Annual Report 2005/2006

Annual Report 2005/2006

New Jersey Institute for Social Justice60 Park Place, Suite 511Newark, NJ 07102-5504ph. 973.624.9400fx. 973.624.0704email: [email protected]

WELCOME LETTER

Welcome to the New Jersey Institute forSocial Justice’s annual report marking amoment of transition: our 5th anniversary,our first gala celebration and the advent ofnew leadership as our founding ExecutiveDirector, Ken Zimmerman, has becomeChief Counsel to Governor Jon S. Corzine.We also take this opportunity to recognizethe collective achievement of all of ourpartners who have assisted us along theway in addressing the challenges faced by Newark and other urban areas in the state.

For any organization, during the firstseveral years of operation, board and staff are engaged in an exhilaratingand challenging process of identifyingissues, refining strategies, establishingpartnerships, and building a track record.So it has been for us. We are proud to beable to point to concrete accomplishments,ever mindful that we must be judged basedon the difference we make in people’s lives.We have been guided throughout by thelofty ideals and animating vision of Alanand Amy Lowenstein: that thoughtful andindependent examination of the challengesfacing urban communities, coupled with a

sustained commitment to strategic action,can produce grounded and lasting results.

In this two-year report, we describe our use of demonstration programs and ofuniversity partnerships to advance issuesaffecting urban areas. These are bothhallmarks of how the Institute approachesits work.

We also recognize Nick Katzenbach, whobecame our first Board President emeritus.His lifelong commitment to advancing the cause of justice is an inspiration. AsPresident of the Institute’s board during itsfirst five years, he provided great wisdom,guidance and good humor as the Institutecharted its course.

This new phase of the Institute excites us with new challenges and opportunities.We look forward to working with you andcontinuing to build on what we have begun.

John Farmer, Jr.Board President

Richard RoperInterim ExecutiveDirector

2 TRIBUTE TO ALAN AND AMY LOWENSTEINCelebrating the Lives of Our Founders

It is a rare privilege to play a role in building a dream.Particularly in building the dream of an individual whoselife demonstrated deep dedication to the betterment ofhumanity, to civic responsibility, to service, and to the use of the law as an instrument of fairness and decency.As staff members, we were able to speak with Alan andlearn from his optimism, from his belief in the compatibilityof idealism and pragmatism, from his belief in humanpotential. We learned, too, of hope and developing thefortitude, courage, perseverance and insight necessary to be an effective agent of change. These values, we hope,imbue the Institute.

Alan Lowenstein was a man among men. A toweringpresence in his profession and a larger than lifepersonality, he evoked deeply emotional respect frompeople from every walk of life. Alan and his wife Amy had a passion for their fellow human beings’ welfare, and a particular dedication to Newark and its people. He led the effort to reform Newark’s government to make it more accountable and responsive, and persistedeven when the effort cost him his law practice. Hebelieved cultural institutions should reach everyone, and personally supported open air concerts in each ofNewark’s wards. He established a value-based law firmwith a deep commitment to working pro bono publico.

Alan was our mentor and guide. He encouraged us toaim high, and afforded us the opportunity to learn fromour missteps. He taught us by both creed and deed. We

3thank him for creating and guiding an organization thatprovides us a rare opportunity to blend, in accordancewith Alan’s example, our values with our work.

Alan said, “If the sole purpose of the Institute is to come up with ideas and reports, sooner or later peopleare going to say ‘That’s great, but what have youaccomplished?’” Our goal is to undertake the hard,independent, honest work that leads to real change and improvement in lives of New Jerseyans and that will be our tangible, living tribute to his memory.

Alan Lowenstein1913–2007

Amy Lowenstein1917–1997

ECONOMICO PPORTUNITY

5ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

One of the hallmarks of the Institute’sapproach to expanding economicopportunities for urban residents is the demonstration program—if a pictureis worth a thousand words, then anexperience is worth a thousand pictures.Demonstration programs can show how effective linkages can be madebetween local residents and employmentopportunities. These programs can also show in high relief the barriers thatmany individuals face in seeking to availthemselves of these opportunities.

Expanding Opportunity in the Construction SectorJobs matter, especially those that are thefirst step to a career that can offer family-supporting wages. The constructionindustry is one of the few remainingsectors that offers middle income earningpotential with the basic entry requirementsof a high school diploma and valid driver’slicense. With construction activity inexcess of $10 billion projected for thegreater Newark region and with theconstruction industry in need of newworkers, we have continued our efforts to link urban residents to employment

opportunities in this promising industry sector.

In Essex County and northern NewJersey, much of the construction activity—including the state’s multi-billion dollar school construction program—is undertaken by construction tradeunions. We therefore focused our effortsupon creating a demonstration program,the Newark/Essex County ConstructionCareers Consortium, informed by a strongunderstanding of how the unions work and how urban residents could becomecompetitive candidates for unionmembership. We are now at the end of our fifth year of this work. In partnershipwith the Essex County Construction andBuilding Trades Council, the Essex CountyVocational Schools, the Newark PublicSchools and several community partners,more than 170 individuals n/eccc hashelped become trade union members. Thisprogram has shown that an appropriate,customer-driven training intervention can produce highly competitive graduates. As one trade union business agent hasobserved, “n/eccc graduates are nowconsidered the best-prepared candidatesfor trade union membership in EssexCounty.”

We have also learned that there are

6 The Creation of N/ECCCIn the Words of a Union Leader Looking back to the beginnings of N/ECCC, MartySchwartz, President of the Essex County Buildingand Construction Trades Council (ECBCTC) recalls:

“The leadership of the Council sat with the Institute to hear a presentation of the program. We wereskeptical because of the failures of past programs.The initial conversation was that the Institute wasinterested in trying to get women and minorities intoapprenticeship programs of the ECBCTC members.We listened to their ideas but what really got usinvolved at the time was that the people from theInstitute listened more to us as to what we neededand what we were looking for, how we might worktogether as a group to form a coalition so we couldmove forward and succeed in getting minorities andwomen into the trades. They were serious about

collaboration. They took our requirements seriously.They brought in the Essex County VocationalSchools to elevate math skills and readingcomprehension. We participated the selection of program participants and of the program’sdirector. The program has now placed over 170urban residents in the trades. They are all truemembers of the trades. They’re going through theapprenticeships. They will become journey workerswhen it is all finished.”

“This is probably the most successful program in thecountry, bar none.”

Marty SchwartzPresident, Essex County Construction and Building Trades Council

In the Words of an N/ECCC Graduate

“It was life changing. When I look at all of the things I’ve beenthrough in my childhood andwhat I saw my peers go through,for me to be here is almost amiracle. Last year, I didn’t knowwhere I was going to be. I was

born in Newark and it’s good to think I will get a chance toactually work in Newark, to sitback and watch the things I’mhelping to build, build the city.”

Roscoe Houston1st year apprentice Carpenter’sLocal #1342

Roscoe Houston

7a host of issues that form barriers to the ability ofindividuals to take up this opportunity and that a strongprogram must include efforts to address these issues suchas adequate financial resources, ability to obtain a validdriver’s license, and the availability and affordibility ofautomobiles and auto insurance.

The chart on the right shows the distribution of n/ecccgraduates in the trades including both the apprenticetraining period and the skilled journey worker position.Once individuals become journey workers, they earn full salary and benefits in excess of $50/hour and are generally licensed to work anywhere in the country.

In 2007, our focus will be on retention of graduateswho are now trade union members. We will also focus on work with major public agencies to create a policyframework and prepare a larger number of workers to supply the workforce for the multi-billion dollarconstruction projects in Northern New Jersey, includingthe capital projects of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Hudson River Tunnel project.

Apprentices:Bricklayers 7Carpenters 9Electricians 10HVAC/Pipefitters 1Insulators 8Ironworkers 12Laborers 10Operating Engineers 5Painters/Glaziers 33Plumbers 7Roofers 29Sheet Metal Workers 11Sprinkler Fitters 2Steamfitters 3Terrazzo/Tile Setters 12

Parsons Brinkerhoff 1Newark Housing Authority 1Stationary Engineers 4

Journey Workers:Electricians 1Insulators 1Ironworkers 3Painters/Glaziers 2Plumbers 2Roofers 2

Total Placements 176

N/ECCC gradutates with Program Director, Rodney Brutton

8 Expansion to a New Industry Sector—Commercial TruckingBuilding on the Institute’s success inplacing local residents into the constructionindustry, the Institute has taken the lead rolein linking local residents to employment in commercial trucking, especially at PortNewark. Like construction, the truckingindustry offers good wages and has entryrequirements that are within the reach of many Newarkers. At the same time,trucking company owners report difficultyin hiring and retaining workers. Researchproduced by the NJ Department of Laborindicating a projected shortage of workersdocuments the industry’s ongoing need fornew workers.

With support from the Newark Alliance,a nonprofit consortium of leading Newarkcorporations, universities, foundations and others, the Institute was contracted to lead the implementation of the OpportunityNewark Commercial Truck DrivingRecruitment/Retention Initiative. TheOpportunity Newark Initiative identifiedcommercial trucking as an especially highpotential sector given its relationship tothe growth of Port Newark where a triplingof the volume of containers arriving in Port Newark/Elizabeth is projected over the next several years. Key to thisexpansion is ensuring an adequate

number of trained and licensed tractor-trailer drivers to haul the cargo from these containers through the Port Districtand throughout the region, the largestconsumer market in the country.

In 2006, the Institute initiated ademonstration program to link localresidents to this opportunity through:

• the formation of a partnership with thetrucking industry to ensure that training is customer-driven and meets industryneeds;

• the identification of high potentialcandidates for these jobs;

• assistance to the One-Stop Career Centers in downtown Newark and at the Port to create an active and effectivereferral network; and

• addressing insurance-related barriers to employment of new workers withlimited driving experience.

We anticipate implementation of a pilotprogram in 2007.

“The Institute has a reputation for being a trustworthy,honest broker that calls the issues as it sees them.That’s an exceptional skill set. When you establishtrust, you can set a real foundation for participationof many disparate parties. This is the essentialingredient and that’s what this organization brings.

Al KoeppeNewark Alliance

9Getting Back on The Road—Driver’sLicense RestorationThe Institute’s ability to be responsive toemerging issues led to an effort focused on an unlikely, but important, obstaclepreventing urban residents from takingadvantage of economic opportunities inNew Jersey: the widespread use of driver’slicense suspension as a civil and criminalsanction. The License Restoration Projectgrew out of conversations with ourpartners in the workforce developmentcommunity who had identified a troublingpattern. Significant numbers of students in job training programs were successfullycompleting program requirements butwere unable to access the jobs for whichthey had trained because their drivers’licenses had been suspended. On the other side, employers in industries fromconstruction to auto repair to cableinstallation reported that they had jobswith good salaries and benefits goingbegging for a lack of workers with validlicenses. The Institute decided to investigatehow and why driver’s licenses were beingsuspended in New Jersey, and what couldbe done about it.

These research results were used alongwith an examination of good practicesacross the country to design and implementa Driver’s License Restoration program inEssex County, in partnership with theAdministrative Office of the Courts.Essentially, the program consolidatestickets across municipalities in EssexCounty and develops a repayment planscaled to income. Driving privileges arerestored for individuals as long as paymentsare made in good faith. The Newark One-Stop Career Center and other community-based organizations refer individuals to a special hearing to resolve these issues.More than 30 licenses have been restoredthrough this program, which is still in itsearly phase. And, importantly, the defaultrate on these payment plans is less than 4 percent. As a result, municipalities havereceived thousands of dollars that mighthave otherwise remained uncollected.Expansion to attract more individuals, as well as replication in other countiesthroughout the state, is under consideration.

EQUALJ UST ICE

11EQUAL JUSTICE

Our work in this area over the past five years has grownout of the recommendations of the New Jersey ReentryRoundtable, focusing on helping the state address thechallenge of prisoner reentry in New Jersey. A year-longeffort co-sponsored with the New Jersey Public PolicyResearch Institute, the Roundtable brought together leadersfrom state government and the judiciary, civic and faith-based organizations, academia, formerly incarceratedpeople, social service providers and victims’ advocates toassess the dimensions of the challenge and develop soundand strategic policy as well as programmatic responsesfor government, the private sector and local communities.With 14,000 to 16,000 returning home annually fromNew Jersey state prisons, high rates of failure andescalating costs to state and local government and toaffected families, prisoner reentry is a complex problemrequiring a multi-dimensional solution.

During 2005–2006, the Institute worked on thegubernatorial transition team and with the Governor’soffice to identify short term policy changes while developingthe key elements of a more comprehensive approach tocriminal justice system change as it pertains to reentry.The Institute brought in expertise from states undertakingsystemic reform efforts and helped outline a framework toengage both the public and private sectors in reorientingcurrent practices to achieve better outcomes for bothadults and juveniles.

On the local level, the Institute worked with the NewarkAdministration to develop a municipal reentry strategythat will address the city’s high priority concerns aboutpublic safety. These efforts will continue in 2007, with a

Putting the Pieces TogetherThe search for employment afterprison is a complex, multi-layeredprocess, both systemically andon the individual client level. Tosucceed, New Careers participantsmust navigate an often confusingweb of agencies and providers.At the same time, participantsthemselves have multi-dimensional needs, goals, andlife histories. The unique value of New Careers is its capacity toweave together these disparatestrands—on both the systemicand the individual level—byproviding case-by-case attentionand strategically working withpartner organizations to maximizethe likelihood of success. New Careers’ hands-on casemanagement approach, enrichedby access to partner organizationservices, puts the pieces togetherfor participants. In this way, NewCareers serves the whole humanbeing and addresses the wholesystemic web so that, in the wordsof NJISJ supporter ReverendWilliam Howard, Pastor, BethanyBaptist Church, “We create avision for Newark in which all are contributing members of ourcommunity.”

12 particular focus on improving employment options forformerly incarcerated individuals and ensuring theirparticipation in and contribution to Newark’sredevelopment.

Employment After PrisonOne specific outcome of the work of the New Jersey Reentry Roundtable is the Institute’s New Careers Project.New Careers is an innovative, employment-focuseddemonstration program designed to help individualsreturning home from New Jersey state prisons reintegratesuccessfully into the Greater Newark community. NewCareers uses the core tools of transitional employmentand comprehensive case management to prepareindividuals to find and keep jobs and to address the broad range of individual and systemic barriers they face after time spent in prison. The Project also providesparticipants with life skills and job readiness training andlocates job opportunities for them. Once they are placed,New Careers continues to help participants stay employedthrough on-going case management, troubleshooting foremployers, and re-placement when necessary. While theNew Careers staff assists participants with preparing for,finding, and keeping jobs, the Project requires participantsto be fully engaged in helping themselves and transformingtheir own lives.

New Careers was developed in collaboration with a number of Newark organizations, with technicalassistance from model programs around the countrythrough the support of the National Transitional JobsNetwork. Referrals into the program, now located in aspace provided by Integrity House, come from parole

Program Director, AllenJames with a New Careersparticipant.

13officers, community based organizations and the City ofNewark. Staff provide case management and advocacyservices, with paid transitional job opportunities providedby the First Occupational Center of New Jersey throughits social enterprise businesses. The first participants in the program have found work in fields ranging fromwarehousing to food service to office assistance. Lookingforward to 2007, the Project is developing a newtransitional job collaboration with City of Newark.

Bringing Families InThe Institute collaborated with the Rutgers School ofCriminal Justice to create a new series of Roundtables on “Incarceration, Reentry and the Family,” producing a new report, Bringing Families In, detailing concreterecommendations for government and private sectorstakeholders for improving the situations of families withincarcerated loved ones and engaging family strengths in improving outcomes for those leaving prison.

Making Work PayWe completed our report Making Work Pay which detailschild support obligations of low-income and incarceratedparents and recommended steps for better outcomes forboth children and parents. The report explains how childsupport obligations continue to accrue despite the inabilityof incarcerated individuals to generate income resultingin high levels of debt upon release. The result of this workhas been used in collaboration with the Department ofCorrections on front-end strategies to educate incarceratedparents about child support obligations and optionsbefore they incur significant debt.

14 New Jersey Reentry DigestThe Institute began the dissemination of a bi-weeklyelectronic newsletter, the New Jersey Reentry Digest,which provides local and national news, Institute eventsand publications, upcoming conferences, summaries ofpending legislation, reports and fact sheets. To sign up for the Digest visit our website: www.njisj.org

Legal Barriers to Reentry—Fact Sheet SeriesHidden or “Collateral Consequences” are additionalpenalties that may result from criminal convictions. They have a direct impact on critical areas of life such as employment, public benefits, housing, education,parental rights and voting and can significantly hinder an individual’s ability to successfully reintegrate. Over the last two years, we created fact sheets for criminaldefense attorneys, other advocates and all residents of New Jersey affected by incarceration, in order to help to expand understanding of the relevant legal andregulatory frameworks that create these sanctions.

Fact Sheet Series

New Jersey Reentry Digest

15JUVENILE JUSTICE

This year, the Institute deepened its focuson young people and the State’s justicesystem, specifically those youth who havebeen, or are at risk of being, detained.Research has shown that a detentionexperience is a greater indicator of poorlife outcomes than any other single item,including gang involvement and familydysfunction. The Institute is committed toidentifying better ways in which juvenilescan be treated by the system and, evenmore importantly, ensuring that only thosejuveniles that do pose some risk to societyactually end up in detention.

The Juvenile Detention AlternativesInitiative (jdai), sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation is the country’s mostsuccessful program at diverting youngpeople from secure, pre-trial detentionwithout sacrificing either public safety(youth reoffending) or judicial process(youth failing to appear for court dates). It also has a record of effectiveness inaddressing issues specific to minorityyouth. Institute staff worked at both the Essex County and the state level inlaunching this initiative. The jdai bringstogether a broad spectrum of justicesystem institutional actors to focus on

detention prevention and introduces newand/or improved programs and practicesthat offer alternatives to secure detention.A data-driven approach allows trends tobe established, monitored, analyzed andaddressed. Case-by-case innovations aredocumented and disseminated in asystematic fashion.

As the chart below shows for EssexCounty, the count for young men and womenin detention declined by more than halfover the period with no discernableincrease in either juvenile crime or failureto appear rates. Staff plan to concludedirect involvement in this initiative as these fundamental approaches areinstitutionalized. At the same time, 2007 will see an expansion of our work in juvenile justice, particularly withjuveniles involved in the state’s division of youth and family services system andsupporting agencies.

2003 2004 2005 2006

(244)

(115)(139)

250

200

150

100

50

0

(171)

Young Men and Women inDetention inEssex County

16 PARTNERING WITH UNIVERSIT IES ON URBAN ISSUES

The academic community plays a uniquerole in helping to address urban concerns.Universities are able to research underlyingcauses of issues, involve multipledisciplines such as law, economics,sociology, planning, architecture andbusiness, and examine issues in alongitudinal fashion. As shown below,universities are also able to amplify andhighlight specific concerns to a variety of audiences.

The Institute has partnered withuniversities in hosting several conferencesand workshops on a variety of issuesrelated to criminal justice and publicsafety. These conferences bringpractitioners, policy makers, formerlyincarcerated individuals, victims andothers together with the academiccommunity to highlight new issues and to create a framework for researchand ongoing examination of these issuestoward better understanding of impactsand potential solutions.

• Together with Rutgers School of CriminalJustice, the Institute hosted a MiniRoundtable series on Incarceration,Reentry, and the Family. Attended by more than 75 individuals representing awide cross section of organizations aroundthe state, this series focused on prisoners asparents. With both formerly incarceratedindividuals and corrections staff asparticipants and panelists, the workshopsought to increase the understanding ofthe opportunities and challenges of familyinvolvement during and after incarceration.

• The Institute and Seton Hall Law Schoolco-hosted a conference on “The CivilConsequences of Criminal Convictions:Issues for Policy and Practice in NewJersey,” which brought together a range of national and New Jersey experts toaddress how collateral sanctions areimposed, and create barriers to successfulreintegration, and to consider prospects for reform.

• With the Woodrow Wilson School’s PolicyResearch Institute for the Region (prior)at Princeton University and the VeraInstitute, njisj co-hosted a seminal, three-part workshop series on Justice

17and Safety in America’s ImmigrantCommunities. The series brought togethermore than 200 leaders to consider thequestion of how public safety can be ensuredin the region’s burgeoning immigrantcommunities without jeopardizing justicefor all, especially in the wake of the new demands placed on criminal justiceagencies by the national response to 9/11.

• The Institute co-sponsored a secondconference with the Princeton Institute on the Region (prior) which examined the increasing debate about the role andfunction of consent orders: the legalmechanisms by which courts oversee the operations of public agencies in fields ranging from child welfare to prison systems, from school and housingdesegregation to law enforcement.

Each of these sessions raised newquestions and highlighted new connections

between issues. One promising result is an expanded and more groundedacademic research agenda reflecting the multiple perspectives represented at these conferences.

REGIONALEQUITY

19REGIONAL EQUITYThe Institute’s Regional Equity Initiative works to ensurethat the services and opportunities available to suburbanNew Jersey residents are similarly available throughoutthe State’s cities.

Addressing the Crisis of Home RepairCurrently, nearly a quarter of a million New Jerseyhomeowners have acute home repair needs and, in the state’s urban areas, more than a third of allhomeowners face such a crisis. This situation is becoming more critical throughout the state as bothhomeowners and housing stock age. Low-income andelderly homeowners in particular face challenges infinding affordable home repair and reliable home repaircontractors to perform necessary repairs. The consequencesare seen in the rising levels of abandonment in certainneighborhoods and in the increasing vulnerability ofhouseholds to abusive contracting and financing practices.These problems are exacerbated by the racial patterns of high cost lending, the expanding use of interest-onlyand nontraditional mortgage products, and the relatively low number of mainstream financial institutions in these communities.

To date, the response of the public and private sectorsin New Jersey has been fragmented and insufficient.While state and local governments have noted the problem,what has emerged is a large number of very small grant-funded programs that are unable to address the magnitudeof this need; unable to leverage significant additionalfunding; and subject to termination when grant funds are exhausted. This establishes an environment where

20

Distribution of Bank Branches in AfricanAmerican and Hispanic Communities. Essex County, NJ (2005)

0

1–7.99

8–14.99

15–32.99

> = 50% AfricanAmerican orHispanic Residents

Municipal Boundary

Data Source: ESRI GIS dataUS Census of Population

and HousingFederal Depository

Insurance CorporationNew Jersey Department

of Banking

N

lending institutions offering loans thatcontain abusive terms are able to grow. As a result, homeowners are losing theirhomes to foreclosure when they default on these high cost loans. This year, theInstitute expanded its advocacy workagainst the practice of predatory lendingby focusing on the practical needs ofurban homeowners. We undertookresearch to illustrate the concentration of mainstream banks and other financialinstitutions, check cashing outlets, andpayday lenders throughout Essex County.Not surprising to those familiar with the

topic and as shown in the maps below, the location of these institutions largelyfollows the county’s pattern of racialsegregation and to a lesser extent, incomestratification.

In House Rich, Pocket Poor, co-authoredby the Institute, the Local InitiativesSupport Corporation and the New JerseyPublic Policy Research Institute, data ispresented that shows the gap that existsbetween the needs of homeowners and the adequacy of financial institutions andquality contractors available to addressthese needs. The paper was discussed at

21

“The Institute is capable of goingforward and helping the State with any particular issue when it comes to financial services. Iknow from my own involvementwith the Institute that they havethe skill, capability, knowledge,and commitment… getting to the bottom of a fair and balancedanswer is one of the things theydo best.”

Rob TillmanFormer Director, NJ Department of Banking and Insurance

a conference co-sponsored by the authors on homeownership preservation which drew near 100 attendeesfrom around the state to build momentum for addressingabusive home repair financing practices and relatedpolicy reform. It was clear that municipal housingprograms were far too limited in scale and scope to beginto provide needed financing for home repair. As a resultof this conference, the Institute together with others hasbegun to focus on the development and implementationof a pilot home repair finance program in one or moremunicipalities in Essex County.

We also continued to monitor policy related topredatory lending and broader abusive lending issues to ensure that policy gains culminating with the state’stough Anti-Predatory Lending Law were not reversed.This included working in collaboration with the Departmentof Consumer Affairs, njpirg, Legal Services of NJ, and the Anti-Poverty Network with respect to both abusivecontractors and furniture rent-to-own businesses, inparticular the rent-to-own bill and proposed amendmentsto the Home Repair Financing Act. We also participatedin a national evaluation of state anti-predatory lendinglegislation which showed that the New Jersey anti-predatory lending legislation has curbed abusive lendingpractices and lowered the cost of mortgage financing tosub-prime borrowers without reducing the availability of responsible sub-prime credit.

22 Affordable HousingThe Institute prepared an analysis of RegionalContribution Agreements (rcas) to inform proposals on housing policy and challenges to the Council onAffordable Housing’s third round rules. rcas are acompromise provision of the Fair Housing Act allowingmunicipalities to transfer up to half of their obligation tocreate affordable housing to another municipality in the same region for a specified payment. rcas are subject to the criticism that they enable suburban communities to evade their fair share obligations and perpetuate racialand economic segregation.

23EXPANSION OF LEGAL CAPACITY

The Institute has always been closelyaffiliated with the legal community—from its co-founder, Alan Lowenstein, to its founding executive director KenZimmerman, (who recently departed tobecome Chief Counsel to Governor Jon S. Corzine) to the three former AttorneysGeneral (one U.S., two N.J.) on our board.In its brief existence, the Institute hashelped make important new law—includinga 2005 appellate decision that remains the only decision in the nation to hold thatpredatory lending may violate the victim’scivil rights.

The Institute’s ability to take part in a range of legal efforts was made possibleby a dramatic expansion both in staff andscope. We have also been awarded a two-year Skadden Fellowship beginning in2007. The Skadden is the most competitiveand prestigious public interest fellowshipfor law graduates and our work will focus on housing issues, addressing bothadequacy and equity.

Emerging activities of the LegalDepartment include:

• An amicus curiae (“friend of the court”)brief in a case now before the New JerseySupreme Court, urging the Court to construe

certain statutes in a way that maximizesaccess to the drug courts program for appropriate defendants. Like theiranalogues in other states, New Jersey’sdrug courts have a strong record ofincreasing public safety and saving publicdollars by effectively addressing addictionand markedly reducing recidivism.

• We are helping community developmentcorporations petition the courts to benamed receivers of abandoned properties—a goal that, if realized, would increase thestock of affordable housing and reduceurban blight. This effort has us partneringwith the Housing and CommunityDevelopment Network of New Jersey,the Department of Community Affairs, and a select group of cdcs, with pro bonolegal support from Lowenstein Sandler.

In 2006, we received a generous giftfrom the Lowenstein Sandler Law Firm, to enhance the Institute’s legal program.We sincerely thank the Lowenstein Sandlerlaw firm for its generous pledge of $1.25 million over five years, to enable the Institute to engage in a broad range of legal efforts.

The law is a powerful tool for socialchange, and the Institute’s legal program—with the support of our donors—willremain an important part of advancing the Institute’s agenda in 2007.

24 DEVELOPMENT

In 2006, the Institute hired its firstDirector of Development who was chargedwith expanding the Institute’s fundingbase and increasing support from publicand private sources. Our first step towardsthis end was to hold the Institute’sinaugural fundraising gala celebrating our 5th year of operation. The gala alsoprovided an opportunity to publiclyrecognize and to thank Alan Lowensteinand his family for both their vision andfinancial support in establishing theInstitute and to express our appreciationand regard to Nick Katzenbach, our firstBoard President.

We also celebrated and thanked ourremarkable honorees for their work in addressing the challenges faced byNewark and other urban areas in the

State. Dennis Bone of Verizon New Jerseyreceived the Corporate Leadership Award;William T. Mullen and Martin Schwartz of the Building and Construction TradesCouncil were honored for their partnershipin the establishment and operation of the Essex County Construction CareersConsortium; and Reverend Dr. WilliamHoward and Bethany Cares, the serviceorganization of Bethany Baptist Church,for its work with troubled and at riskyouth with our Community-BuildersAwards. More than 350 friends andpartners attended the gala evening.

Moving forward, the Institute will look to foundations, corporations andindividuals to provide the significant giftsthat will support and expand the work ofthe Institute. 2006 was a year of layinggroundwork to initiate this strategy.

Top Left: Mayor Cory Booker and Robert Curvin,NJISJ Trustee

Top Right: (R–L) Martin Schwartz, President, EssexBuilding and Construction Trades Council; GustavHeningburg, President, Gustav HeningburgAssociates; William Mullen, President; NJ StateBuilding and Construction Trades Council; KennethZimmerman, NJISJ Executive Director; RebeccaDoggett, NJISJ Senior Fellow

Middle Right: Richard Roper, NJISJ Trustee, Rev. Dr.William Howard, Pastor, Bethany Baptist Church;

Kenneth Zimmerman, NJISJ Executive Director

Middle Left: Grizel Ubarry, NJISJ Trustee; DennisBone, President, Verizon New Jersey; KennethZimmerman, NJISJ Executive Director

Bottom Left: Alan Lowenstein, Founder, NJISJ;Nicholas DeB. Katzenbach, NJISJ Founding BoardPresident; Governor Jon Corzine

Bottom Right: John Farmer, Jr., NJISJ President;Hon. Dickinson Debevoise, NJISJ Trustee

25

26

STAFF

Richard Roper Interim Executive Director

Ellen BrownChief Operating Officer

John W. Bartlett Legal & Policy Counsel

Rodney BruttonProject DirectorN/ECCC

Rebecca DoggettSenior Fellow

Kelly DoughertyDirector of Administration& Human Resources

Amy Eisenstein Director of Development

Nancy FishmanSenior Law & Policy Analyst

Richard Greenberg Equal JusticeFellow

Rasheed Jackson Employment SpecialistNew Careers Project

Allen JamesProgram DirectorNew Careers Project

Craig LevineSenior Counsel & Policy Director

Elizabeth Reynoso Coordinator of Planning &Community PartnershipsNew Careers Project

Rita SimmonsOffice Manager

Jamilla Thompson Senior Case ManagerNew Careers Project

Nichele Wilson Case ManagerNew Careers Project

Institute staff at our holiday party.

27

Yahonnes Cleary

Ann Cammett

Ken Zimmerman

Saying Goodbye The Institute saw many staff changes during 2005and 2006. We are proud to have had the opportunity to work with such exceptional individuals and we are excited to see where their talents take them next.

Yahonnes Cleary, the first njisj Lowenstein CommunityDevelopment Fellow. Over his two years with the Institute,Yahonnes worked to identify creative solutions topredatory lending and home repair challenges faced by Newark. Yahonnes left the Institute in the summer of 2006 to begin law school at Yale University.

Ann Cammett, Policy Analyst for the Institute. Ann’s work has enabled the Institute to educate the public andcollaborate with a broad community of individuals andorganizations concerned about prisoner reentry. Anncreated the Institute’s Reentry Digest. Ann became a Fellowat the Georgetown University Domestic Violence Clinic.

Ken Zimmerman, Inaugural Executive Director. It wouldbe impossible to list all the ways in which Ken left hismark on the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Kenworked tirelessly for the advancement of the Institute’smission and, in doing so, became a widely admiredleader for us all. We are proud that Ken was appointedChief Counsel to Governor Corzine in the fall of 2006.

28 New FacilitiesWith the implementation of the New Careers Project inthe winter of 2006, we needed to increase our spaceagain. This time the Institute chose to renovate twofloors of a brownstone on Lincoln Park in Newark thatwould become the first njisj satellite office and theoffices of the New Careers staff.

We thank the members of the Essex County Buildingand Construction Trades Council who gave generouslyof their time and skills to assist us in preparing thisspace for occupancy.

29COND E NSED STATEMENTS OF F INANCIAL POS IT IONSeptember 30, 2006 and 2005

Cash & investmentsGrants & accounts receivablePrepaid expensesProperty & equipment less accumulated depreciationPledges receivableTotal assets

Account payable & accrued expensesGrants received in advance

UnrestrictedUndesignatedBoard designated

Temporarily restricted

Assets

Liabilities & Net Assets (Deficit)Liabilities

Net assets (deficit)

2005$ 7,713,448

203,277 22,558 69,720

-8,009,003

115,335 566,302 681,637

8,5227,286,812

32,032 7,327,366 8,009,003

2006$ 7,600,591

138,503 20,412 84,709

1,218,489 9,062,704

21,228 465,429 486,657

(84,134)7,441,692 1,218,489 8,576,047 9,062,704

COND E NSED STATEMENTS OF ACT IV IT IESSeptember 30, 2006 and 2005

Public SupportGrantsInvestment IncomeOther IncomeTotal IncomeProgram ServicesSupport ServicesTotal ExpensesIncrease in net assets

Income

Functional Expenses

2005$ 103,465.00

741,434.00 945,067.00

83,511.00 1,873,477.00 1,429,733.00

328,340.00 1,758,073.00

115,404.00

2006$ 1,603,905.00

963,427.00 678,630.00

25,170.00 3,271,132.00 1,697,031.00

325,420.002,022,451.00 1,248,681.00

A copy of the audited financial statements is available upon request.

30

$ 115,4040

15,540(841,138)

(12,528)

-(47,263)

6,201(3,569)(2,740)

69,449118,084(4,101)

(586,661)7,044,861

(6,891,575)(45,818)107,468

(479,193)1,104,480

625,28717,000

$ 1,248,681

17,426(459,336)

(5,491)

(1,218,489)63,699

1.0752,146

-

(64,107)(100,873)

(30,000)(545,269)4,211,775

(3,899,983)(32,416)279,376

(265,893)625,287359,394

44,177

Increase in net assetsAdjustments to reconcile increase in netassets to net cash provided by operatingactivities:

DepreciationGains on investment securitiesIncrease in cash surrender value of

life insurance policies(Increase) decrease in:

Pledges receivable—temporarily restrictedGrants receivableAccounts receivablePrepaid expensesDeposits

Increase (decrease) in:Accounts payable & accrued expensesGrants received in advanceAccrued federal excise taxCash used in operating activities

Proceeds from sale of investment securitiesAcquisition of investment securitiesAcquisition of propery & equipment

Cash provided by investing activitiesNet decrease in cash & cash equivalents

Cash & cash equivalents, beginning of yearCash & cash equivalents, end of yearCash paid for federal excise tax

Cash flow from operating activities

Cash flow from investing activities

STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS Years Ended September 30, 2006 and 2005

2006 2005

A copy of the audited financial statements is available upon request.

FUNDING PARTNERS

aarpAnnie E. Casey FoundationEssex County Office of Economic Development and Citizen ServicesFannie Mae FoundationHealthcare FoundationjehtLowenstein Sandler, PCNicholson FoundationNJ Administrative Office of the CourtsNJ Department of CorrectionsNJ Department of LaborNJ Department of StateOffender Aid and RestorationOpen Society InstitutePort Authority of New York & New JerseyPrudential FoundationSchumann FundWoodrow Wilson School

31

32 PARTNERS

AARP • AFL/CIO-New Jersey • American Community Partners • American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) •The Annie E. Casey Foundation • Association for Children of New Jersey • Bethany Baptist Church—Newark •Black Chamber of Commerce of Northern New Jersey • Bloomfield College • Building Contractors Association of New Jersey • Catholic Community Services • Center for Community Change • Center for Community Self Help •Center for Employment Opportunities • Center for Mental Health Services and Criminal Justice Research, Rutgers University • Center for Urban Policy Research • Children and Families Fellowship Network • Citizen Action (New Jersey) •Coalition for Affordable Housing and the Environment • Coalition for Our Children’s Schools • College of New Jersey •Community Food Bank of New Jersey • Cornwall Institute • Corporation for Supportive Housing • Dardone Electric •Eagleton Institute Center for Public Interest Polling • Education and Law Center • Enterprise Foundation • EpiscopalCommunity Development • Essex County One-Stop Career Center • Essex County Building and Construction Trades Council • Essex County NAACP • Essex County Office of Economic Development and Citizen Services • Essex CountyVocational Schools • Essex Vicinage Courts, Family Division • Essex Vicinage Municipal Division • Essex/Newark LegalServices • Fair Share Housing Center • Family Justice, Inc. • Female Offender Reentry Group of Essex (F.O.R.G.E.) •First Occupational Center • Foundations, Inc. • Fund for an Open Society • Greater Newark Business DevelopmentConsortium • Greater Newark Safer Cities Initiative • Harris Organization • Harvard Civil Rights Project • HealthcareFoundation • Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies • Heldrich Center for Workforce Development • Heningburg and Associates •Hillside Auto Mall • Housing and Community Development Network • Housing Mortgage and Finance Agency • HunterRoberts Construction Group • Hyacinth Foundation • Instructional Systems, Inc. • Integrity House • Isles, Inc. • JingoliConstruction • John J. Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest and Constitutional Law • Jubilee Interfaith Coalition •Juvenile Justice Commission • La Casa de Don Pedro • Legal Services of New Jersey • Local Government Institute •Lowenstein Sandler • Montclair Town Council • NAACP • NAACP Legal Defense Fund • National Economic Development and Law Center • New Community Corporation • New Jersey Acorn • New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts •New Jersey Child Welfare Panel • New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance • New Jersey Department of Corrections • New Jersey Department of Human Services • New Jersey Department of Labor • New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety • New Jersey Division of Motor Vehicle Services • New Jersey Future • New Jersey Office of the Child Advocate • New Jersey Policy Perspectives • New Jersey Public Policy Research Institute • New Jersey SchoolsConstruction Corporation • New Jersey State Building Trades Council • New Jersey State Parole Board • New York UniversitySchool of Law • Newark Alliance • Newark Asset Building Coalition • Newark Community Development Network • NewarkEmergency Services for Families, Inc. (NESF) • Newark Local Initiatives Support Corporation • Newark Mayor’s Office onEmployment and Training • Newark One-Stop Career Center • Newark Public Schools • Newark Workforce Investment Board • Offenders Aid and Restoration • Office of the Governor • Office of the Public Defender • Parsons Brinkerhoff/3di •Poverty Race Research Action Council • Princeton University • Project Search • Public/Private Ventures • RailroadConstruction • Regional Business Partnership • Regional Planning Partnership • Rutgers Law School Environmental LawClinic • Rutgers Law School Urban Legal Clinic • Rutgers University Bloustein School of Public Policy • S.T.A.R.S. CDC •Seton Hall Fair Housing Clinic • Seton Hall Institute on Work • Seton Hall Law School • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &Flom • State Employment and Training Commission • State Parole Board • Superior Court of New Jersey, Essex • Tri-CityPeoples Corporation • Unified Vailsburg Services Organization • United Jewish Communities • United Way of Essex and WestHudson • University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey • Urban Institute • Violence Institute at UMDNJ • VoorheesTransportation Policy Institute • WISE Women’s Center/ECC • Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University • Youth Build Newark

Annual Report 2005/2006

New Jersey Institute for Social Justice60 Park Place, Suite 511Newark, NJ 07102-5504ph. 973.624.9400fx. 973.624.0704email: [email protected]