TRENTON – The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) has announced the availability of $2.5 million in grant funding as part of the fourth year of the Cultivating Access, Rights, and Equity (CARE) program. Launched in March 2022, CARE grants support outreach, education, and technical assistance by community-based organizations aimed at increasing equitable access to work benefits and protections for all New Jersey workers.
Interested organizations can apply for funding to raise awareness and access to paid leave; work rights; Unemployment Insurance; and new this year, the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights, which became law on July 1, 2024.
“Continuing to expand CARE grant funding ensures that New Jersey workers and employers have support in understanding critical information about workplace benefits and rights,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. “This program helps reduce barriers like language access by allowing community partners to meet workers and employers where they are with the information necessary to foster an empowered New Jersey’s workforce.”
The CARE grant program welcomes applications from public and private nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, and state-recognized tribal government partners that provide community-centered, culturally relevant programming. Past grantees provided training in languages including Haitian Creole, Vietnamese and Tagalog. The program aims to reach workers who need additional support to understand and access their work benefits and rights, as well as employers in need of information on how to comply with the state’s laws.
Focus populations include low-wage workers; workers of color; immigrants; women; refugees; survivors of domestic/sexual violence; young workers; small- and immigrant-owned businesses; and other employers in need of assistance and helpful resources to engage workers.
NJDOL aims to help community organizations and agencies build capacity through the CARE grant program to enable the sharing of critical information to reach diverse workers and employers across industries. CARE grantees and their clients also provide valuable feedback to NJDOL to help inform how the department’s programs can better meet the needs of the communities it serves across the state.
“New Jersey has some of the strongest pro-worker policies in the nation, and yet too few Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in New Jersey are aware of earned sick leave, paid family and medical leave, and other benefits and protections,” said Amber Reed, Co-Executive Director of Asian American and Pacific Islanders New Jersey. “The CARE Grant has enabled AAPI New Jersey to develop new informational materials in Chinese, Korean, Hindi, Gujarati, and Tagalog and reach farther into our diverse AAPI communities through expanded language access and outreach efforts.”
In the first three years of the program, CARE grantees made more than 100,000 in-person connections with workers and employers through community events; one-on-one outreach; counseling and workshops; in addition to countless interactions through social media, mass messaging, and local advertising and outreach.
The CARE grant helps to educate New Jersey workers on how to use their work benefits and rights, such as:
- Paid family and medical leave benefits, also known as New Jersey Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance, which are available to eligible employees who need to care for themselves or a loved one, during pregnancy and childbirth recovery, to bond with a new child, or to cope with domestic or sexual violence.
- Unemployment Insurance, which provides partial wage replacement to people who lose their jobs through no fault of their own.
- New Jersey Wage and Hour Law, which provides labor protections to all workers, regardless of immigration status, including on issues relating to Earned Sick Leave, minimum wage and overtime pay, wage theft and payment, employee misclassification, the Temporary Workers’ Bill of Rights, and the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights.
Eligible CARE grant applicants must demonstrate their role as a trusted resource within their community, as well as their capacity, experience, and history of success in providing outreach, education, technical assistance and/or support. Public and private nonprofit organizations, faith-based organizations, state-recognized tribal governments with 501(c)(3) status, and state and local government entities may apply. Applicants can submit proposals as individual organizations or as a collaborative with a lead agency.
CARE grant awards are expected to range between $50,000 and $200,000, but NJDOL may consider applications above or below this range where appropriate justification is provided.
Key dates:
March 11, 5:30 – 7:00 pm and March 12, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm: Information sessions (Registration required. Applicants are strongly encouraged to attend)
April 1 by 11:59 pm: Application Interest Form due
April 3 by 11:59 pm: Applications due
Article courtesy of the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development.