NJDOL Awards $1.5 Million in Grants to Enhance Access to Worker Benefits and Protections

17 grant recipients, including collaborations among nine organizations, set to benefit from the second round of the CARE grant program.

NEW JERSEY – The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) has granted $1.5 million to 17 recipients via the second round of its Cultivating Access, Rights, and Equity (CARE) grant program. Among the grantees are three collaborations comprising nine organizations.

The CARE grant was conceived to ensure equitable outreach, education, and access to New Jersey's wide array of benefits and protections for eligible workers, including Temporary Disability Insurance, Family Leave Insurance, and Earned Sick Leave. The current round of funding aims to raise employer awareness about these programs and to enhance their ability to support employees on leave. The grant also provides one-time additional funding for Unemployment Insurance outreach and education for workers and service providers.

First Lady Tammy Murphy stated, “Family and medical leave is crucial to the wellbeing of New Jersey’s workforce, especially for expecting or new parents. I am proud that the New Jersey Department of Labor is prioritizing these grants to ensure all employees and employers are informed of the benefits and protections that are available here in our state.”

“Our community partners have been invaluable resources as we aim 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 raise awareness of the all programs and services that make New Jersey such a great place to work and do business.”

The CARE program aligns with the goals of Nurture NJ, the First Lady's initiative to make New Jersey the safest and most equitable place to deliver and raise a baby. Expanding the utilization of paid family and medical leave benefits is a key recommendation in the Nurture NJ Maternal and Infant Health Strategic Plan.

The grantees include a variety of community organizations, worker centers, domestic violence agencies, service providers, professional associations, libraries, and faith-based groups. These organizations have proven their ability to connect underserved residents and small businesses with government programs through trusted community relationships and culturally specific outreach and education methods.

Grantees will leverage the funds to enhance their staff's capacity to provide information on paid leave and unemployment benefits. This will involve engaging in community events, providing one-on-one counseling to workers, conducting presentations and trainings, running social media and text campaigns, and user-testing outreach tools and applications, among other activities.

Jessica Culley, General Coordinator of grantee Comite de Apoyo a Los Trabajadores Agricolas (CATA), said: “CATA is excited to continue partnering with the NJDOL to provide important workers’ rights information to farmworkers and other low-wage immigrant workers throughout Southern New Jersey. In the first year of the grant, we reached over 1,000 workers throughout our region, the majority of whom had not accessed paid sick time.”

For more information on the CARE program and other NJDOL grant opportunities, visit nj.gov/labor/grants.

For more information on worker benefits and protections, visit myworkrights.nj.gov.