2024 Cultivating Access, Rights, and Equity (CARE) Grant – New Jersey - fundsforNGOs

The Cultivating Access, Rights, & Equity (CARE) Grant Program seeks to increase New Jersey workers’ awareness of and equitable access to paid family and medical leave benefits (aka Temporary Disability and Family Leave Insurance), earned sick leave and other work rights, and unemployment insurance.

Donor Name: New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development

State: New Jersey

County: All Counties

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 04/01/2024

Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000

Grant Duration: 1 Year

Details:

This grant program focuses on workers who are less likely to have access to paid leave, such as low-wage workers, immigrants, refugees, veterans, and youth workers, and on reducing barriers related to race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, and gender identity that can impact workers’ knowledge of – and meaningful access to – the rights and benefits for which they are eligible.

For Fiscal Year 2024, the CARE Grant Program has been expanded to include outreach and education on additional Wage and Hour laws, including minimum wage, overtime, wage theft/wage payment, misclassification, and the Temporary Workers Bill of Rights.

Funding Information

The total amount of funding available for the Grant Program is $2.2 million for the current fiscal year:

$500,000 for Earned Sick Leave funded by the Workforce Development Partnership Fund (WDPF)
$500,000 for Work Rights funded by the WDPF
$400,000 for Temporary Disability Insurance funded by the State Disability Benefits Fund (SDBF)
$400,000 for Family Leave Insurance funded by the Family Leave Insurance Account within the SDBF
$400,000 for Unemployment Benefits funded by the WDPF.

Grant Period

Grants are anticipated to be awarded June 1, 2024, but are subject to change. The length of the grant contract period is 12 months, unless otherwise extended or reduced at the discretion of NJDOL.

Grant Activities

Applicants may apply for funding to cover outreach/education and technical assistance and support for the following topic areas, which each have distinct funding sources:

Earned Sick Leave
Other Work Rights (Minimum Wage, Overtime, Misclassification, Wage Payment/Theft, Misclassification, and optionally Temporary Workers Bill of Rights);
Temporary Disability Insurance (paid medical leave benefits);
Family Leave Insurance (paid family leave benefits);
Unemployment Insurance benefits.

Focus Populations

The Grant Program prioritizes outreach and education to reach the following:

Low-wage, part-time, underemployed, and unemployed workers;
Women, Black, Hispanic/Latino/x, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Native American/indigenous, immigrant, refugee, and LGBTQ+ workers; workers who speak languages other than English; workers with disabilities; veteran workers; young workers (ages 16-24); and victims/survivors of domestic and/or sexual violence;
Parents, including mothers, birthing parents, fathers, non-birth parents, adoptive parents, and foster parents;
Caregivers of loved ones with a physical or mental health condition
Employees of child care and elder care providers; clients of domestic violence shelters; school communities; patients of hospitals, community health centers and other health care providers and their caregivers; persons under the care of health care providers (N.J.S.A. 34:11D-10);
Low wage workers from focus industries9 who are disproportionately impacted by a lack of access to paid sick time10, including but not limited to construction; food services and drinking places; health care; home health care; hotel and motel; manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing; personal and repair services; retail trade; security, building, and grounds services; janitorial services; agriculture; social assistance and childcare;
Temporary workers who are placed in a temporary assignment by a temporary help service firm to perform work in certain occupations as designated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Examples of those jobs include: food preparation and serving; production such as laundry and dry cleaning, food processing, textile and wood workers; construction; transportation and moving such as drivers, parking attendants, and material moving; personal care and service, such as amusement, entertainment, and dressing room attendants; building and grounds cleaning and maintenance such as janitors, cleaners and landscaping workers; protective service such as security guards and crossing guards; installation, maintenance and repair;
Service providers who partner with the above workers that need increased access to these programs; could include social workers, maternal and infant health professionals, health care professionals, patient advocates, victim/survivor advocates, community health workers, doulas, and community organizers;
Employers in the above focus industries and/or who predominantly employ the above focus populations; and
Employers that may be less aware of these laws and programs or require additional information and education, including small businesses and businesses with immigrant, women, Black, Hispanic/Latino/x, Asian American, Pacific Islander, or Native American/indigenous owners.

Eligible Applicants

The Grant Program seeks proposals from eligible entities who demonstrate capacity and a history of success providing outreach, education, technical assistance and/or support to workers and/or employers. This includes community-based organizations, service providers, worker centers, unions, legal services organizations, faith-based organizations, chambers of commerce (including ethnic chambers of commerce), small business associations, employer associations, and county and local government agencies.

In soliciting proposals, NJDOL shall not discriminate against any person or organization submitting a proposal pursuant to this grant because of ethnicity, color, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age disability, national origin or other basis prohibited by law.

This grant is open to the following: