The Employers Association of New Jersey is among the 17 organizations collectively awarded $1.5 million in grants under the state’s Cultivating Access Rights and Equality (CARE) program to boost access to worker benefits and protections.
CARE grants are used to promote outreach, education, and support aimed at expanding access to New Jersey’s many benefits and protections for eligible workers, including paid family and medical leave benefits, earned sick leave, and related work rights.
EANJ has been awarded $50,000 in this second round of funding, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced on Wednesday. This round of CARE grant funding focuses on raising employer awareness of these programs and enhancing their capacity to support employees taking leave. There is also additional one-time funding for outreach and education on Unemployment Insurance to workers and service providers.
Awardees include community organizations, worker centers, domestic violence agencies, service providers, professional associations, libraries, and faith-based groups that have demonstrated trusted relationships with their communities across the state, as well as culturally specific outreach and education methods and the capacity for linking underserved residents and small businesses with government programs.
Grantees will build the capacity of their staff to provide information on paid leave and jobless benefits through NJDOL trainings, engage in outreach at community events, provide one-on-one counseling to workers, conduct presentations and trainings, run social media and text campaigns, user-test outreach tools and applications, and more.
“Our community partners have been invaluable resources as we endeavor to reach workers in every corner of the state,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. “As we continue to build these partnerships, we look forward to expanding our efforts even further to bring awareness of all programs and services that make New Jersey such a great place to work and do business.”
In addition to NJBIA member EANJ, the other Round 2 grant awardees include:
- NJ Citizen Action Education Fund ($275,000)
- Lakewood Resource & Referral Center ($120,000)
- Farmer Worker Support Committee ($80,000)
- Legal Services of New Jersey ($135,000)
- Immigration & American Citizenship Organization ($105,000)
- Jefferson Park Ministries ($105,000)
- Perinatal Health Equity Foundation ($90,000)
- The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey ($75,000)
- VietLead ($75,000)
- North Hudson Community Action Corporation ($70,000)
- Centro Comunitario CEUS ($65,000)
- Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund ($55,000)
- MOCEANS Center for Independent Living ($50,000)
- The Hoboken Library ($50,000)
- Second Street Youth Center Foundation, Inc. ($50,000)
- Hispanic Family Center of Southern New Jersey ($50,000)
For more information about the CARE program and other NJDOL grant opportunities, go to nj.gov/labor/grants.
