New Jersey Policy Lab

NJSPL – Insights on Ageism, Health Care, and the Digital Divide

May 4, 2023

A new blog authored by Epiphany Munz, Donita Devance, and Diane Hill surveyed 137 older adults in the greater Newark area, as part of the Senior Connect Digital Divide project, to better understand their current use of the internet and internet-ready devices.

NJSPL – Maternal Health Equity in New Jersey

May 2, 2023

The latest New Jersey State Policy Lab blog was authored by Julia Snyder, MPH, and discusses the troubling and dramatic rise in the rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. In New Jersey. The rate of maternal mortality is 25.7 per 100,000 live births—this is lower than the latest national rate, but still ranks far below several other states such as California.

NJSPL – Report Release: Using Technology to Reduce SNAP Learning Costs: Lessons from a Survey Experiment

April 28, 2023

Stephanie Walsh, Gregory Porumbescu, and Andrea Hetling tested the objective information recall of 1,6777 New Jersey residents by utilizing three different methods of communicating SNAP eligibility requirements: a screening questionnaire, a PDF flyer, and a video tutorial. Which one do you think worked best?

NJSPL – Citizens’ Trust in the New Jersey Government: What Can Data Tell Us?

April 21, 2023

Utilizing survey responses from a recent poll conducted with the Eagleton Institute, Seulki Lee (Global Affairs PhD ’23) & Abigail Alcala (MPP ’24) analyzed the demographics of respondents who were asked the question, “How much trust do you have in the New Jersey government to improve the quality of life for its citizens?”

NJSPL – Digital Divide in New Jersey

April 10, 2023

To better understand the digital divide disparity in New Jersey, Tarun and the Digital Equity Initiative team mapped the American Community Survey data from 2020 and observed what, if any, correlations there were between race, education, and employment in regard to access to the internet and digital technology.

NJSPL – A Community-based Approach to Increasing Technology Adoption and Proficiency in Older Adults

April 4, 2023

As part of research funded by the New Jersey State Policy Lab and in collaboration with the Office of University-Community Partnerships (OUCP), the team has been developing curriculum-based training for the Senior Connect Digital Divide project.

New Jersey State Policy Lab Summer 2023 Internship

March 31, 2023

This paid, 10-week internship will run from June 13 to August 17 and is open for any graduate or undergraduate students who are interested in researching public policy issues and contributing to the Policy Lab’s body of work by writing blogs, creating charts, researching policy issues, and helping with research studies.

NJSPL – Walking During and After the Pandemic

March 28, 2023

The latest NJ State Policy Lab blog is from Bob Noland, Hannah Younes, Leigh Ann Von Hagen, and James Sinclair, “Walking During and After the Pandemic.” This team conducted two surveys over the winter of 2020-2021 and the winter of 2021-2022 to better understand how walking habits have changed for New Jersey residents since the pandemic.

NJSPL – Digital Inequity: New Jersey State Digital Literacy Initiative

March 23, 2023

The state of New Jersey has passed a first-of-its-kind legislation for the development of a digital literacy program in K-12 schools across the state. The goal is to allow for collaborative development between teachers and school media specialists, as well as consider public feedback after the initial stages.

NJSPL – Developing, Validating, and Deploying the ARez Resilience Framework in New Jersey

March 20, 2023

“Area resilience” or ARez, is intended to combine community and infrastructure approaches to examine areas across the state of New Jersey and better determine their resilience to ongoing and future effects of climate change. This work will be a collaborative effort with NJIT, Princeton, and Rutgers.