Crossroads NJ Conversations

The Fund for New Jersey hosted the fourth and final Crossroads NJ Conversation: The Future of Housing and Education in New Jersey on October 15. The event began with remarks from Brandon McKoy, President of The Fund for New Jersey, and featured a powerful panel of changemakers committed to expanding educational access, promoting smart housing development, and strengthening community resilience in our state. We extend our deepest gratitude to the expert panel including Peggy Bailey, Staci Berger, Dr. Jesselly De La Cruz, DSW, LCSW, Adam M. Gordon, Esq. and Robert Kim, Esq. We extend deep appreciation to the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs for hosting us for the evening.

Whether you joined us in person or registered but couldn’t make it, we appreciate your interest in helping create the New Jersey we all deserve. These conversations were designed not just to inspire, but also to ignite action. We encourage you to: 

• Visit the Crossroads NJ Conversations page to rewatch previous conversations and share with someone in your network.
• Engage with the work of our panelists and support their efforts.
• Help us enhance future events by completing a brief survey.

As we conclude the Crossroads NJ 2025 series, we encourage you to take time to learn more about the issues impacting our beloved state, explore what’s on your ballot, and make your voice heard in the upcoming elections. The choices we make now will shape New Jersey’s future, and together, we can turn bold ideas into meaningful outcomes.

Brandon McKoy, President of The Fund for New Jersey, published an op-ed in Business in New Jersey – Everyday (BINJE) entitled “Silence is Not Leadership.” The editorial highlights the major themes that emerged from the Crossroads series and expresses the importance of developing specific solutions for specific challenges, referencing a variety of priorities and concerns raised by attendees of the Crossroads series and their desire for gubernatorial candidates to more directly address those challenges. Read the op-ed here…

What public policy issues are coming up this month?

• Census 2030 and Master Address Files: New LUCA Resource Guide Released – LUCA stands for Local Update of Census Addresses and is crucial to ensuring an accurate and complete count can be accomplished.

• New Jersey’s 2025 General Election is tomorrow (November 4) — here are some links to helpful election and voter guides:
  • ACLU-NJ Election Guide
  • Advocates for Children of NJ Election Guide
  • AAPI-NJ Voter Guide
  • LWVNJ Voting Guide
  • NJ Monitor Voter Guide
  • NJ Spotlight News Election Guide
  • Salvation and Social Justice Black Ballot 2025
  • State of Affairs Decision 2025
  • WHYY News NJ Voter Guide

Grantee News

Policy Updates

• Education Law Center (ELC): ELC created two interactive national funding tools. The first tool, Trump 2.0: Proposed FY2026 Budget Cuts to K-12 Education, allows users to examine how much their school district will lose if the Trump’s Administration’s proposed FY2026 budget cuts go into effect. The second tool, Trump 2.0 Federal Revenue Tool: School and Congressional Districts, enables users to create and share customized data reports including detailed program level breakdown of projected losses school districts would experience if the proposed budget were implemented. ELC also launched, Public Funds Public Schools, a national public education  campaign tool.
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey: A coalition of 30 organizations led by the ACLU of New Jersey filed an amicus brief in support of community trust policies in Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Hoboken which limit voluntary collaboration between municipal agencies and federal immigration enforcement. Read more here…

• Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC): The city of Newark and ICC secured victory in their August 2025 motion to stay lawsuit against the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission’s (PVSC) that had planned to construct a gas-fired power plant adjacent to ICC’s headquarters in the East Ward. This comes after a July 14 lawsuit filed by the City and ICC against the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission (PVSC) and contractor Skanska/Railroad SPGF JV for approving the construction of a fourth gas power plant in Newark. Read more here…
• Adhikaar: Adhikaar partnered with the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the U.S. Immigration Policy Center (USIPC) at the University of California, San Diego to conduct the first systematic survey examining the contributions of Nepali Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders to the U.S. economy. This survey was conducted amid ongoing litigation over the 2018 decision to end Nepal’s TPS designation. TPS has provided approximately 14,800 Nepali individuals with work authorization and deportation protection since 2015. Read more here…

Grantee Reports

• Fair Share Housing Center (FSHC): FSHC released a toolkit for residents interested in supporting affordable housing in their hometowns. Among other things, the toolkit explains the Mount Laurel Doctrine, demystifies municipal zoning and provides a sample letter that residents can send or email to local municipal leaders to urge them to support affordable housing. Read more here…