{"id":14839,"date":"2025-12-02T11:45:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T16:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/?p=14839"},"modified":"2025-12-02T11:45:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T16:45:25","slug":"2025-year-end-report-and-annual-appeal-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/2025\/12\/02\/2025-year-end-report-and-annual-appeal-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Year End Report and Annual Appeal Letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

NJFAN Moves Ahead With Ambitious Partnership Project to Create Federal Job Guarantee<\/h3>\n
Dear Friends,<\/p>\n

\"TrudyIn writing to you this year, we celebrate an exciting new chapter in NJFAN\u2019s advocacy of the fundamental human right to living-wage work!<\/strong> After a national search for a dynamic director to head the Job Guarantee Project\u2013<\/strong>a partnership of NJFAN <\/strong>and the Institute for Race, Power and Political Economy (the Institute) at The New School<\/strong>\u2013we take pride in announcing the appointment of Cortney Sanders, <\/strong>the Inaugural Director of NJFAN at the Institute.<\/p>\n

Sanders\u2013who will lead us in developing an action plan for promoting the Job Guarantee more knowledgeably, effectively, and successfully\u2013assumes this key role after a decade of experience at the intersection of racial equity, fiscal policy, and social insura\"Cortneynce. 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.<\/p>\n

We hope that at this critical time, you\u2019ll consider making a generous gift to support NJFAN\u2019s<\/u><\/strong> advocacy and policy leadership in fighting for full employment and a federal job guarantee.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Under Sanders\u2019 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are also pleased to announce the election, in October, of a new NJFAN Board of Directors<\/strong>. This distinguished group of advocates of the Job Guarantee is committed to take an active role in overseeing the work of the Institute\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

We take this opportunity to express gratitude for the outstanding leadership of Philip Harvey<\/strong>. Phil has served as NJFAN\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Along with the development of our promising Partnership with the Institute, NJFAN continues vigorous action on its signature projects:<\/p>\n

NJFAN\u2019s Connecticut Jobs and Human Rights Task Force<\/strong>, led by NJFAN Board and Executive Committee member, Professor Stephen Monroe Tomczak (Zak), builds \u201cpeople power\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

NJFAN\u2019s Coalition-Building and Advocacy Action <\/strong>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 \u201cFor Jobs and Freedom\u201d and pondered this question: \u201cIs Black Full Employment possible without Affirmative Action (AA) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the wake of Trump\u2019s assault on the nation\u2019s safety net, Chuck has organized The Fightback: Advocacy and Movement Building to Oppose Harsh Cuts to Public Services and Social Welfare Programs<\/em><\/strong>. 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.<\/p>\n

Logan Martinez<\/strong>, 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\u2013Connecticut, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas, and continues to work with our Connecticut Jobs and Human Rights Task Force.<\/p>\n

The Columbia University Seminar on Full Employment, Social Welfare and Equity<\/strong>, closely associated with NJFAN since our founding, is currently co-chaired by Chuck Bell and me. This fall\u2019s meetings began with a presentation: \u201cBaby Bonds, Job Guarantee, and Building a Just Economy.<\/strong>\u201d The speaker, David Radcliffe, is the State and Local Policy Director at the Institute. Our meeting in April, \u201cHarry Hopkins: A Social Worker\u2019s Fight for Full Employment<\/strong>,\u201d 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\u2013but a Roosevelt descendant\u2013economist 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.<\/div>\n

The NJFAN Newsletter <\/strong>continues to publish informative articles, reports of NJFAN actions, book reviews, and more. Our pieces continue to be reprinted in other publications, for example, the article on June Hopkins\u2019 presentation is on the website of the Columbia University Seminars. Book reviews that first appear in the NJFAN Newsletter have been reprinted in other publications.<\/p>\n

NJFAN\u2019s Signature Full Count<\/strong>\u2014a tally of monthly unemployment is always double the official rate<\/strong>. Why? Because it includes involuntary unemployed workers and workers who are jobless and want to work but are not actively seeking it. The Full Count for each month back to 2009 is archived on our website, www.njfac.org<\/a> \u2013 thanks to the careful work of economist June Zaccone who created our website and has managed it since our founding in 1994. (Talk about dedicated volunteers!)
\nWe circulate the Full Count on the internet and include it in the NJFAN Newsletter for the month nearest to the date of the issue. Consider the political consequences of this undercount\u2014of a problem perceived by the public as less than half as widespread as it really is!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Historian Frank Stricker<\/strong>\u2014author of American Unemployment, Past, Present, and Future<\/em>\u2014writes pithy, incisive comments on the monthly unemployment data. Frank\u2019s comments are increasingly widely circulated. In addition to our website and the internet, they appear monthly on the blog of Dollars and Sense<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In writing to you with enthusiasm and high hopes we certainly do not underestimate the grave challenges that our democracy faces. We also recognize that the failure to establish the fundamental guarantee of living-wage work and other essential economic rights is an important source of disillusion, discontent, and susceptibility to purveyors of false political promise. <\/em>Successful advocacy and achievement of essential economic rights are, thus, more important than ever. The achievement of these economic rights is essential to the preservation of American democracy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the years, your contributions have sustained us. This year, we need your support for<\/u><\/strong> our efforts to modernize our communications and deepen volunteer engagement. Your<\/u> contributions, moreover, strengthen our research and education and expand our on-the-ground advocacy and public engagement in communities across the country.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

As we embark on a more ambitious program\u2014under experienced professional leadership we count on you more than ever.<\/p>\n

Warm wishes for the New Year,
\n
\nGertrude Schaffner Goldberg
\nChair<\/p>\n

Email: njfac@njfac.org<\/a>
\nPhone: 203-856-3877
\n
55 West 13th Street
\nAttn: The New School, NJFAN
\nNew York, NY 10011<\/p>\n

#GivingTuesday<\/strong><\/p>\n

NJFAN 2025 Year End Report and Annual Appeal Letter (pdf)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NJFAN Moves Ahead With Ambitious Partnership Project to Create Federal Job Guarantee Dear Friends, In writing to you this year, we celebrate an exciting new chapter in NJFAN\u2019s advocacy of the fundamental human right to living-wage work! After a national search for a dynamic director to head the Job Guarantee Project\u2013a partnership of NJFAN and… Read More 2025 Year End Report and Annual Appeal Letter<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-njfac","category-njfac-and-its-mission"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14841,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14839\/revisions\/14841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}