New Jersey is facing a myriad of climate challenges, many of which are linked to particularly problematic public health effects. Unfortunately, the state’s elderly population is uniquely vulnerable to these public health implications, and the population only continues to grow.
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New Jersey State Policy Lab
NJSPL – New Report: 15-Minute Neighborhoods
The 15-minute neighborhood concept gained visibility as the global pandemic demonstrated that local access to basic life needs is critically important. Fifteen-minute neighborhoods provide residents with easy access to parks, schools, gathering places, social services, places to buy healthy fresh food, and other amenities within a comfortable walk or bike ride.
NJSPL – Newark Community-Based Organizers’ Perspectives
What can we do about young adults who are disengaged and not enrolling in college? In this NJSPL blog, representatives of community-based organizations identify barriers that Newark youth face in planning for Higher Education and their future (e.g., limited finances, difficulties completing the FAFSA,
NJSPL Report: Resilience Through Functionality
In this work, we introduce a novel approach to resilience assessment, emphasizing essential functionalities over intricate attributes. Resilience, in this context, means ensuring uninterrupted access to critical services and functions during and after disasters.
NJSPL – NJ Progress with Offshore Wind Projects
Offshore wind has the potential to contribute to the state’s decarbonization goals while generating approximately 20,000 new jobs for the state by 2030, but exactly how these economic benefits will be distributed remains to be seen
NJSPL – New Jersey’s 2025 Tax Revenue Projections
Adjusted appropriations for FY 2024 are nearly $1 billion higher than in the original budget, while FY 2024 revenues are projected to be about $500 million lower. As a result, the current projection would see the budget surplus drop from $10.7 billion at the outset of FY 2024 to $6.1 billion at the end of FY 2025.
NJSPL – Marc Pfeiffer On Fixing the Open Public Records Act
OPRA, the state’s Open Public Records Act is showing its age. Now 22 years old, this important public policy suffers, in part, from age, neglect, unintended consequences, and unexpected use cases. Efforts to repair OPRA must recognize that the law affects all levels of New Jersey government, not just municipal.
NJSPL Report Release: The Transportation Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic had major impacts on transportation behavior in New Jersey and throughout the world. Our research sought to examine these shifts in behavior and whether any of them will be long-lasting.
NJSPL – New Jersey Employment Concerns Revisited
As 2024 began with yet another surprisingly strong jobs report for the U.S., and with a full year’s worth of 2023 state-level employment data now available, it’s worth briefly revisiting some of the trends discussed in our early December post on New Jersey’s employment situation.
NJSPL – Climate Education Initiatives in New Jersey
In 2020, New Jersey became the first state in the country to require climate change education to be incorporated across multiple subjects in K-12 schools. Two years later, Sustainable Jersey released a report on K-12 Climate Education Needs.