[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We are pleased to once again have with us Brandon McKoy, who's president of the Fund for New Jersey, one of our newest underwriters talking about, or focusing on public policy in our state.

Brandon, good to have you with us again.

- It's great to be with you, Steve.

Thanks.

- Tell everyone, as the website is up for the Fund for New Jersey, tell everyone what the 2025 Crossroads report is, and why it's so important.

- So the Crossroads report is the results of a series of four public forums that we at the Fund for New Jersey held across the state last year in 2025, leading up to the gubernatorial election.

And these events brought together more than 300 attendees statewide.

Newark, New Brunswick, Camden, and Princeton, to discuss issues of democracy, economic justice, equity, environment, mobility, housing, education, just everything that sort of affects the day-to-day lives of New Jerseyans.

And so the result is what you see in the Crossroads report, and sort of represents a bit of a roadmap about what are the things that folks are hoping to see addressed when it comes to the lawmakers that represent them and the things that they need in order to succeed in this current state.

- Let's also make it clear that the Fund for New Jersey is a not-for-profit organization with no partisan affiliation.

That being said, there are a couple things I want that are so pressing.

Check on our website, SteveAdubato.org, the full half-hour interview we did recently with Governor Sherrill talking about many of these issues.

But the first one I wanna talk about is really, the question of protecting public health.

We have a series called "Trust in Public Health."

A lot of it's focused on vaccine confusion, let's say.

What does protecting public health mean to you and your colleagues at the Fund for New Jersey?

And why is it so critical at this point in time with the federal government and our state government seemingly, granted, have very different perspectives on what public health should look like, and what vaccine policy should look like.

Please.

- So I don't think we explicitly discuss vaccines or medical policy in this report, but I will say that public health is more than just your diet.

And what are gonna be the practices and sort of policies and structures that we implement, at a sort of local, county and statewide level to ensure that our communities are safe, that they're healthy, that they're able to do what they gotta do and live lives that are full of joy and prosperity.

And so yes, there's lots obviously that is dealing with what is your doctor telling you, what's your family doctor doing for you, and helping you to be healthy on a day-to-day basis.

But beyond that, it is about the environment or the community that you live in, the air you breathe, the water you drink.

- I'm sorry for interrupting.

Is lead remediation part of that?

- Absolutely, lead- - I'm sorry, gotta pick up that point, I'm sorry.

- Yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, I was gonna say, housing, and is there lead in the walls?

Is there lead in the water?

So when we think broadly about what does a healthy New Jersey look like, yes, we gotta make sure that folks are getting good medical advice and good guidance, but I think we do a disservice to ourselves and the state as a whole if we only think about it in that narrow way.

It is about the 24/7 lived reality of our residents, and are they able to live in a healthy community no matter where they are?

- And along those lines, living in a healthy community.

How about being able to afford housing in this state, which is a critical piece of the Fund for New Jersey portfolio?

Talk about that please, Brandon.

- Absolutely.

Obviously, the construction of more affordable housing options and units in the state is crucial.

We have a deficit when it comes to needing to have more options for people no matter where you are, whether you're in Newark, or whether you're in Camden, or Atlantic City.

This is the, 2026 is the fourth round of the Mount Laurel decision.

And basically what that means on a legislative basis is that the state is in negotiations or conversation with every municipality around what is their affordable housing obligation, what do they have to construct, be able to contribute to the affordable housing need in the state.

And you see a lot of towns, I think historically, a lot of towns have resisted the construction of affordable housing based on a lot of sort of untruths, let's say.

But this time around we see a lot of towns really understanding that not only is affordable housing important for their residents, but it's important for the economy, and helps them have a more balanced and healthy economy as well.

- And P.S., we're going into this in greater depth on housing, affordable housing, but historically, there are towns that figure out ways to get out of it and cut all kinds of side deals to not build the affordable housing that the Mount Laurel decision, the Supreme Court decision, the edict was the responsibility for affordable housing needed to be spread throughout the state, not just concentrated in certain communities.

I'll get off my soapbox.

Advancing criminal justice reform.

So many pieces to this, but the most pressing part of this aspect for this for you, under the Crossroads New Jersey report with the Fund for New Jersey, is what, Brandon?

- Honestly, I think when we think about criminal justice reform, there's a certain expectation for how people will be treated by law enforcement, and making sure that their rights are protected.

But just as importantly as for folks who do go through the criminal justice system, that when they do their time, and get out and they return to society, that there's not barriers to success.

That there's not barriers to employment, not barriers to housing, not barriers to voting.

That they're able to be a full-fledged citizen again.

And there's too many spaces and places where we see that not being the case.

And so we want to ensure that anybody that has gone through that system has "paid their debt to society."

That means fully, that is paid, they've done their time.

We can't have a whole lot of folks in this state not being able to contribute to the economy, to our democracy.

That just creates a lot of harm, not just for them, but for what does justice look like going forward in the state of New Jersey.

And so we are proud to support a variety of organizations, including the ACLU of New Jersey and the Institute of Social Justice, and others, who do a lot of tremendous work on this issue.

But what does justice look like, especially for those who have been through the system, who have been imprisoned, or are now returning citizens?

And making sure that they can actually lead complete lives.

- Last time Brandon was with us, we talked about the 2030 census.

I'm gonna do it again.

Where are we now?

We got about a minute left.

Where are we now, Brandon, on the 2030 census?

And why is it so critical to representation, particularly of underserved communities in our state?

Please.

- I'm sure a lot of folks say, "Hey, it's 2026, why are we talking about 2030 census?"

- Yeah!

- But the census is a massive undertaking.

It's the biggest, most difficult thing that's not war-related that the country does.

And so we need to sort of think about, think ahead.

How are we gonna do this?

How, we're a state of 10 million people.

The importance of having an accurate census count really comes down to the fact that if we have an inaccurate count, or we're undercounting our communities, we're not gonna get the federal resources and dollars that we all deserve.

And so everybody wants to talk about being prudent with public dollars.

Well, the best way we can do that is making sure that we're getting every penny from Washington that we are owed.

And that is largely due, or sort of dependent upon what is our census count, what is the census data that we are developing and submitting?

And so we need folks to be ready to engage in the census for all the diverse communities that we have across the state.

And that'll make sure that we get our due.

- Brandon McKoy is President of the Fund for New Jersey.

This will be one of many conversations we have with him and other folks connected to the Fund for New Jersey, talking about people go, "Oh, public policy!"

Yeah, it matters to you.

And that's why we're covering it.

Thank you, Brandon.

- Thank you, Steve.

- You got it.

I'm Steve Adubato, that's Brandon McKoy.

We thank you for watching.

We'll see you next time.

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