2011 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations

Project Title: Adapted Sports Programs In Recreation and Education (ASPIRE) New Jersey

Recipient: American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, Inc.

Address: P.O. Box 451047, Atlanta, GA 31145

Amount Requested: $1,633,583

Project Description: The funding would be used to help Adapted Sports Programs work in partfnership with school systems and educational agencies in New Jersey to establish programs, policies and gfovernance at state levels for interscholastic adapted sports for student athletes with disabilities.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: All New Jersey students with qualifying disabilities would benefit from access to the adapted sports programs offered for grades 1 to 12 through the high school athletic association as well as enhanced health and educational outcomes.

 

 

Project Title: ASPIRA Inc. Statewide Dropout Prevention and Leadership Development Program

Recipient: ASPIRA Inc. of New Jersey

Address: 390 Broad Street, Newark, NJ 07104

Amount Requested: $450,000

Project Description: The funding would be used for operating costs to provide an after school dropout prevention program to at-risk minority youth in 20 schools throughout the states of New Jersey, including Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Camden, Long Beach, Vineland, and Pleasantville. The program would provide personal and academic counseling, homework help, tutoring, leadership development and mentoring, and increase on-time grade promotion.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This program would benefit the community by increasing the high school graduation rate among at-risk minority youth, increasing the number of at-risk minority youth who apply to and continue their studies at postsecondary institutions of higher learning, and developing community leadership among participants.

 

 

Project Title: Addressing the Disparity in Diagnosis of Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders within the Newark and Greater Newark, New Jersey Region

Recipient: Autism Center, New Jersey Medical School f

Address: 185 South Orange Ave., MSB F540, Newark, NJ 07103

Amount Requested: $395,564

Project Description: The funding would be used by the Autism Center to expand and enhance its collaboration with Newark-area preschool and elementary school special education departments, early intervention programs, daycare centers, regional community pediatric fhospital clinics, and general pediatrician practices to identify pre-school and school-age children who are suspected of exhibiting signs or symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This project would benefit medically underserved ethnic and racial minority children and families in the greater Newark region by alleviating the disparity that exist in early identification of ASD in African American and Latino Children in the Newark area.  The program would lead to greater access to effective behavioral and educational interventions at an earlier age and improve outcomes and quality of life for these children and their families.

 

 

Project Title: Carteret Health and Wellness Center

Recipient: Borough of Carteret

Address: 61 Cooke Avenue, Borough of Carteret, NJ 07008

Amount Requested: $2,483,914

Project Description: The funding would be used for construction of the Health and Wellness Center. The center would include a junior Olympic swimming pool, two therapy pools, a wellness center, multipurpose gymnasium, child watch area, café, running track, locker room facilities, physical therapy area and aerobic/spinning studios.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The Health and Wellness Center would house a number of resources for health and fitness that have never before been available in Carteret. Recognizing a growing demand for a centralized resource for health and fitness, The Health and Wellness Center would be a not-for-profit resource for healthier living, serving both local residents and area communities.

 

 

Project Title: Recover, Sustain and Expand Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Services for New Jersey Initiative

Recipient: Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of New Jersey, Inc.

Address: 945 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08618

Amount Requested: $500,658

Project Description: The funding would be used to recover lost CASA staff jobs and restore CASA services to New Jersey’s foster children. Volunteers under the guidance of professional CASA staff serve as the eyes and ears of family court judges, ensuring that these vulnerable children’s rights are upheld in the court processes that determine their fate.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: CASA of New Jersey’s two-phase project would work to improve the lives of foster children, reduce their time in care, and increase the likelihood for adoption by restoring CASA jobs and services critical to this vulnerable population.

 

 

Project Title: Covenant House Supportive Employment Program (SEP)

Recipient: Covenant House of New Jersey

Address: 330 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102

Amount Requested: $140,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to develop an employment and job-training program for at-risk and homeless youth.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: As a result of this SEP project, homeless and at-risk youth in the communities of Elizabeth and Newark would learn the skills needed to locate and retain employment, therefore preparing them for lives of independence and self-sufficiency.

 

 

Project Title: Essex County Hospital Center’s Health Training in Promoting Psychiatric Wellness and Rehabilitation Services to Prevent Re-Hospitalization of Schizophrenic Patients

Recipient: County of Essex, New Jersey

Address: 465 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, Newark, NJ 07102

Amount Requested: $150,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to establish a non-traditional training program to teach, manage, and mentor direct care staff serving people with severe psychiatric disabilities, particularly fschizophrenia. In particular, direct care staff would be trained to train their clients in Psychosocial Rehabilitation Skills to help these clients adjust to living in community settings.  Staff development would be guided by a consulting trainer to “train the trainers” – the supervising staff trainers who would then train direct care staff utilizing web-based, e-learning modules.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This program would help individuals with schizophrenia better adjust to and maintain community living and obtain better health outcomes, which in turn will help decrease the frequency and length of hospitalizations that are extremely costly to the state and federal health care systems. Helping patients with severe and persistent mental illness to live successfully in community settings is the top priority of the Essex County Hospital Center. Locally, training program and materials would be shared with affiliated community based providers utilizing the telepsychiatry program.

 

 

Project Title: Essex County Hospital Center’s Promoting Better and More Comprehensive Reproductive Healthcare for Women with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness Initiative

Recipient: County of Essex, New Jersey

Address: 465 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, Newark, NJ 07102

Amount Requested: $600,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to establish a community health monitoring and intervention program for women with severe and persistent mental illness, utilizing the recently developed Telepsychiatry/Telehealth Outreach Program at Essex County Hospital Center to provide integrated reproductive healthcare for this vulnerable group.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This program would work to monitor the health needs and coordinate care of women while educating them on their special challenges given the necessity of long term use of psychiatric medications. By utilizing the recently developed Telepsychiatry/Telehealth Outreach Program at Essex County Hospital Center, the program would enable a consultative team to work with community mental health and primary care providers to foster integrated reproductive healthcare for this vulnerable group and begin to close the gap in health disparities that strongly contribute to early mortality.

 

 

Project Title: Expansion and Upgrade of Labor-Delivery-Neonatal Facilities at Hoboken University Medical Center (UMC)

Recipient: Hoboken University Medical Center

Address: 308 Willow Avenue, Hoboken, NJ 07030

Amount Requested: $1,000,000

Project Description: The funding would be used for the purchase of vital medical equipment for an expanded labor and delivery unit at Hoboken university Medical Center (Hoboken UMC) which would increase capacity from the current level of 1,000 annual births to 2,500 annual births.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This project would ensure taxpayers’ continued access to high quality OB and neonatal services and increase access to critically-needed OB services for low-income, medically indigent expectant families in Hudson County, including high-risk neonatial medical services.  The overall project would create approximately 100 direct construction jobs and at least another 100 indirect jobs.

 

 

Project Title: Hudson County College Preparation Program

Recipient: County of Hudson

Address: 583 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07306

Amount Requested: $250,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to prepare at-risk students to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) or High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) and expose them to the benefits of attending college.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This college preparation program would help many underprivileged, at-risk students realize the dream of attending college. Additionally, this program would work to help orient them into the world of work by placing them in entry-level positions at a variety of non-profit and governmental agencies for four days a week for a total of 20 hours a week during the summer.

 

 

Project Title: Hudson County Community Child Abuse Prevention Program

Recipient: Hudson County Child Abuse Prevention Center

Address: 586 Newark Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jersey City, NJ 07306

Amount Requested: $300,000

Project Description: The funding would be used for primary, secondary and tertiary child abuse prevention programming, including parenting education, youth safety training, professional training, community awareness and a multi-disciplinary approach for victims of severe physical and sexual abuse.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: Tax payers would benefit from child abuse prevention programming designed to keep children safe through prevention, identification and treatment of child abuse or neglect.

 

 

Project Title: Institute for Student Achievement (ISA) School Turnaround Activities at Union Hill High School North and South in Union City, New Jersey

Recipient: Institute for Student Achievement

Address: One Hollow Lane, Suite 100, Lake Success, NY 11042

Amount Requested: $250,000

Project Description: The Funding would be used for ISA to continue its partnership with Union City’s Board of Education’s Union Hill High School North and South (former Union Hill and Emerson High Schools) to develop six, personalized and academically rigorous learning communities to students prepared to be successful in college.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This program would reduce the dropout and student incident rate, increase attendance, student achievement and graduation rates. To effect change in the communities, ISA provides weekly onsite coaching, content area specialists, customized professional development, summer and winter institutes for teachers, counselors and administrators, and formative student assessment.

 

 

Project Title: Jersey City Medical Center’s Heroes of September 11th Trauma Center and Emergency Department Expansion

Recipient: Jersey City Medical Center

Address: 355 Grand Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302

Amount Requested: $7,000,000

Project Description: The funding would be used for an expansion of Jersey City Medical Center’s Emergency Department and the Heroes of September 11th Trauma Center.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: As hospital consolidation continues in Hudson County, the greater Hudson County area would benefit from increased normal and surge capacity at the Jersey City Medical Center.

 

 

Project Title: Critical Innovations for Aging in Place

Recipient: Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey

Address: 655 Westfield Avenue, Elizabeth, NJ 07208

Amount Requested: $300,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to implement an additional aging in place program in a new community, as well as expand the focus and benefits of the two existing programs, including traditional and innovative services. This project would work to provide coordinated social work services, nursing and home health care and nutritional support to older adults.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This project would expand the benefits of the program and work to provide a better quality of life to the older residents of the target communities of Vauxhall (Union Township), the Elmora section of Elizabeth, NJ and the Westfield, NJ community.

 

 

Project Title: Jewish Renaissance Foundation’s Academy for Workforce Empowerment

Recipient: Jewish Renaissance Foundation

Address: 149 Kearny Avenue Perth Amboy, NJ 08861

Amount Requested: $200,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to expand the level of service and program capacity for the Academy for Workforce Empowerment (AWE), an existing workforce development program serving the low-income communities of northern Middlesex County, NJ.  Funding would specifically be used for two purposes: first, operating support to increase our annual level of service from 80 residents to 160 residents; and to create a computer center in our AWE training center.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The Academy for Workforce Empowerment (AWE) is a comprehensive, one-stop hub that integrates workforce and economic development.  AWE programs provide both job training and financial counseling for low-income residents, as well as support for the small business community to maximize business retention.  It is anticipated that with the requested funding JRF will be able to serve almost 160 eligible residents per program year, as well as an estimated 90 small businesses each year.  Furthermore it is expected that 40% of AWE participants would be placed into permanent, fulltime employment, and 40 percent of participants would move into post-secondary training or education, while the small business measures would assist in decreasing the vacancy rates of commercial and retails spaces in Perth Amboy and increase the productivity and financial performance of businesses served.

 

 

Project Title: Jewish Renaissance Medical Center’s Center for Diabetes Prevention and Care

Recipient: Jewish Renaissance Medical Center (JRMC)

Address: 275 Hobart Street Perth Amboy, NJ 08861

Amount Requested: $845,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to establish the Center for Diabetes Prevention and Care.  Specifically, funding would go towards the purchase of essential medical equipment and technology to support diabetes care, and expansion of the clinic’s capacity to provide diabetes care for extremely low-income, high risk children and families with diabetes.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The Center for Diabetes Prevention and Care would establish a centralized, one-stop hub to care for extremely low-income, high risk children and families with diabetes.  The fundamental premise of this new Center would be to play a role in diminishing the racial and economic disparities in the provision of comprehensive medical care regardless of economic means or insurance status.  Specifically, in the first year of operation, JRMC anticipates serving approximately 8,400 children and adults, with 40% of our users (3,360) 15 years of age or younger.

 

 

Project Title: Kearny Public Schools’ "eSchool" Learning Enrichment and Aptitude Prospectus (LEAP)

Recipient: Kearny Public Schools

Address: 100 Davis Avenue, Kearny, NJ 07032

Amount Requested: $1,200,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to implement the “eSchool” Learning Enrichment & Aptitude Prospectus (LEAP) program for the Kearny High School 9th grade class beginning in September 2011. This LEAP program would accommodate diverse learning styles, be culturally inclusive, encourage the exchange of ideas and have flexible technical requirements.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: Kearny’s LEAP program would benefit students by providing them with the necessary technologically advanced learning skills and core competencies that are crucial to ensure that they have the digital literacy expertise required for their post-secondary educational experiences, as well as for their desired professions or careers.

 

 

Project Title: Kearny Public Schools’ Ticket to Success Afterschool Program

Recipient: Kearny Public Schools

Address: 100 Davis Avenue, Kearny, NJ 07032

Amount Requested: $405,299

Project Description: The funding would continue the Kearny Public Schools’ Ticket to Success Afterschool Program, which serves approximately 200 district students, grades 4 through 12.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The Ticket to Success Afterschool Program would provide children in the district an environment for improved learning and social interaction while providing increased safety and reducing the incident of risk taking behaviors.

 

 

Project Title: Liberty Science Center’s Integrated STEM Education Programs for Students and Teachers in New Jersey

Recipient: Liberty Science Center

Address: 222 Jersey City Blvd, Jersey City, NJ 07305

Amount Requested: $500,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to provide educational programs in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) disciplines for students in grades 6-12 on site, off site, and online and to provide professional development for teachers of grades 6-12.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This program would benefit six school districts and charter schools that serve large populations of historically underserved, economically disadvantaged (at-risk) students by providing students, families, and teachers a wide range of education resources aligned with national and state standards including:  field trips, electronic field trips, traveling science programs, live surgery programs via videoconferencing, after school programs, teacher professional development, community evenings, family passes, and summer research opportunities for high school students.

 

 

Project Title: Metropolitan Family Health Network (FHN) Bone Density Screening Equipment

Recipient: Metropolitan Family Health Network

Address: 935 Garfield Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304

Amount Requested: $110,000

Project Description: The funding would be used by Metropolitan FHN to acquire and install a GE lunar iDXA Direct Digital Bone Densitometer.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The project would benefit the residents of Jersey City and Hudson County by enabling Metropolitan FHN to provide 1,000 annual bone density screenings for low-income, medically underserved residents and would help to preserve mobility and quality of life for Hudson County’s older citizens, particularly women over the age of 65, particularly those over the age of 60 who are at high risk for osteoporosis/osteopenia.

 

 

Project Title: Mile Square Theatre’s Education Programming 2011

Recipient: Mile Square Theatre

Address: 720 Monroe Street #E202, Hoboken, NJ 07030

Amount Requested: $155,680

Project Description: The funding would be used for development of education programming, including after school programs, in-school programs, and providing access to theatre productions for students.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The young people of Hoboken and Hudson County would be the main beneficiaries of this project.  Funding would allow public schools to be offered free tickets to Mile Square Theatre productions and educators would be provided with a study guide related to the productions. In-school workshops with teaching artists, related to the plays, would also be offered. Funding would also allow, theatre classes to brought into Hoboken public schools.. The program will provide opportunities for students interested in acting, design, and production through a summer performance program.  Additionally, this project would assist in developing an adult literacy program.  Furthermore, the project would create many jobs, as funding would be used to for salaries for staff to develop foundation and corporate funding to sustain programs beyond the funding period.

 

 

Project Title: Center for Tourette Syndrome and Associated Disorders Clinical Research Building at Rutgers University

Recipient: New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome and Associated Disorders

Address: 50 Division Street, Suite 205, Somerville, NJ 08876

Amount Requested: $3,000,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to construct and equip a Center for Tourette Syndrome and Associated Disorders clinical research facility on Rutgers University’s Livingston campus and to conduct basic and clinical research on Tourette Syndrome (TS) and related disorders.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The Center would provide taxpayers with a centralized facility for services for New Jersey families, physicians and teachers impacted by Tourette Syndrome, as well as a world-class facility to support research leading to earlier accurate diagnosis and effective treatment protocols for Tourette Syndrome.

 

 

Project Title: New Jersey State Library’s New Jersey Works: Career Center

Recipient: New Jersey State Library

Address: 185 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08625

Amount Requested: $500,000

Project Description: The funding would be used for mapping resources for job seekers and small businesses by county; database licensing and partnering programs with One-Stop Career Centers; and training of library staff to assist residents with unemployment and other government forms.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: With this Career Center, residents seeking employment would have access to a comprehensive, statewide, web-based database of governmental and community resources.

 

 

Project Title: New Jersey State Library’s Digital Bridge to Literacy Program

Recipient: New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center

Address: 2300 Stuyvesant Avenue, Trenton, NJ 08618

Amount Requested: $150,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to connect New Jersey's wounded and disabled veterans to digital talking book machines, talking books, assistive technologies and keep them connected to New Jersey Veterans Affairs resources critical to their vocational rehabilitation and training activities.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: Wounded and disabled veterans who are visually impaired, print disabled or have an organic brain dysfunction would be provided free access to vocational, rehabilitation and educational tools that would increase employability and education.

 

 

Project Title: West New York Urgent Care Site Creation for Emergency Room Diversion

Recipient: North Hudson Community Action Corporation

Address: 800 31st Street, Union City, NJ 07087

Amount Requested: $552,356

Project Description: The funding would be used to cover the renovations, equipment and furnishing costs for a four exam room suite and patient waiting area at this Federally Qualified Health Center to handle walk-ins, expand access and divert patients from hospital emergency rooms. Renovated space would centralize the Center’s Increase Demand for Services (IDS) expanded capacity and Health Education Literacy Programs (HELP). NHCACHC would create an Urgent Care Unit at its flagship site in West New York, New Jersey.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The establishment of an Urgent Care Unit would primarily benefit the uninsured and underinsured in the municipalities of West New York, Union City, North Bergen, Guttenberg, and Weehawken as well as the regional hospitals in Hudson County, New Jersey by increasing access to primary care and early entry into prenatal care, ER diversion, cost containment, improving health literacy levels and job deployment.

 

 

Project Title: North Ward Extended School Day Program for Autism Spectrum Disorders

Recipient: North Ward Center

Address: 346 Mount Prospect Avenue, Newark, NJ 07104

Amount Requested: $500,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to implement the Extended School Year program at The Center for Autism. The Center operates a variety of programs serving more than 10,500 individuals that empower community members to learn, live and work productively in Newark. The Extended School year program for elementary age students would offer a 3 hour extended school day program, which is not currently being offered in the urban school setting. Specifically, funding would be used for start up, planning and operational costs of the program.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The anticipated benefit and impact of design, planning and implementing this project would be a lasting systemic change within the continuum of services for children, adults and families living with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This program would be integral to provide cohesiveness to a system which is bifurcated and inconsistent within the services delivery systems currently available.  Additionally, this project would create jobs both directly and indirectly. Directly through the hiring of staff for the programs and indirectly through the families of those individuals served as it would allow them time during the working hours that they would otherwise not be able to use for employment. The communities served would not only be the geographic area of the greater Newark, NJ area but the community of individuals impacted by developmental disabilities.  The significance of these programs would be able to be replicated as a model on a national level.

 

 

Project Title: Palisades Medical Center’s Backup Generator Project

Recipient: Palisades Medical Center, Inc.

Address: 7600 River Road, North Bergen, NJ 07047

Amount Requested: $411,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to install a new electrical generator at Palisades Medical Center. The new generator would serve two purposes.  First, it would act as a backup in the event that electrical service is disrupted and the existing generator at Palisades Medical Center (PMC) is inoperable.  Second, it would have the ability to work in tandem with the existing generator to provide electrical power for key operational capabilities that are not supported by the hospital’s existing generator.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: Beyond meeting emergency demands, the PMC Backup Generator Project would allow the PMC to continue to provide quality healthcare to its patients with minimal disruption in the event of a power outage.  With the new generator powering additional equipment and elevators that are not serviced by the hospital’s existing generator, potential disruption will be minimized for the nearly 10,000 patients who are annually admitted to PMC.  The new generator would also allow the hospital to continue to more easily maintain support functions such as food delivery, patient transportation, and medication deliveries in the event of a protracted power outage. PMC is a critical resource with respect to emergency preparedness, not just for its immediate community, but for the high-profile and densely populated northern NJ / NYC metro region that it serves.

 

 

Project Title: Palisades Medical Center CT Scan Installation Project

Recipient: Palisades Medical Center, Inc.

Address: 7600 River Road, North Bergen, NJ 07047

Amount Requested: $610,500

Project Description: The funding would provide for the installation of a backup CT Scanner at Palisades Medical Center.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The new CT scanner would help to meet the needs of PMC’s patients by alleviating bottlenecks during periods of peak demand and serving as a backup to the hospital’s existing CT scanner.

 

 

Project Title: Palisades Medical Center Healthcare Education and Career Development Project

Recipient: Palisades Medical Center, Inc.

Address: 7600 River Road, North Bergen, NJ 07047

Amount Requested: $4,374,932

Project Description: The funding would be used to recruit new prospective healthcare workers from the lower-income, largely Hispanic communities in northern Hudson and southern Bergen Counties in New Jersey.  Project services would include recruitment of bilingual candidates, training and tuition assistance, and organized mentoring of students, assistance with licensing, career placement, and post-employment follow-up and support.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This project would work to improve the education and training of health care professionals by addressing the serious shortage of bilingual nurses and caregivers-- particularly those fluent in both Spanish and English.

 

 

Project Title: Palisades Medical Center Interactive Patient Information Project

Recipient: Palisades Medical Center, Inc.

Address: 7600 River Road, North Bergen, NJ 07047

Amount Requested: $565,500

Project Description: The funding would be used to employ interactive communications technology by installing a menu-driven Interactive Patient System that would give Palisades Medical Center (PMC) the ability to provide patients with information, education, and communications resources in both English and Spanish.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This project would help PMC to provide linguistically appropriate and culturally sensitive healthcare to a predominantly lower-income, largely Hispanic patient population with limited English language skills. Most importantly, this project would improve patient outcomes by providing patients with critical information about their health-- information that is sometimes difficult to convey due to language barriers.

 

 

Project Name: Perth Amboy’s Carnegie Library Technology Modernization Project

Recipient: City of Perth Amboy

Address: 260 High Street, Perth Amboy, NJ 08661

Amount Requested: $200,000

Project Description: The funding would be used for the upgrade of technology infrastructure and equipment at the Library.

Explanation/ Value to the Taxpayer: This project would allow the library to become an important economic tool to the community by expanding the number of computer workstations that provide free Internet access.

 

 

Project Title: Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey’s Practice Management System Phase One- Implementation of Electronic Health Record System

Recipient: Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey

Address: 151 Washington Street, Newark, NJ 07102

Amount Requested: $153,036

Project Description: The funding would be used to purchase and implement a practice management system necessary for the implementation of an eventual electronic health records system.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This project would work toward President Obama’s Health Center Initiative of universal adoption of electronic health records by 2014. The adoption of electronic health records would improve efficiency in patient services, capture greater funds from complicated third party insurance transaction, reduce administrative time and improve data collection.

 

 

Project Title: Saint Peter’s College School of Nursing’s Expanding Capacity and Improving Nursing Education through Simulation Technology Initiative

Recipient: Saint Peter’s College School of Nursing

Address: Kennedy Blvd, Jersey City, NJ 07306

Amount Requested: $1,100,000

Project Description: The funding would be used for the development of a simulation laboratory at the Englewood Cliffs campus and the expansion of the Jersey City campus simulation lab for the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: These technological expansions would allow more students to graduate from Saint Peter’s College School of Nursing and add to the nursing workforce.

 

 

 

 

Project Title: South Street Seaport Museum Restoration of the Tall Ship Wavertree and Installation of New Public Exhibits
Recipient: South Street Seaport Museum

Address: 12 Fulton Street, New York, NY 10038

Amount Requested: $350,000

Project Description: The funding would be used for the restoration of the Museum’s historic tall ship, Wavertree, and the creation of a permanent public exhibition onboard.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: In addition to creating jobs for steelworker, shipwrights and master carpenters, this project would benefit taxpayers by creating an exhibition that will serve as a valuable educational tool for the metropolitan area’s public, private and parochial schools.

 

 

Project Title: Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey Family to Family Health Information Center of New Jersey

Recipient: Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey

Address: 35 Halsey Street, Newark, NJ 07102

Amount Requested: $200,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to provide information, training, and assistance to families of children with special healthcare needs to help them access needed services for their children and to help them partner more effectively with healthcare professionals to improve their children’s health/mental health outcomes.  Funding would also be used to partner with state and local government, healthcare providers, and other community resources to improve their capacity to work effectively with children with special healthcare needs and their families.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: Statewide Parent Advocacy Network’s Family to Family Health Information Center (F2F HIC) assists New Jersey families of children with special health/mental health needs to access needed health and community services for their child(ren), and works with parents and professionals to help them work together to ensure children with special needs, especially underserved children, receive quality, effective services.  The requested funding would allow F2F HIC operations to continue.  Funding could help 100,000 families of children with special healthcare needs receive information, training, and advocacy to secure appropriate health, mental health, and community-based services for their children.  It would help children with special needs get the health services they need and allow them to be able to live at home, in their communities, instead of institutions, through individual in-person and telephone technical assistance and advocacy, workshops around the state, and collaboration with state agencies to improve policies and services.  Families with the greatest need would get in-person help.

 

 

Project Title: Thomas Edison State College’s Mobile Learning Initiative

Recipient: Thomas Edison State College

Address: 101 W. State Street, Trenton, NJ 08608

Amount Requested: $1,000,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to recreate the online classroom experience in an offline environment for students, by providing fully self-contained courses delivered via flash media that simulate the online course experience, featuring cloud computing-based applications that enhance delivery in an offline environment. This funding will allow Thomas Edison State College to develop approximately 87 more FlashTrack technology courses and hire 5 staff members to assist with managing the development of the courses.  

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This project would enable large numbers of students who have unreliable Internet access, or whose access is restricted, to participate in online courses either through cell phone technology or in a totally offline environment.  Making it easier for students to stay in school would benefit taxpayers by increasing earnings potential of the college's graduates.

 

 

Project Title: Thomas Edison State College’s Post Master’s Nurse Educator Certificate Initiative

Recipient: Thomas Edison State College

Address: 101 W. State Street, Trenton, NJ 08608

Amount Requested: $1,000,000

Project Description: The funding would improve education and training of health care professionals by creating six nursing courses and pairing them with an existing curriculum to enable Registered Nurses to complete their Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, receive a post baccalaureate certificate in School Nursing and continue on to receive a Masters of Science in Nursing degree with a concentration in nursing education.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: Creating this program would improve the education and training levels of health care professionals in New Jersey and work to replenish the industry’s aging work force.

 

 

Project Title: Thomas Edison State College’s Regional Health Policy and Childhood Obesity Initiative

Recipient: Thomas Edison State College

Address: 101 W. State Street, Trenton, NJ 08608

Amount Requested: $500,000

Project Description: The funding would enhance the John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy’s (JSWIPP) work with several community organizations, state and local government entities and businesses in the area of childhood obesity to promote research and the replication of best practice models.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: With this funding, JSWIPP would work with the State Program Office, the Department of Health and Human Services, community based organizations and universities to ensure that the right approach is used to affect positive change. The Institute would work to support positive health outcomes among youth, families and communities through training sessions using a community engagement model that would include an ecological perspective.

 

 

Project Title: Trinitas Behavioral Health Outpatient Electronic Medical Record Project- Union County, New Jersey

Recipient: Trinitas Health Foundation on behalf of Trinitas Regional Medical Center

Address: P.O. Box 259, Elizabeth, NJ 07207

Amount Requested: $864,351

Project Description: The funding would be used to an implement an electronic medical record system that would contain a comprehensive, streamlined profile on each patient and that would replace a fragmented paper based patient record system.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The Trinitas Behavioral Health Outpatient Electronic Medical Record Project would significantly improve the quality and efficiency of care for the over 10,000 people by providing better case management services, overcoming linguistic and cultural barriers to care, identifying at-risk patients and guarding against medication errors.

 

 

Project Title: UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey’s (UJA NNJ) Aging-in-Place Program

Recipient: UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey

Address: 50 Eisenhower Drive, Paramus, NJ 07652

Amount Requested: $450,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to maintain and expand UJA NNJ's Aging-in-Place program. This program would assist older adults in remaining in their own homes by working with multiple agencies, local government and the older adults themselves to provide the services that are needed. UJA NNJ seeks to expand the program that it is currently implementing primarily in Teaneck, Fair Lawn (with some services provided in North Bergen) and expand it to cover additional towns, including an expansion of the services available in North Bergen.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This project would help to maintain the dignity of older adults by enabling them to remain in their own homes. The project would also empower the community to recognize seniors as valued members of the community.  Case managers and a congregational nurse would conduct in-home assessments in order to determine the services that are needed to assist the older adult in safely and securely aging-in-place, among which are: home health aides, adult day care, senior transportation, home modifications and community-based social, cultural, educational and recreational programs.

 

 

Project Title: UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey’s (UJA NNJ) Northern New Jersey Literacy Program

Recipient: UJA Federation of Northern New Jersey

Address: 50 Eisenhower Drive, Paramus, NJ 07652

Amount Requested: $50,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to maintain and expand UJA NNJ's Literacy Program, a program for at-risk K through 3rd graders that utilizes volunteer mentors as “Reading Buddies.” This program establishes an early intervention program where the volunteers not only help to raise the literacy level of the students, but also serve as role models.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The community would benefit from improved literacy for at-risk children at an early age which would help to reduce or avoid learning difficulties and costly future interventions.

 

 

Project Title: United Way of Hudson County/Hudson Perinatal Consortium Nurse-Family Partnership for Hudson County

Recipient: United Way of Hudson County

Address: 857 Bergen Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07306-4405

Amount Requested: $400,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to continue implementation of the nationally recognized Nurse-Family Partnership in Hudson County in order to bring service levels to the planned 100 first time pregnant low-income mothers and their newborns, as well as continued funding for year three of the program. The funding would also be used to hire two additional staff members.  This evidence-based community health program has proven results including long-term family improvements in health, education and economic self-sufficiency.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This funding would assist in continuing the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) in Hudson County, which since 2009 has helped to change the lives of vulnerable first-time mothers and their babies through ongoing home visits from registered nurses. This evidence-based community health program has proven results including long-term family improvements in health, education and economic self-sufficiency. While helping low-income families, an investment in NFP saves communities more than it costs by reducing welfare, healthcare and juvenile justice expenditures.

 

 

Project Title: Allied Health Interventions to Address Co-Morbid Medical Disorders Among Persons with Serious Mental Illness

Recipient: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)- School of Health Related Professions

Address: 1776 Raritan Road, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076

Amount Requested: $200,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to develop a model of allied health services coordinated with mental health providers in increase both accessibility to persons with serious mental illness and better coordinated care.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: These efforts would provide support to the seriously mentally ill in New Jersey and help participants work towards a self-defined wellness lifestyle to manage or prevent co-morbid illness and untimely death. Improving access to allied health services and integrating and wellness planning would both increases accessibility to persons with serious mental illness and better coordinated care.

 

 

Project Title: Hudson County’s Grandparents Parenting Again Initiative

Recipient: Urban League of Hudson County

Address: 257 Martin Luther King Drive, Jersey City, NJ 07305

Amount Requested: $400,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to establish a Grandparents Parenting Again (GAP) program in Hudson County, New Jersey. GAP would also feature part-time employment opportunities for the eligible grandparents.  

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: The project would assist in creating jobs. The project would also sustain the employment of grandparents who are considering leaving employment because of unmet social or mental health needs. The ability to provide support services for employed grandparents would ensure that children do not enter the care of the state. These support services would include increasing access to or brokering financial support, housing, health and mental health services.  The measurable outcomes would include a reduction in the number of youth that enter the child welfare system because their grandparent headed household is overwhelmed by the need to fulfill primary care giving roles.

 

 

Project Title: Urban League of Hudson County’s “PREP” College Preparation Program

Recipient: Urban League of Hudson County

Address: 257 Martin Luther King Drive, Jersey City, NJ 07305

Amount Requested: $400,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to establish a model college preparation program for low income parents and their children in elementary school. The innovative program would be sustained through intensive train the trainer practices using community based volunteers and existing service providers.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This program would lead to higher high school graduation rates, an increase in the rate of college attendance by “first generation” low income and immigrant students.

 

 

Project Title: Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey’s Cardiac Telehealth Project in Hudson County

Recipient: Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey (VNACJ)

Address: 176 Riverside Avenue, Red Bank, NJ 07701

Amount Requested: $300,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to purchase Viterion 500 Telehealth Life Center Kisoks which would be placed in senior residential housing and communities to assist health care professionals in monitoring the condition of older adults. The ideal use for Viterion 500 Telehealth Life Center Kisoks is in senior housing building or other congregate residential communities.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: These devices would enable health care professionals to remotely monitor the condition of older adults living with chronic illness and identify and treat early symptoms that could otherwise result in hospitalization. The professional staff at VNACJ would be able to measure some vital signs, adjust patients’ medication, and arrange necessary interventions.

 

 

Project Title: the Voices of September 11th 9/11 Living Memorial Digital Archive

Recipient: Voices of September 11th

Address: 161 Cherry Street, New Canaan, CT 06840

Amount Requested: $500,000

Project Description: The funding would augment other Voices of September 11th (VOICES) funding streams and be used for staff costs, outreach programs, 9/11 community events and technology required to preserve these fragile pieces of our nation’s history.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: Through its 9/11 Living Memorial Digital Archive project, VOICES would therapeutically support and empower families to digitally document the lives of their loved ones lost on 9/11, and to gather the first-hand accounts of rescue workers, survivors and corporations, thus preserving this critical digital content for future generations.

 

 

Project Title: West New York Board of Education’s Alternative Fuel Education Program

Recipient: West New York Board of Education

Address: 6028 Broadway, West New York, NJ 07093

Amount Requested: $200,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to enhance and expand the Alternative Fuel Education program at Memorial High School to include solar energy and plant-based fuels. The proposed enhancement of the program will include study and testing of solar panels as a way to charge a vehicle, as well as the study of how plants can be used to create bio-diesel and ethanol fuels.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: Through this program, students would not only learn hands-on auto conversion and repair skills, but would learn about the broader implications of establishing viable alternatives to gas-powered vehicles. Students in this program may be encouraged to pursue progressive automotive technologies jobs or further education related to “green” technologies.

 

 

Project Title: YMWCA of Newark After School Program

Recipient: YMWCA of Newark and Vicinity

Address: 600 Broad Street, Newark, NJ 07102

Amount Requested: $230,000

Project Description: The funding would be used to expand the YMWCA’s after school program to include 100 children from homeless families in our community. The program would adapt the Coordinated Approach To Childhood Health anti-obesity curriculum to meet the challenges and needs of this community.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: This program would work to overcome the barriers to serving the homeless and formerly homeless population in an after school setting. These 100 children would gain support for their academic efforts, improve their nutritional habits, and increase their levels of physical activity, leading to better school performance and improved health and wellness.

 

 

Project Title: Character Matters Education Program at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center

Recipient: Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center

Address: 8 Quarry Road, Little Falls, NJ 07424

Amount Requested: $200,000

Project Description: The funding would be used implement a State-wide character education program in conjunction with the Weekly Reader Scholastic publication that would reach 8,757 public school teachers and over 500,000 public school students in New Jersey. Youth participating in this program would be taught that success in life involves being honest, ethical, kind, considerate and enthusiastic and that personal character is as important as athletic ability and talent in the classroom, on the playing field and in life.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: Students grades 4 through 9 in New Jersey would benefit from engaging, classroom-ready character education resources, including a Web-based character education curriculum that would lead to improved classroom behavior and performance, increased conflict resolution skills, increased demonstration of personal responsibility and ethical behavior, increased demonstration of good sportsmanship, and increased interest in pursuing educational and community service goals.

 

 

Project Title: Domestic Violence Shelters and Related Support Services

Recipient: YWCA Eastern Union County

Address: 1131 East Jersey Street, Elizabeth, NJ 07201

Amount Requested: $400,000

Project Description: This funding would support a program that provides domestic violence prevention, intervention, counseling, shelter, and a 24/7 hotline for domestic violence victims in our community. Funds would go toward expansion of the Domestic Violence Shelters and Related Support Services for women and children, including personnel, equipment and facility improvements.

Explanation/Value to Taxpayer: Domestic violence presents significant challenges to Union County, particularly for women seeking self-sufficiency for themselves and their children. With this funding, the YWCA Eastern Union County's domestic violence prevention, intervention and support services would expand capacity to serve over 300 women each year. This funding will directly empower local communities and break the cycle of domestic violence.

 

 

 

National Projects

Project Name: Education for Democracy Act, Center for Civic Education

Amount Requested: $26,635,625

Recipient: The Center for Civic Education,

Address: 5145 Douglas Fir Road, Calabasas, CA 91302

Project Description: The Education for Democracy Act include longstanding national programs such as We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, Project Citizen, and the School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program. The Act also includes the Cooperative Education Exchange Programs that assist nations in promoting democratic values and the principles of a market economy.  These programs provide students at the elementary, middle and high school level a better understanding of our government.

Explanation/Value to the Taxpayer: The Education for Democracy Act programs effectively promote among students a profound understanding of and commitment to the fundamental values and principles of American constitutional democracy as expressed in such seminal documents as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the Gettysburg Address. They also promote students' capacities to participate competently and responsibility in the political life of their communities and the nation.

 

 

Project Name: Education for Democracy Act, Council for Economic Education

Amount Requested: $5,018,625

Recipient: Council for Economic Education

Address: 122 East 42nd Street, Suite 2600, New York, NY 10168

Project Description: The Education for Democracy Act include longstanding national programs such as We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution, Project Citizen, and the School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program. The Act also includes the Cooperative Education Exchange Programs that assist nations in promoting democratic values and the principles of a market economy.  These programs provide students at the elementary, middle and high school level a better understanding of our government.

Explanation/Value to the Taxpayer: The Education for Democracy Act programs effectively promote among students a profound understanding of and commitment to the fundamental values and principles of American constitutional democracy as expressed in such seminal documents as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the Gettysburg Address. They also promote students' capacities to participate competently and responsibility in the political life of their communities and the nation.

 

 

Project Name: Project GRAD

Amount Requested: $27,000,000

Recipient: Project GRAD USA

Address: 4625 San Felipe, Ste 900, Houston, TX 77027

Project Description: This funding will be used to provide support and assistance to programs implementing integrated education reform services in order to improve secondary school graduation, postsecondary program attendance, and postsecondary completion rates for low income students.

Explanation/Value to the Taxpayer: The mission and track record of Project GRAD aligns well with the Obama Administration’s stated goal of making the United States the leading producer of college graduates worldwide by the year 2020.  The $27 million for  Project GRAD would help the nation make progress toward that goal and is consistent with the recommended funding formula in the Higher Education Act authorization language, which calls for a federal investment of $200 per student served across the network, based on 135,000 students served nationally.

 

 

Project Name: Reach Out and Read (ROR) program

Amount Requested: $10,000,000

Recipient: Reach Out and Read

Address: 56 Roland Street, Suite 100D, Boston, MA 02129

Project Description: Reach Out and Read is a national program that promotes literacy and language development in infants and young children, targeting disadvantage and poor children and families.  To promote early language and literacy development and school readiness: pediatricians and other healthcare providers guide and encourage parents to read aloud to their children from their earliest years of their life, and send them home from each regular checkup with a new book and a prescription to read together. 

Explanation/Value to the Taxpayer: Reach Out and Read is a national evidence-based school readiness initiative that promotes literacy and language development in infants and preschoolers, targeting children and families living in poverty and under-performing school districts.  Fourteen peer-reviewed, published research studies spanning the last two decades clearly demonstrate the impact of the Reach Out and Read model and the importance of promoting early language and literacy skills in preparing children to excel in school.

 

 

Project Name: Reading is Fundamental (RIF)

Amount Requested: $25,000,000

Recipient: Reading is Fundamental

Address: 1825 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20009

Project Description: The funding would be used for purposes authorized in Section 5451 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  RIF has a 43 year history of providing literacy services to children at the highest risk of academic failure by creating programs in communities with limited or no access to books or literary resources.  Eighty-one percent of the federal grant is used to buy books for children and to provide direct services to local programs.

Explanation/Value to the Taxpayer: Funding will be used for purposes authorized in Section 5451 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  Reading Is Fundamental enhances child literacy by providing millions of underserved children with free books for personal ownership and reading encouragement from the more than 18,000 locations throughout all fifty states, Washington, D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

 

Project Name: Teach For America

Amount Requested: $50,000,000

Recipient: Teach for America

Address: 315 West 36th Street, New York, NY 10018

Project Description: Teach for America, a national nonprofit with a demonstrated record of success, will use these funds to recruit, select, train, and provide professional development to top recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in our nation’s highest poverty communities in 38 regions across the country.

Explanation/Value to the Taxpayer: These funds will be used to recruit, select, train and provide professional development to top recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit two years to teach in our nation’s highest poverty communities.  This funding will set Teach For America on the path to double in size by 2016, with nearly 17,000 teachers positively impacting the achievement levels of more than one million underserved students each year in more than 60 low-income regions in nearly all 50 states.   In addition, the more than 52,000 alumni form a proven pipeline of talented leaders.