Sweeney To Join Panel Discussion on ALICE Report

TRENTON – Senate President Steve Sweeney on Monday will participate in a panel discussion on the recently-released ALICE report, which measures the number of New Jersey families who hold full-time jobs but cannot afford the basic necessities.

The special forum, entitled “Seeing ALICE and Envisioning a Strong New Jersey,” sponsored by the United Ways of Northern New Jersey, the author of the report, and NJ Spotlight, the award-winning news site that focuses on policies and politics in New Jersey, is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. Monday, October 29, 2018 at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Main Hospital Courtyard, 1 Robert Wood Johnson Place, New Brunswick, NJ 08901.

Moderated by NJ Spotlight’s John Mooney, the panel will include Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, Carole Ash, Chief Medical Officer of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Alfa Demmelash, DEO, Rising Tide Capital and William Rodgers III, Chief Economist, Rutgers University’s Heldrich Center for Workforce Development.

Senator Sweeney will talk about the need to find government cost savings and efficiencies so that we can make investments in the programs and initiatives that will aid ALICE families and expand economic opportunities.

ALICE, which stands for “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed,” identifies the close to 40 percent of New Jersey households who are working but struggle to afford basic needs like housing, food, transportation, health care, and taxes. The study makes the important distinction between the national poverty level and the true measurement of affordability that calculates living costs in New Jersey. Since 2010, those living in poverty and below the ALICE threshold increased by 15 percent as the cost of basic needs has outpaced wage growth, according to the new report.

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