News List
Bloustein School Hosts Alumni Event in Seattle at Microsoft
The events highlighted the importance of data in policymaking and the usefulness of the Bloustein School’s Master of Public Informatics program.
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Reimbursement for Behavioral Health Services in New Jersey
In today’s New Jersey State Policy Lab blog, Dr. Vernon advocates that we must ensure that behavioral health providers are financially stable so that they can continue to provide services to those most in need, particularly given the tremendous impact of social determinants of health.
Is the economic outlook for New Jersey as bad as we think?
How does the local cost of living affect a household’s standard of living?
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Potential benefits and challenges for the New Jersey Telework Pilot Program
In April 2022, the New Jersey state government launched a one-year pilot telework program for state executive branch employees beginning July 1, 2022. The pilot telework program allows state employees to work from home for up to two days a week.
Bloustein researchers receive Rutgers Research Council grant
The project integrates multi-dimensional human perception data, collected using physiological sensors, with refined street-level built environment data, extracted using the latest computer vision techniques, to systematically understand how e-scooter riders and active travelers perceive the built environment and identify factors that influence travel satisfaction.
Economists question lawmakers’ plans to address inflation
Hannan Arshad EJB ’22 is recipient of Seamon Smith #IAMTHECHANGE Scholarship from Smith Family Foundation of New Jersey
The Pathways to Student Success follows #IAMTHECHANGE Scholarship Award Winners through their educational career, providing financial, academic, and social-emotional support to increase the probability of matriculating through their college career.
President’s internship initiative puts focus on engaging with and serving others
James Hughes MCRP ’69, Ph.D. 71, former dean of the Bloustein School and his wife, Connie Hughes, MCRP ’76 were among the first donors to make the initiative possible. Lucas Torres, a public health major, is among the first 100 students selected for the Rutgers Summer Service Internship (RSSI) Initiative.
Kathy Krepcio Retires as Executive Director of Heldrich Center
Kathy led many large and important projects, including programs to assist the economic victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City, research on strategies to help people with disabilities gain employment, and the development and growth of the New Jersey Education to Earnings Data System.
Should Holmdel voters dump parties and elect the mayor? They decide next week
New Jersey State Policy Lab: NJ’s Childcare Landscape During COVID-19: A Slow and Uneven Recovery
Unfortunately, the childcare landscape has not made a recovery that meets the needs of working families and their young children.
Routine Traffic Stops Too Often Turn Deadly, And Jayland Walker Is The Latest Victim
Research: Support for Traffic Cameras Increases if Used as a Tool to Limit Interactions With Police
Drivers are more open to automated enforcement when its role in reducing racial profiling is highlighted, a Rutgers study finds.
Senior Policy Fellows Stamato and Jaffe Fund Research Fellowship at RU-Newark
Senior Policy Fellows Sandy Jaffe and Linda Stamato have teamed up to invest in the Honors Living-Learning Community (HLLC) at RU-Newark.
Consumers in ‘very sour mood’ as inflation outpaces wages
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Blue Acres, Buyouts, and Managed Retreat
Managed retreat is the process of deliberately moving away from places that are no longer safe to remain due to various environmental factors, most often flooding.
National Transit Institute names Geisha Ester as advisory board chair
The National Transit Institute’s mission is to provide training, education, and clearinghouse services in support of public transportation and quality of life in the United States.
Traffic cameras could reduce racial profiling, Rutgers study finds
NJ employee payout limits lack legal enforcement
Cameras to catch speeding on NJ roads? Illegal now but public could support it
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Housing Affordability in New Jersey, 2010-2020
As of 2019, New Jersey ranked third in the country for median monthly housing costs, after California and Hawaii. Nearly half of renter households in New Jersey spent 35 percent or more of their incomes on housing expenses.
NJ alleges familiar benefits fraud in Wildwood
Paul Wiedefeld MCRP ’81 joins VTC Advisory Board
Mr. Wiedefeld served as the General Manager/CEO of the Washington Metro, one of the nation’s largest transit systems serving more than 300 million passenger trips annually and with an annual $2.2 billion operating budget.
Equity implications of electric bikesharing in Philadelphia
NJ gas prices are trending down but experts are worried
Lonely Last Days in the Suburban Office Park
Did the Supreme Court just tell the Senate to abolish the filibuster?
Kelcie Ralph, PhD, named to Mobility Safety Advisory Group
Kelcie Ralph Selected to National Safety Council’s Mobility Safety Advisory Group
Celebrating National Crown Day, addressing hair discrimination on the job
Letters: Talks in the Russia-Ukraine War
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Mapping New Jersey’s overdose hotspots: Insights from state administrative data
Today’s New Jersey State Policy Lab blog focuses on mapping New Jersey’s overdose hotspots. Gavin Rozzi used Uber’s H3 system to locate where police administered Narcan to reverse opioid overdoses.
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Prevalence of Child Poverty in New Jersey
Over the past two decades, children in New Jersey have been more afflicted by poverty than have adults.
New Jersey wineries battle rising cost of packaging, shipping wine
As Tax Bills Arrive, Mayor Renews Misleading Attack on School Board
New Heldrich report: Examining Funding Streams for Opportunity Youth in New Jersey
The report examines the development of New Jersey’s youth workforce system since the implementation of the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, including available funding for youth workforce development and the programs currently serving youth in New Jersey.
New Jersey State Policy Lab: A Quarter Century of Open Space, Farmland and Historic Preservation
State CIOs are prioritizing digital equity more after the pandemic.
Research: Risk-benefit perceptions, preferences for solutions, and gaining trust: Listening to New Jersey’s Atlantic Ocean port communities
Ports are economic gems in a globalizing, multipolar economic world but are also challenging for planners and managers, as they often lead to health and environmental impacts affecting the surrounding communities, including air quality issues, emissions, water contamination and more.
Where exactly is the state bank we were promised?
New Jersey State Policy Lab: State CIOs Prioritize Digital Equity After Pandemic
State CIOs are prioritizing digital equity more after the pandemic.
Bloustein Undergraduates Take Top Honors at NYU Policy Case Competition
The team needed to work together to learn everything about the Child Tax Credit – how it works, its implementation, its flaws, its impacts – and then needed to put in hours of research, writing, and collaboration to develop the memo and video presentation.
How to get treated for long COVID in NY and NJ
Why It’s So Hard to Convince the Public on Transportation Projects
American Dream mall in New Jersey faces new bond woes
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Social Media and Individuals’ Environment-Friendly Actions
Social media is increasingly seen as the primary platform for discourse on contemporary public policy issues. Higher levels of social media engagement, when combined with well-designed climate communication strategies, could lead to more efforts from citizens to adopt practices that address environmental issues
Nominations for Bloustein School Alumni Awards Being Accepted
Alumni are recognized by the Bloustein School Alumni Association in the Career Achievement (15+ years past degree completion) and Rising Star (fewer than 15 years since degree completion).
Why are Ocean, Monmouth counties growing while the NJ overall population shrinks?
They get the job but never show up: Ghosting on the rise in NJ
Research: Are Transportation Planning Views Shared by Engineering Students and the Public?
The authors compared the policy preferences of transportation planning students, engineering students, and the public to identify points of consensus and divergence within and between the groups.
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Telehealth Use among Medicare Population during COVID-19: Advancements in Accessibility vs Challenges in Utilization
Researchers have found that differences in access to virtua health care delivery impact non-English speakers, lower-income individuals, older adults, and racial/ethnic minorities more heavily.
New Jersey Health Data Project Tackles State’s Pressing Health Needs
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Perspectives on Poverty in New Jersey, 2008-2020
‘Open data’ refers to government data, and all data that is made publicly available with little to no restrictions for use, reuse, and distribution, to support transparency, innovation, and creative interactions, leading to insights-driven value creation.
A lawsuit challenging NJ’s uniquely abysmal, toady-rewarding ballot system moves forward
New Heldrich report: Examining the Integration of Workforce Development and Adult Literacy Services in New Jersey
A new report from the Heldrich Center examines the services offered in New Jersey for two programs that are part of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
What to do with all the new transportation funding?
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), will soon be delivering large amounts of transportation funding to the states, including New Jersey. The Bill extends beyond just traditional transportation funding, including funds for an electric vehicle charging network, broadband, and resilience, among other critical needs.
Challengers win right to fight ‘party line’ ballots
New Jersey State Policy Lab: State Equity Initiatives
‘Open data’ refers to government data, and all data that is made publicly available with little to no restrictions for use, reuse, and distribution, to support transparency, innovation, and creative interactions, leading to insights-driven value creation.
The New Jersey political tradition of landing the party line on primary ballots could end
VTC’s Sean Meehan Discusses NJ’s Safe Routes to School on KMM Podcast
Sean Meehan, Senior Research Specialist at the Voorhees Transportation Center recently joined the Keep Middlesex Moving podcast to discuss the Safe Routes to School New Jersey Resource Center program and its impact on our region.
NJ economic outlook – Will prices keep spiking?
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Catalyzing the Information Economy: Moving Towards Strategic Expansions of Open Data-Driven Value Creation
‘Open data’ refers to government data, and all data that is made publicly available with little to no restrictions for use, reuse, and distribution, to support transparency, innovation, and creative interactions, leading to insights-driven value creation.
Political wrap-up: The 3 -tions: Inflation, Abortion, and the Election
Wrapping up with three hot topics in national politics, the important races of the 2022 midterm elections, and what inflation and abortion could mean for the election.
Money has always talked in New Jersey politics, but should it?
Speed controls, redesigned intersections can save lives of walkers and cyclists, Rutgers professor says
Why do some areas have underground utilities and others have them overhead?
‘Buy the line’: Text messages in 2020 NJ primary raise questions about Bergen ballots
New Jersey State Policy Lab: The Revival of Urban Enterprise Zones in New Jersey
Last summer, then acting New Jersey Governor Sheila Oliver signed legislation to devote $42.5 million toward restoring the state’s Urban Enterprise Zones (UEZ) to full operation for fiscal year 2022.
Heldrich Center’s Michele Martin discusses Mental Health Awareness
Michele discusses the impact of pandemic-related job loss and unemployment on mental health and well-being, the impact of the job search on mental health and well-being, and strategies for building well-being during the job search.
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Advancing Municipal Environmental Justice Action Planning
The Center for Women and Work suggests the state improve resources for those at risk of domestic violence and recommends further housing protections as the pandemic lingers on.
Car crash coverage: Why the media keeps botching it.
Higher inflation and interest rates? No problem so far for New Jersey’s job market
Bloustein School alum Shawn Tucker RC ’07, MCRP ’12 Returns to Rutgers Athletics
Former Scarlet Knights football co-captain and Rutgers fundraiser Shawn Tucker is returning to the university as vice president for athletics development at Rutgers University Foundation. Tucker currently serves as associate vice president and director of athletics at New Jersey City University (NJCU). He joined NJCU in 2018 after a succession of positions at Rutgers, starting in 2007 and culminating in a five-year tenure as associate athletic director of student-athlete development.
Andrea Hetling to join Heldrich Center as Associate Director
Dr. Hetling is a Professor of Public Policy at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and Co-Principal Investor of the New Jersey State Policy Lab.
Biden housing plan includes first attempts to slow corporate landlords active in NC
Why Do So Many News Articles About Crashes Feel Like They Were Written by a Car?
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Pandemic’s Impact on Women in NJ: Domestic Violence, Access to Healthcare and Housing
The Center for Women and Work suggests the state improve resources for those at risk of domestic violence and recommends further housing protections as the pandemic lingers on.
How a Holmdel July 26 special election could bring changes to local elections, government
New Heldrich report: Measuring the Awareness and Opinions of NJ’s Earned Sick Leave Law and Family Leave Insurance Program
The study was designed to provide information about the public’s awareness and utilization of paid leave, and about the public’s awareness of and attitudes toward using ESL and FLI benefits.
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Population Density and NJs Two Largest Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups in 2020
This brief focuses on the density of population by county and municipality, as well as on changes in racial/ethnic minority populations.
Gas prices rise to record highs again
Rutgers Senior Works to Recruit Minority Men in Medicine
Learning more Black men applied to medical school in 1978 than 2014 inspired Kevin Carolina to try to change those numbers.
New Heldrich report: Advancing New Jersey’s Employment First Practices and Policies
New Jersey is currently one of 39 states with an Employment First policy. In spite of this policy shift, the state’s mainstream labor force participation rate for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities continues to lag behind national trends.
Gas prices hit all-time highs across Philadelphia, tri-state area
Tony Nelessen received ULI Academic Leadership Excellence Award
One of the nation’s most respected urban visionaries, Tony has more than 50 years of professional experience as a professor, author and practitioner in the fields of visioning, planning, and urban design.
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Challenges with Telehealth Adoption in Light of a Global Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in telehealth volume and revolutionized healthcare regulatory guidelines for its use. Telehealth expanded access to care, especially during the pandemic, and made chronic disease management more convenient.
NJ’s official ideas factory for new policies
The war we don’t need between New Jersey and New York | Opinion
Sen. Menendez Visits Rutgers to Weigh in on U.S. Foreign Policy, Dictators and the Ukraine War
To contend with autocrats, ‘we must respond with a U.S. foreign policy that prioritizes our highest American values and principles,’ U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez says.
2022: 5/6 Championing U.S. Foreign Policy and Strengthening our Global Engagement
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Guilt Tipping and the Inflated Default Tip
Why do we feel guilty about tipping pressures at establishments where only a tipping jar previously existed? And why are tips inflating as a percentage of the bill?
After COVID, key hospitals get funding for next emergencies
A big interest rake hike is coming: What it means for NJ residents
Educating and Enhancing Transportation Officials: The National Transit Institute
Billy Terry of the National Transit Institute joins Stuart Shapiro on EJB Talks to discuss NTI’s mission to educate the administrative workforce within the multitudes of transit agencies across the nation.
New Jersey State Policy Lab: Using Creative Informatics and Artificial Intelligence to Address the Drug Addiction Crisis in New Jersey
New Jersey has a persistent substance addiction problem which must be viewed in the context of laws, policies, and initiatives implemented to address it.
Andrew Herrera MCRP ’22 places second in Olmsted Student Essay Competition
His paper focuses on Olmsted’s visionary awareness of the public’s need for spaces to play in his essay titled Remembering Frederick Law Olmsted and the Public Need for Places to Play.
DeSantis’s attack on Disney will likely fail — and that’s probably OK with him
Virtual training for community professionals and leaders interested in climate change
Currently, there are openings for 30 participants in this highly practical and interactive 2-hour training on June 3 10:00-12:00
2022: 4/28 Inaugural Spring Symposium and Healthcare Workshop: COVID-19 and Healthcare Resilience: Past, Present and Future
Heldrich Center’s Liana Volpe discusses Stress Awareness
Liana discusses the history of Stress Awareness Month, the ways the COVID-19 pandemic has affected Americans’ stress levels, whether all stress is bad, some useful stress management techniques, and ways that employers can help their staff deal with stress.