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Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs
Building Knowledge for Policy and Practice in Southern New Jersey
Community initiatives, partnerships, coalitions, development
An innovative social-emotional learning (SEL) program established in the Clayton Public School District will be expanded in up to 30 schools across New Jersey, thanks to a legislative effort that became law on May 11, 2021. Implementation of the program will be evaluated by the Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers University–Camden.
WRI is partnering on a statewide, collective ethnography designed to gather and transform the personal accounts of New Jersey residents, especially those who have faced increased marginalization or greater risk as a result of the pandemic, into the building blocks of a more resilient, compassionate and Healthy New Jersey.
Given the uncertainty that families face because of the public health and economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, direct service work has become indispensable. WRI developed a qualitative evaluation project early in the pandemic to examine the range of responses from a group of direct service organizations as they acknowledged, responded to, and worked to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on the families and communities they serve.
WRI is pleased to welcome entrepreneur and training facilitator John Childress to coordinate and lead WRI’s work with the Burlington County Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Planning Board (BCJDP). In this role, he will provide technical assistance to Burlington City, Pemberton Township and Willingboro for juvenile delinquency prevention planning and implementation activities, as well as support the Burlington County Partnership for Youth Success initiative.
WRI joins the Community Planning and Advocacy Council (CPAC) in Camden County as its research partner, focused on evaluating the efficacy of current services and assessing needs. The Human Services Needs Assessment in Camden County will employ quantitative and qualitative analysis using a mix of county data mining, stakeholder interviews, and virtual focus groups to determine the county’s priority needs and service areas.
WRI is partnering with the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development and Cooper’s Ferry Partnership to gather valuable information about the region’s workforce. The project, Seeking Work in South Jersey, aims to better understand the barriers facing both employers looking to hire and job seekers looking to connect or re-connect to the workforce.