Public Administration Blogs & Reports
Improving Socioeconomic Outcomes: Comparison of Offshore Wind Implementation in Denmark and New Jersey
By Jessica Parineet In 1991, the world’s first demonstration offshore wind farm began operating off the coast of Denmark[1]. Today, the UK leads the EU region with 15 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, followed by Germany [...]
Extreme Heat, Coastal Flooding, and Health Disparities: Climate Change Impacts on Older Adults in New Jersey
By Josephine O’Grady. New Jersey is facing a myriad of climate challenges, including extreme heat, heavy precipitation, coastal flooding, and more natural disasters. The state is currently warming faster than the rest of the northeast [...]
Report Release: 15-Minute Neighborhoods: A Pathway to Creating Healthier, More Just, Resilient, & Sustainable Communities in New Jersey
By Jon Carnegie, June Greeman, and Jacob Thompson Read Report Over the past several years, several policy threads have gained prominence in New Jersey. These include adapting to climate change, advancing social justice, [...]
Examining Low-Income Community Solar Program and Energy Justice in New Jersey: An AI-Based Crowdsourcing Study
By Sania Murtuza, Vibha Venkataraman, Tai Vu, & Yao Sun, Ph.D. Guided by the theoretical and practical frameworks from the literature, the research team led efforts to specify neighborhoods in New Jersey [...]
Report Release: Resilience Through Functionality: Outcome-Driven Quantification Approach with Stakeholders-Based Calibration
By Michel C. Boufadel, Ph.D., P.E., Firas Gerges, Ph.D., Hani Nassif, Ph.D., P.E. In the face of escalating challenges posed by climate change and rapid urbanization, community resilience is of paramount importance. Quantifying resilience is a crucial step in identifying vulnerabilities and enhancing the capacity of communities to withstand [...]
Delivering the Benefits of Offshore Wind to Communities: How New Jersey is Making Progress
By Jessica Parineet. In support of the state’s goals, Governor Murphy’s administration has set an ambitious target of 11,000 megawatts (MW) of installed offshore wind capacity in New Jersey by 2040 [...]
Performance Assessments Across New Jersey: What Educator Preparation Programs Are Using Now
By Emily Hodge, Rachel Garver, and Drew Gitomer. In the wake of New Jersey’s 2022 legislative removal of the edTPA as a required performance-based assessment for teacher candidates, educator preparation programs (EPPs) have had newfound freedom [...]
How New Jersey’s 2025 Tax Revenue Projections Might Affect the Budget Surplus
By Will Irving. Is the Budget Surplus Safe? Governor Murphy’s recently released FY 2025 budget proposal calls for total appropriations of $55.9 billion, up $1.5 billion (2.7%) from the original FY 2024 appropriation [...]
Developing Survey Instrument to Examine Equity in Access to New Jersey Virtual Schwartz Rounds Emotional Support Program for Nurses
By Irina B. Grafova, Pamela B. de Cordova, Jennifer Polakowski, and Jessica Anderson. New Jersey Virtual Schwartz Rounds (VSR) programs aim to provide a forum for nursing peers [...]
On Fixing the Open Public Records Act
By Marc Pfeiffer. 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 [...]
Incorporating Equity into Agency Performance Assessment: Lessons for New Jersey
By Marilyn Rubin Equity measures as part of department/agency performance assessment are essential to government efforts to incorporate equity into decision-making, programming, and service delivery. Equity in agency performance assessments helps to ensure that public [...]
Climate Education Initiatives in New Jersey
By Josephine O’Grady. According to the 2020 New Jersey Scientific Report on Climate Change, New Jersey is warming more quickly than the rest of the Northeast region. The state is experiencing a myriad of climate-related challenges [...]
Teacher Candidate Performance Assessment Moves Forward in New Jersey
By Drew Gitomer, Emily Hodge, and Rachel Garver. In June 2022, New Jersey enacted a significant change in how educator preparation programs (EPPs) would assess the quality and readiness of their teacher candidates through performance assessment [...]
50 Years of Protecting the Shore: What’s Next for CAFRA?
By Will Parker. For fifty years, New Jersey’s Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA) has been protecting coastal resources and guiding development patterns along the shoreline. To commemorate that anniversary, this project sought to understand [...]
Partnerships, Targeted Goals, and Impacts: A Revised Implementation Strategy for the Great American Outdoors Act
By Josephine O’Grady. The Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) of 2020 promised the investment in national parks that the United States desperately needed. Since 1980, the number of visitors to national parks [...]
Digital Governance and the Power of Big Data: Transforming Government in the Digital Age
By Tarun Reddy Arasu The continued growth in the use of technology by governments is reshaping public administration and redefining how governments interact with citizens, businesses, as well as with other governments. As a result, digital government [...]
Internet Skills and Perceptions of E-Government Remain Steady in the Face of Greater Economic Hardship
By Grace Maruska. E-government offers new, innovative ways to help connect individuals with public services. Navigating our post-pandemic world, however, requires deeper understanding of how various factors [...]
Rethinking Complete Streets
By Hannah Younes, Robert B. Noland, Leigh Ann Von Hagen, Jeffrey Dennis, Colin Roche, and Sam Rosenthal. Governor Phil Murphy signed S-147 into law in January 2023 directing the New Jersey Department of Transportation [...]
A Seamless Continuum of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Services for Justice-Involved Individuals in New Jersey
By James M. Davy, PhD. Disrupting a Fragmented System The professional staff of the New Jersey Reentry Corporation and other public and nonprofit service providing agencies can attest to the problem of fragmented and [...]
Aging New Jersey: Long-Term Care Challenges and Quality Ratings in Nursing Homes
By Miyeon Song, Ph.D., Jinah Yoo (Ph.D. Student), and Seungho An, Ph.D. The Challenges in Long-Term Care Quality New Jersey's elderly population is on the rise. According to a report from the New Jersey [...]
Examining Low-Income Community Solar Program and Energy Justice in New Jersey: An AI-based Crowdsourcing Study
By Yao Sun. The 2019 New Jersey Energy Master Plan: Pathway to 2050 mentioned that the state’s Clean Energy Act commitments include, “Developing a community solar program that allows more state residents to benefit from solar energy [...]
Initiating Buprenorphine Treatment in Emergency Departments: A Promising Strategy for Reducing Opioid Overdoses
By Stephen Crystal and James Lloyd. As the crisis of opioid use disorder (OUD) spread throughout the United States, the health care system took action to develop new treatments and approaches to treating people with OUD. Although methadone maintenance treatment had been implemented [...]
Incorporating Equity into Agency Performance Assessment: Lessons for New Jersey
By Marilyn Rubin. Equity measures as part of agency performance assessment are integral to the growing focus of governments throughout the United States on equity in decision making, programming, and service delivery [...]
Report Release: The Relationship Between New Jerseyans’ Digital Literacy, Perceptions of E-Government, & Trust in the State Government
By Seulki Lee-Geiller and Abigail Alcala. Public trust in government is crucial for a functioning democratic society as it signifies a belief that government has the right to govern and make decisions on behalf of the population [...]
Food Insecurity in New Jersey – Policy Solutions and Improvements
By Ciera Gaither. The most recent Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement (CPS FSS) reported that 10.2% of American households are food insecure, impacting more than 30 million people. In comparison, 8% of New Jersey residents experienced food insecurity in 2020 [...]
The Risks of Limiting Prescribed Opioids
By Julia Snyder. One response to the opioid crisis and the high rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) throughout the country has been the creation of state policies that place restrictions on opioid prescriptions. These policies limit the duration and dosage of short-term opioid prescriptions [...]
How Can Digital Credentialing in the Safety Net Meet the Needs of Domestic Violence Survivors?
By Andrea Hetling and Abigail Alcala. Administrative burdens are the costs and barriers individuals face when accessing government services. Such burdens are one reason why low-income families, who often need the most support from public sources [...]
The Times They are a Changin’ – Shifts in Teacher Education Assessment Policy
By Emily Hodge, Rachel Garver, and Drew Gitomer. What happens on the ground when years of strong state control and authority over teacher licensure is suddenly minimized? In what ways do local educational institutions change and maintain practices [...]
Report Release: Analyzing Child-Care Provider Subsidies in New Jersey: Issues, Impacts, and Options
By Andrea Hetling. Public child-care subsidies are designed to reduce the financial burdens of child care for households that meet certain income thresholds in order to improve employment and/or educational opportunities for parents and other legal guardians. In New Jersey, child-care subsidy payments [...]
Report Release: Access to Nature for People with Disabilities: Barriers, Challenges, and Opportunities
By Josephine O’Grady. In New Jersey, 24% of the population has a disability. People with disabilities suffer from a wide range of health disparities, including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and depression. Through the Inclusive Healthy Communities (IHC) Grant Program, initiatives in New Jersey are underway [...]
Validating the Impact of a Community-Engaged Approach on Persistence with Digital Technology Among Older Adults
By Epiphany Munz, Donita Devance, and Diane Hill, Ph.D. The Office of University-Community Partnerships/Center for Health Equity and Community Engagement (OUCP/CHECE) and Advocates for Healthy Living Initiative (AHLI) approach to keep older adults engaged and [...]
New Jersey State Policy Lab Summer Interns Visit NJ State House
By Megan McCue. This week, the NJSPL summer interns visited the New Jersey State House in Trenton as part of their ongoing public policy research and curriculum. The students met with various public servants, including a state legislator, mayors, policy advisor, and other staff [...]
Policy Lab Researchers Attend the Public Management Research Conference 2023
By Stephanie Walsh and Jinah Yoo. Two researchers affiliated with the New Jersey State Policy Lab, Dr. Stephanie Walsh and doctoral student Jinah Yoo, attended the Public Management Research Association’s Public Management Research Conference (PMRC) in Utrecht, the Netherlands [...]
Many Paths, One Future: New Jersey’s Commitment to Higher Education Attainment
By Nichole M. Garcia, Ph.D. To fuel the U.S. economy, a high school diploma is no longer enough in terms of educational attainment. The Lumina Foundation projects that more than 60 percent of adults in [...]
Report Release: The Impact of Eliminating Adjustment Aid for School Districts in New Jersey
By Michael S. Hayes. In 2018, New Jersey implemented the S-2 bill, which aimed to reduce adjustment aid to school districts in the state. The objective of this policy was to end a practice of “overfunding” school districts, which had it not been for the adjustment aid [...]
Does Reducing Administrative Burdens Increase Trust in Government?
By Abigail Alcala. Political support of safety net and welfare programs in the United States has dwindled over the past few decades, with increasing sentiment that means-tested programs should be limited and conditional on certain behavioral requirements [...]
Medicaid Unwinding: What It is and How New Jersey Plans to Address It
By Amanda Hinton. As the public health emergency (PHE) ended last month the fate of many Medicaid enrollees still hangs in the balance. The continuous enrollment provision of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act [...]
Community and Climate Dynamics: Projections for Water Assistance in New Jersey and Beyond
By Josephine O’Grady. Due to a diverse range of water needs among communities, implementing water assistance programs continues to be a challenge in the United States. In 2016, an estimated 15 million Americans experienced water shutoffs [...]
Report Release: One Million More Acres: We’re One-Third of the Way There…
By Thomas G. Dallessio. As the nation’s most densely populated state, New Jersey has a reputation for suburban sprawl development that belies its nickname, “The Garden State.” “You’re from Jersey? What Exit?” is both a joke and a truism for many [...]
Report Release: The Status of New Jersey’s Childcare Infrastructure
By Jocelyn Fischer and Debra Lancaster. While children, parents, and employers have felt the sting of childcare market failures for several decades, deficiencies in the market were made more apparent and were more deeply felt as a result of pandemic-related closures and labor shifts [...]
Report Release: Using Technology to Reduce SNAP Learning Costs: Lessons from a Survey Experiment
By Stephanie Walsh, Ph.D. Interactions with government processes, whether to renew a driver’s license or apply for public assistance, commonly include frictions referred to as administrative burdens [...]
Citizens’ Trust in the New Jersey Government: What Can Data Tell Us?
By Seulki Lee & Abigail Alcala. A democratic government only works when there is mutual trust between the people and those elected into positions of power to represent the citizen's values and beliefs. Without that, the core tenets of democracy are diminished [...]
Access to Nature for People with Disabilities: Updated Findings and Implications for New Jersey
By Josephine O’Grady In New Jersey, one in five adults has a disability (CDC, 2022a). New Jersey residents with disabilities have higher rates of depression, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease than residents without a disability. [...]
Ensuring Access to Nature and Outdoor Recreation: Advancing Health Equity for People with Disabilities
By Jeanne Herb. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 21% of New Jersey adults have some type of disability. CDC reports that people with disabilities are disproportionately affected by chronic diseases [...]
How Did the 2018 Revision of New Jersey’s School Aid Formula Impact the Distribution of State Funding Across New Jersey School Districts?
By Michael S. Hayes, Ph.D. The School Reform Funding Act of 2008 (SRFA) was designed to create a new school funding formula to end a long cycle of failed legislative attempts to reduce school spending [...]
Report Release: Garden State Open Data Index
By Jim Samuel. Open data and artificial intelligence (AI) are vital for future value creation. The value of aligning open data with AI development and deployment requirements has been elaborated upon in the Garden State Open Data Index (GSODI) 2023 report [...]
Perkins Act: A Key Component to Bringing Everyone into the Digital Age
By Abigail Alcala. The Perkins Act, or its most recent iteration, which went into effect in 2019, called Strengthening Career and Technical Education in the 21st Century, is facing the end of its run in the coming year of 2024 [...]
Utilizing Technology to Facilitate Citizen-Government Interactions
by Mauricio Astudillo Rodas Public organizations are expected to improve people's lives by correctly delivering goods and services. These organizations must be transparent and accountable to different actors because constituents expect good use of their [...]
APPAM Fall 2022 Conference: SNAP Administrative Burdens Presentation
By Stephanie Walsh In the context of governmental services, administrative burdens refer to the costs and barriers experienced by individuals. When burdens are high, the costs associated with benefit of public goods or services hinder [...]
Heat or Eat? The Low-Income Home Energy Distribution Program (LIHEAP) and Its Implications for New Jersey
By Josephine O'Grady. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP) is a federal block grant program that assists low-income families with the cost of paying their utility bills in areas including extreme heat and cold, household revisions to improve energy efficiency [...]
Advancing Municipal Environmental Justice in New Jersey
By Jeanne Herb. Over the past year, the New Jersey State Policy Lab has provided support to a collaborative effort of the Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and the New Jersey Department of Environmental protection [...]
Report Release: What Influences Differences in New Jersey’s Municipal Tax Rates?
By Michael Lahr, Tia Azzi, and Maia de la Calle, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service. It is vital for New Jersey policymakers to understand what affects municipal tax rates. In this brief, we analyze local government spending [...]
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Poverty Rates in New Jersey, 2010-2020
by Maia de la Calle, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) To gain a clear understanding of racial and ethnic disparities related to poverty, it is most important to focus on the poverty rate rather than [...]
Perspectives on Poverty in New Jersey, 2008-2020
Maia de la Calle, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) The impact of the pandemic on poverty and inequality continues to be studied at a global and national scale.[1],[2] Although the U.S. Census data have yet [...]
Report Release: State Equity Initiatives
By Marilyn Rubin. Government actions have the potential to make a substantial and lasting impact on equity for all residents. One of government’s most powerful levers for advancing equity is its budget [...]
Advancing Municipal Environmental Justice Action Planning
By Rachel Brown For more than 50 years, community leaders and researchers have been drawing attention to disproportionate environmental burden and health disparities in low-income and communities of color. Here in New Jersey and as [...]
Population Density and New Jersey’s Two Largest Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups in 2020
Tia Azzi and Michael Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) Introduction This is the third brief that reports data on New Jersey from the 2020 decennial census. The first presents a summary dataset that R/Econ™ [...]
U.S. Census Bureau Classification of Arab Populations
by Tia Azzi, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) Introduction to the Arab Community Ethnic identity can be a complex topic, and one that is challenging to adequately capture in national surveys. The Middle East and [...]
Digital Services and Administrative Burdens
By Jessica Cruz and Vishal Trehan Why isn’t the participation rate for the government’s welfare programs at 100%? Why do only 82% of those eligible under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) receive benefits? Given [...]
Adjustments to Municipal and County Population Counts in New Jersey for 2020
by Tia Azzi and Michael Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) According to the latest Census count, New Jersey's population peaked above nine million for the first time in 2020. More precisely, it had [...]
From Emergency to Routine: Evaluating the Implementation of Technology for Government after COVID-19
Leonor Camarena, PhD and Federica Fusi, PhD New Jersey was one of the first states to recognize the significance that technological advancements can have on the workforce and larger community. In October 2018, Governor Murphy [...]
Release of “Evaluating Evaluations” Report
By Tracy P. Glova. The New Jersey State Policy Lab today issued a report on evidence-based policymaking and program evaluation in New Jersey. “Evaluating Evaluations: Analyzing Evidence‐Based Policymaking in New Jersey and Insights from other Leading States” compares evidence-based practices [...]
A Multi-Decennial Census Data Set for NJ, 2010 and 2020 (and More): A New Jersey State Policy Lab Offering
Maia de la Calle and Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) The New Jersey State Policy Lab started operating when some of the first local-level data were released from the 2020 Census. It, [...]
Predictive Algorithms in the Public Sector
Vishal Trehan Some scholars, looking broadly at the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on public administration, have argued that the use of ICT has led to structural changes in some public agencies, with [...]
Equity in Government Budgeting
Marilyn Rubin Opening the core routines of budgeting to include an equity dimension can make government more responsive to all its residents and can provide a pathway to a more equitable society. In this project, [...]
Lessons from the Pandemic for Public Policy and Mental Health Resilience
Joel C. Cantor, Carl Van Horn, James Walkup, Dawne Mouzon, and Michael Yedidia Concern about mental health in the COVID-19 pandemic has been appropriately high. A recent review of a vast and diverse literature on [...]
The Challenges Associated with Making “Good” Public Policy
Stuart Shapiro The New Jersey State Policy Lab is dedicated to improving public policy through careful analysis of data and program evaluation. As many of our first projects near their conclusion though it is important [...]
Evidence-Based Policymaking on the Federal Level
Jennifer Spiegel 12-06-21 “Evidence-based policymaking” seems to be all the rage with think tanks, lawmakers, and governmental agencies, but what does it mean, really? Evidence-based policymaking uses the best available research and data to target [...]
How States Can Improve Unemployment Insurance during the Pandemic
Jennifer Spiegel The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic downturn has brought about record job losses and the highest number of new unemployment claims since 1982. In mid-March 2020, new unemployment claims nationwide totaled [...]
US Treasury Department Provides Coronavirus Relief Grants to State & Local Government
Jennifer Spiegel To help Americans recover from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress has authorized the U.S. Treasury Department to set up coronavirus relief grants to state and local governments for economic [...]
Applying an Equitable Lens to Evidence-Based Research
Jennifer Spiegel Over the past few years, a heightened awareness of the importance of racial equity and justice has permeated the political conversation. American institutions, businesses, and communities are taking a closer look at [...]
Promoting Equity Through State Budgets
Marilyn Rubin One of the most powerful levers that governments have to advancing equity for all residents is their budgets, “the medium through which [flows] the essential life of support systems of public policy” (Wildavsky [...]