Dear Friends,

In writing to you this year, we celebrate an exciting new chapter in NJFAN’s advocacy of the fundamental human right to living-wage work! After a national search for a dynamic director to head the Job Guarantee Project–a partnership of NJFAN and the Institute for Race, Power and Political Economy (the Institute) at The New School–we take pride in announcing the appointment of Cortney Sanders, the Inaugural Director of NJFAN at the Institute.

Sanders–who will lead us in developing an action plan for promoting the Job Guarantee more knowledgeably, effectively, and successfully–assumes this key role after a decade of experience at the intersection of racial equity, fiscal policy, and social insurance. Cortney previously held senior roles at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, where she focused on state fiscal policy, and at the U.S. Social Security Administration, where she led efforts to examine labor market barriers and retirement outcomes. A strategic thinker and coalition builder, Cortney Sanders has worked across federal, state, and nonprofit sectors to ensure that public policy delivers for all communities.

We hope that at this critical time, you’ll consider making a generous gift to support NJFAN’s advocacy and policy leadership in fighting for full employment and a federal job guarantee.

Under Sanders’ leadership, NJFAN will expand its visibility and policy advocacy to win support for federal and state legislation that guarantees employment as a fundamental human right. Although serving as NJFAN Director only since September, Cortney; has already brought spirited professional leadership to what had been, for the thirty years of our existence, a largely volunteer enterprise.

We are also pleased to announce the election, in October, of a new NJFAN Board of Directors. This distinguished group of advocates of the Job Guarantee is committed to take an active role in overseeing the work of the Institute’s Jobs For All Project and our advocacy of Job Guarantee initiatives at federal, state, and local levels of government. Professor Darrick Hamilton, Founding Director of the Institute, continues to serve as a member of the NJFAN Board.

We take this opportunity to express gratitude for the outstanding leadership of Philip Harvey. Phil has served as NJFAN’s Treasurer and Legal Counsel for most of our existence and represented NJFAN as chief advisor to federal, state, and local officials initiating Jobs Guarantee legislation. As a member of NJFAN’s Strategic Planning Committee, Professor Harvey played a leading role in developing the partnership between the Institute and NJFAN that led to the creation of the Jobs For All Project. We regret that Phil has resigned from the NJFAN Board after his long, distinguished advocacy of the fundamental economic human right fight to employment but are pleased that he will continue to lend his knowledge to projects that tap his unique knowledge of the Job Guarantee.

Along with the development of our promising Partnership with the Institute, NJFAN continues vigorous action on its signature projects:

NJFAN’s Connecticut Jobs and Human Rights Task Force, led by NJFAN Board and Executive Committee member, Professor Stephen Monroe Tomczak (Zak), builds “people power” and brings visibility to a NJFAN Full Employment policy plan through a program of mutually reinforcing components: outreach with local groups, labor unions, and coalitions; raising critical consciousness; and legislative advocacy. Social worker Sarianna Sabbarese who, as a student intern, assisted Zak in founding the Task Force, is an organizer and outreach worker for our Connecticut initiative.

NJFAN’s Coalition-Building and Advocacy Action is led by NJFAN Vice Chair Charles Bell. This Fall, Chuck moderated a Webinar of the Center on Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) that commemorated the 1963 March on Washington “For Jobs and Freedom” and pondered this question: “Is Black Full Employment possible without Affirmative Action (AA) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)?”

In the wake of Trump’s assault on the nation’s safety net, Chuck has organized The Fightback: Advocacy and Movement Building to Oppose Harsh Cuts to Public Services and Social Welfare Programs. For a second year, Chuck has moderated a panel on this resistance at a meeting of the Columbia University Seminar on Full Employment, Social Welfare, and Equity. Representing The Fightback this year were Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director, Coalition for Human Needs; Raina Hackett, Senior Legislative Assistant for Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), serving on the Fightback Panel for a second year; and LaToya B. Parker, Senior Researcher in the Office of the President at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Logan Martinez, our Outreach Coordinator, who was the lead organizer for earlier Jobs for All Town Meetings in Dayton/Columbus OH, Memphis TN, and New Haven CT, continues to recruit supporters of the Job Guarantee through outreach to labor unions and anti-poverty advocates. Logan provides monthly estimates of real unemployment and under-employment for five key targeted states–Connecticut, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas, and continues to work with our Connecticut Jobs and Human Rights Task Force.

The Columbia University Seminar on Full Employment, Social Welfare and Equity, closely associated with NJFAN since our founding, is currently co-chaired by Chuck Bell and me. This fall’s meetings began with a presentation: “Baby Bonds, Job Guarantee, and Building a Just Economy.” The speaker, David Radcliffe, is the State and Local Policy Director at the Institute. Our meeting in April, “Harry Hopkins: A Social Worker’s Fight for Full Employment,” featured a presentation by historian and biographer of her grandfather, June Hopkins. Co-sponsored with New York Living New Deal, this meeting included–not only descendants of the Federal Relief Administrator and Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins–but a Roosevelt descendant–economist Professor Franklin D. Roosevelt, III, a long-time participant in this Seminar and active supporter of NJFAN. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Seminar meetings have been available via Zoom so that we are able to reach advocates of full employment across the country.