Jersey Gives a Damn - A Community Foundation of NJ Podcast

Imagine working full time — maybe more than full time — and still not being able to cover the basics. No luxuries, no savings. Just housing, food, childcare, healthcare, and transportation. For nearly 40% of New Jersey households, that's not a hypothetical. It's daily life.The problem, in part, is how we measure hardship. The Federal Poverty Level — the number that determines eligibility for food assistance, housing vouchers, and more — was created during the Johnson administration and has never been fundamentally updated. In New Jersey, it sits at roughly $29,000 for a family of four. But the actual cost of meeting basic needs in the Garden State? More than $111,000. That gap is where ALICE lives.ALICE — Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed — is a framework developed right here in New Jersey that gives a name and a measure to the millions of working households who earn above the poverty line but still can't make ends meet. More than 1.3 million Garden State families fall into this category.In this episode, host Aaron Turner sits down with Dr. Stephanie Hoopes, one of the architects of the ALICE framework, and Justin Kiczek of the Kirby Foundation to explore what the data reveals — and what it demands of employers, policymakers, funders, and all of us in response.Learn more: State of ALICE Report: https://unitedforalice.org/new-jerseyUnited Way of Northern NJ: www.unitedwaynnj.org/aliceFM Kirby Foundation: www.fmkirbyfoundation.org

Every year, over 120,000 people are released from New Jersey's state prisons and local jails — into communities often unprepared to receive them and systems that too frequently set them up to fail. Nearly two-thirds will be rearrested within three years. But those numbers don't capture the full story: the near-impossibility of finding housing with a conviction on your record, the employer who won't call back, or the trauma a punishment-focused system was never built to address.In this episode of Jersey Gives a Damn, host Aaron Turner sits down with three people doing something about it. Chino Ortiz, who spent thirty years incarcerated before co-founding the Returning Citizens Support Group in Newark, talks about what that first day of freedom actually looks like. Aisha Babilonia of Habakkuk's Vision describes the wraparound support that meets people where they are — from inside prison walls to long after release. And Kevin Bott, Executive Director of Ritual4Return, shares how a 14-week theater-based program helps returning citizens heal through storytelling and public ceremony.This is what it actually takes to come home.Learn more about our guests' work: Habakkuk’s Vision: https://hbbkv.org/Returning Citizens Support Group: www.returningcitizensnj.orgRitual 4 Return: www.ritual4return.orgRelated articles: But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisonr Reentry by Jeremy TravisPerforming Emancipatory Rites of Passage, co-edited by Kevin Bott and Jan Cohen-Cruz (30% discount code: H6CZF7T9D)

There's a quiet mismatch playing out across New Jersey's economy: thousands of good jobs sitting unfilled while thousands of capable people can't find their way into them. The four-year degree — long sold as the surest path to a stable career — has become unaffordable for many, and increasingly disconnected from what employers actually need. Trades are short on workers as a generation retires. Technology is reshaping every job description. And the people most often left out of the conversation are the ones with the most to gain from a different approach.Host Aaron Turner, Chief Philanthropic Officer at the Community Foundation of New Jersey, sits down with two leaders building different answers from opposite ends of the state — Dr. Corey Homer, President of Sussex County Community College, and Onna Jones of Camden-based Hope Works — to discuss employer-driven curriculum, paying participants from day one, AI as a competitive equalizer, the wraparound supports behind Hope Works' 93% job retention rate, and what it will take to close New Jersey's middle-skills gap.Learn more about the guests' organizations.Hopeworks: www.hopeworks.orgSussex County Community College Workforce Programs: www.sussex.edu/academics/career-technical-programs/

New Jersey faces a critical afterschool programming crisis, with demand far exceeding availability. While 85% of parents recognize these programs build essential social skills and keep children safe, only a fraction of families who need them have access. This gap leaves working parents scrambling for childcare and kids without structured environments to learn and grow. Host Aaron Turner, Chief Philanthropic Officer at the Community Foundation of New Jersey, sits down with three leading advocates—Ebony Grace of the NJ School-Age Child Care Coalition, Rosie Grant from Paterson Education Fund, and Louise McCants of Capital Area YMCA—to explore solutions to this mounting challenge.Learn more about the guests' orginizations : NJSACC: https://www.njsacc.orgCapital Area YMCA: https://capitalymca.orgPaterson Education Fund: https://paterson-education.orgAnd here are additional materials:Child care costs consume 19% of N.J. family budgets, survey finds- https://www.nj.com/mosaic/2025/11/child-care-costs-consume-19-of-nj-family-budgets-survey-finds.htmlAmerica After 3 PM NJ survey data - https://afterschoolalliance.org/AA3PM/data/new-jersey/demandWallace Foundation Report- https://wallacefoundation.org/report/responding-reimagining-realizing-out-school-time-coordination-new-era-out-school-timeMott Foundation Research- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MC5DhlG0XAP8Tmik-hTGt6SWI4CTjMf6/view?usp=sharing

In this third and final installment of our "Art of New Jersey" series, we consider the impact of Netflix and Lionsgate's $1+ billion studio investments and their potential to transform New Jersey into the "Hollywood of the East." Guests Jen Becker from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, film producer and state film commissioner Carol Cuddy, and Tom Hall from Montclair Film discuss how these major entertainment industry developments could create thousands of jobs and generate billions in economic impact. The conversation explores the broader workforce development opportunities the studio investments present for communities across the Garden State.Related links:NJ Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program: ttps://www.njeda.gov/film/NJ Film Works Grant Program: https://www.njeda.gov/new-jersey-film-works-grant-program/NJ Film Ready Program: https://www.nj.gov/njfilm/filmready-nj.shtmlNJ Film Commission: https://www.nj.gov/njfilm/NJ-411 Production Services Directory: h=ttps://www.nj.gov/njfilm/production-psd.shtmlMontclair Film Education & Training programs: https://montclairfilm.org/education/