education plan, click here.