Last week, in commemoration of Black History Month, Gov. Phil Murphy and Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way announced the release of the state’s Wealth Disparity Task Force report, “New Jersey – Building a State of Opportunity: A Report of the Wealth Disparity Task Force to Close Opportunity Gaps and Repair Structural Disparities.” The task force and the report were created and developed with the intention of examining both the causes of and remedies for addressing longstanding wealth disparities that affect Black and Latino New Jerseyans. Within the report, researchers identified historical drivers of wealth disparities, outlined current steps being taken by the current administration to address these disparities, and provided recommendations to implement further actions which could build a more inclusive and equitable state.
The New Jersey State Policy Lab was honored to contribute research supporting the task force’s report, including analyses of data, literature reviews, and comprehensive reports in response to research questions posed by the task force’s working groups. Stuart Shapiro, Charles Menifield, and Elizabeth Cooner met with the task force at various points during its work, and the Policy Lab coordinated faculty and student researchers who provided the working groups with reports on wealth disparities’ impacts on education, housing, health, criminal justice, and the economy. Each research area was overseen by a faculty advisor—Vandeen Campbell supported education research, Eric Seymour contributed housing research, Ellen Kurtzman prepared health research, Frank Edwards and Michael Ostermann offered insights regarding criminal justice research, James DeFilippis compiled research related to shared equity homeownership, and Ronald Quincy provided guidance related to the historical underpinnings of wealth disparities in the state. Jermaine Toney and Dawne Mouzon provided economic and health disparities research they each had conducted, respectively.
Additionally, we greatly appreciate the contributions of several undergraduate and graduate students who offered research assistance such as literature reviews, analyses, and report writing for each working group of the task force. Notably, a former New Jersey State Policy Lab teaching assistant and one of our interns were contributors to the final report—Breanna Brock and Maia Hill, who served as research interns and fellows for the Wealth Disparity Task Force.