Advancing Equity: Activities to Date
Since its founding in 2009, increasing fairness and opportunity for all residents has been central to its vision of a sustainable future. Across New Jersey, many communities experience disparities in access to the conditions that support health, education, and economic stability based on where people live and long-standing systemic factors. Building more sustainable communities requires improving the systems that shape access to these opportunities. Sustainable Jersey supports municipal governments and schools in making lasting, system-level improvements that help ensure everyone has what they need to thrive.
Sustainable Jersey provides additional support to municipalities that have fewer local resources or staff capacity so they can fully participate in the program, through targeted outreach, technical assistance, hands-on help with implementing actions, guidance in applying for grants, and support in achieving certification. Examples include our suite of actions addressing lead in drinking water, housing and blood levels; access to healthy food; and improving representation and public engagement in local decision-making.
Perhaps most significantly, municipalities participating in the program are implementing many Sustainable Jersey actions that expand access to services, improve access and opportunity, and strengthen local capacity to create communities where all residents can thrive.
In 2017, Sustainable Jersey embarked in upon an internal initiative to integrate social equity more intentionally across the program. The learning and accomplishments from the first two years of that ongoing initiative are encapsulated in the report: Advancing Social Equity through the Sustainable Jersey Program: Analysis and Potential. The report details the results of a systematic audit and screening of all actions in the municipal certification program for potential gaps in equitable access to resources and opportunities, and an analysis of municipal performance in certification and grants.
The report found that municipalities across the state of different racial compositions participate in the program at roughly equal rates; certification level is weakly correlated with lower municipal distress; and grant awards are not correlated to socio-economic traits of a community. While larger municipalities are more likely to be certified and to receive grant approval, most success in the program is driven by factors other than size or local economic conditions.