Leaders of career training schools say private postsecondary education institutions need access to the same COVID-19 related support from the state if New Jersey is to meet its goal of having 65% of its workforce earn a nationally recognized credential or college degree by 2025. “These times have been and continue to be challenging for the students and staff in the postsecondary and higher education […]
NJBC Town Hall
NJMEP’s Womack: Vaccinating Manufacturing Workers Key to Safeguarding Supply Chain
Manufacturing employees, who state officials have classified as essential since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, need to also be given priority when the state announces which groups of New Jersey residents are next eligible to receive the vaccine. That was the message from Michael Womack of the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program (NJMEP) during the New Jersey Business Coalition’s recent virtual town […]
Stumpy’s Milan: ‘No One Expected the World to Shut Down’
Stumpy’s Hatchet House, a brick-and-mortar indoor entertainment venue in Green Brook that its owner calls the No. 1 hatch-throwing venue in the nation, had to pay more than $80,000 in rent over a five-month period when it had zero revenue because of COVID-19 related closures. “As entrepreneurs we take risks, but no one expected the world to shut down,” Stumpy’s owner Monica Martinez Milian said during the New […]
The Galileo Preschools’ Fosu: NJ’s Childcare Centers on ‘Brink of Closure’
Imagine the impact to New Jersey’s workforce if 60% of childcare centers were unavailable. That is a reality Racheal Fosu, president of the Galileo Preschools, said New Jersey is staring down as the costs to run childcare facilities become unsustainable during the COVID-19 pandemic. “While our business grew, legislative wage increases started to erode at […]
Lightbridge Academy’s Schweikert: Childcare Centers Struggle with COVID-19 Costs, Enrollment Impact of Universal Pre-K
Childcare centers are essential to working parents and New Jersey’s economy, but the costs to comply with COVID-19 safety mandates and the loss of students to universal pre-K classes in public school districts jeopardizes the industry’s future. That was the message delivered by Gigi Schweikert of Early Childhood Education Advocates Inc., during the New Jersey Business Coalition’s recent online town hall. Schweikert is also a bestselling early childhood education author and president of Lightbridge Academy, which operates 37 childcare centers in New Jersey. “We cannot have […]