- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of State of Affairs with Steve Adubato has been provided by PSE&G, powering progress.

New Jersey’s Clean Energy program.

Lighting the way to a clean energy future.

The North Ward Center.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

Newark Board of Education.

Valley Bank.

The New Jersey Education Association.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

And by The Fidelco Group.

Promotional support provided by Insider NJ.

And by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC] - Hi everyone, Steve Adubado.

Welcome to an important compelling conversation about behavioral and mental health.

We kick off this program with Suzanne Kunis, President and CEO of NovaWell, and Vice President of Behavioral Health Solutions at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

A long time underwriter of public broadcasting.

Suzanne, good to have you with us.

- Great to be here, Steve.

Thank you.

- Talk to us about this quote unquote integrated approach to behavioral mental health.

What does that really mean?

- You know, the integrated care is really the goal that we all should have in terms of how we treat people in healthcare.

For example, my brain is part of the same body as my lungs, liver and heart.

And so too long, we've had people with behavioral health issues being treated over here and those with physical health issues being treated over here and never the twain shall meet.

And unfortunately that is not necessarily in the best interest of the patient, not the best outcome, and actually quite costly way of dealing with patients.

We need to treat people like people not a health condition.

- What is NovaWell?

- So NovaWell is a company that we established here at Horizon Blue Cross Shield of New Jersey.

I was hired about seven years ago to come in and really establish Horizon strategy around behavioral health.

And it really came down to what were the most important things for us?

And one of the biggest challenges we faced here in New Jersey for individuals with mental health issues and substance use issues?

And a couple of them are the following.

Integrated care, people are, they're such a fragmented system out there.

We talk about integration between physical health and behavioral health.

Well, there's still lack of integration just within behavioral health.

So it's really trying to drive all the agenda of integrated care, both within a health plan, making sure the culture is set up so that people understand that it is normal or okay not to be okay.

And that every one of us here has somebody in our life, whether it's ourself, a family member, et cetera, that has been impacted by a mental health or substance use issue and really trying to drive home that we need to change.

- Yeah.

- NovaWell was born as by virtue of the fact that we did a lot of work here in New Jersey to really change the dynamic around mental health and substance use.

And now we're trying it nationally.

- It's interesting, and I'm not alone.

There's so many millions of Americans who have family members dealing with a lot of the issues you're talking about.

But you keep talking about substance abuse and mental health.

Are they two separate issues or again, is the integrated approach that very often they are connected?

- Totally connected.

So not everyone with a mental health issue necessarily has a substance use issue, but most people with a substance use issue has some underlying anxiety or depression that's associated with their illness.

- So along those lines, given the fact that there is a shortage of psychiatrists, what the heck does a parent do?

What does one do if they're scrambling to find a psychiatrist who is a medical doctor, who can prescribe medication and a psychiatric social worker, a psychologist who is engaged in talk therapy talk about integrating and coordinating that, please, Suzanne.

- There are probably 10,000, give or take, warded child adolescent psychiatrist in this country.

There are well in excess of 15 million kids needing help.

So there is no way that the psychiatrists are gonna be able to cover the territory, so to speak.

And when you start looking at other disciplines, the thing we need to think about is it's gonna take the whole village to help our kids.

We are living in a time, you know, everybody thinks COVID had such a major impact on our kids and it did.

But this started a good 10 years ago when social media actually became so prevalent.

And so what we need to look at is how do we take that village?

How do we help parents to understand what it is?

You know, kids don't really have a lot of stigma around mental health, parents do.

We had to work with them around that.

How do we get the providers to speak to each other?

And not everybody has to be a licensed clinician.

There are so many extenders, if you will, within the behavioral health space that can really help to make a difference.

- What's an extender?

- So it could be somebody like someone who has lived experience, they call it peer support.

And so there are teenagers who are coming from families with lots of issues in mental health space.

It's really a matter of training individuals to be able to help, to support not only themselves but their friends, colleagues, et cetera, in a professional way, to really help to give 'em the support they need day in, day out.

- You know, we've been doing a whole range of work around youth mental health and we've featured the work of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

There is a connection here, talk about that, please.

- Oh, definitely.

So we're trying to find ways always to involve the community and look at how the community can help to build support services for kids and families.

And what better example than Boys and Girls Club?

The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association has committed nationally to a $10 million partnership and investment in our kids through the Boys and Girls Club and here at Horizon, we also have, as part of that contributed $300,000 over the course of several years.

And the whole idea is to train people within the Boys and Girls Club about trauma-informed practices.

- What does that mean?

Explain that.

- Sure, I will.

Trauma-informed practices is really trying to help those that are in front of these kids, understand the importance of listening to kids, demonstrating and role modeling the kinds of emotions and behaviors that we want our kids to exhibit.

Making sure kids have a safe place to go, make sure they have a place to go where they can speak to somebody.

It's really important to just have that location well educated around what it's gonna take to really support our kids as we move forward.

- Final question.

Some advice to parents, all of us who struggle to be helpful and can't fix it for our kids.

- So we've all been there, and in one way, shape, or form.

And we have so many examples of kids that have really struggled but, when there is truly the connection between a parent or guardian and these kids, you don't necessarily know what to do, but you need to know how to raise your hand and get help.

You can go online.

There are so many resources available online.

If you're a Horizon member, you have access to a platform called Horizon Mind Care, which gives you so much information about mental health, substance use, how to deal with issues of daily living with your kids.

And it'll actually give you an opportunity to connect immediately to virtual care that are specialists in child lesson services.

- None of this is easy.

- And- - No.

- Saying it takes a village is such an understatement.

Suzanne Kunis, President, Chief Executive Officer of NovaWell and also Vice President of Behavioral Health Solutions at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

A long time underwriter of public broadcasting and our work at the CEC.

Suzanne, thanks so much.

We appreciate it.

- Oh my pleasure.

Absolutely.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To see more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato programs, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're now joined by our good friend, Rich Henning who's President and Chief Executive Officer of the New Jersey Utilities Association.

Their website will come up right away.

Rich, good to see ya.

- Good to see you, Steve.

Thanks for having me on.

- You got it.

Tell everyone what the association is, not that energy is a big issue these days.

Go ahead, please.

(laughs) - Energy is the issue.

You know, it is the issue across the country, but certainly here in New Jersey, as we fight to, you know, move clean energy into our portfolio, you know, we've seen so much happening over these last few years.

Actually, if you look at it, there's probably been more investment in energy over the last 20 years, last two decades than there had been a hundred years before that.

It's an amazing- - What's the role of the association?

- The association represents 13 utilities all the way from telecommunications, to water, wastewater, to the gas and the electric utilities.

We're an advocate and we're certainly an education partner in working with the state government, whether it's the BPU, the Board of Public Utilities, whether it's Department of Environmental protection or even sometimes, you know, with the Assembly and the Senate and the Governor's Office and making sure that, you know, the rules are exact and followed and that our utilities have a voice, if you will, in how things work out.

- Rich, elections have consequences, and there's impact.

We're doing this, we're having this conversation with Rich Henning about energy policy after the 2024 election.

President Trump, Republican Congress have talked about dramatically changing energy policy in this nation.

What do you believe the new administration, the new Congress could potentially mean for clean energy in New Jersey, Rich?

- Steve, I don't think we're expecting a whole lot of change in the way that the state has formulated its strategy in moving forward to try to really build a clean energy future for the state.

I think the things that may change, maybe some timeframes.

We certainly know that the new administration will not be as, let's say, as keen, if you will, on offshore wind and some of the other investments that have been made over the past few years.

But that nevertheless does not mean that some of these will not go forward.

I think it means that sometimes, there'll be some government pullback in terms of resources, you know, that have been available during the past four years through the Biden administration.

So I think in that term, that changes, you know, kind of where the government may put its money, but it doesn't necessarily stop innovation dead in its tracks.

You know, some of the things that are being worked on, whether it's carbon capture, whether it is, you know- - Hold on, Rich.

Carbon capture means what?

- Carbon capture is a technology and it's kind of being used a little more concretely in basically capturing the methane out of natural gas.

So, you know, if you're heating your home out of natural gas, you know, you're emitting certainly some carbon into the atmosphere.

And what we're looking at doing and what many of the utilities are doing are testing out carbon capture technologies that may be able to actually reduce that methane that gets into the atmosphere.

- Question.

Energy utility costs are clearly increasing.

How much of it, from your perspective, from the association's perspective, Rich, is a product of drastic changes in our weather?

This summer, we saw record temperatures.

We saw the highest humidity ever recorded in this century of recording humidity.

There is absolutely no doubt that the higher usage we saw this summer was directly due to weather.

- Higher usage of air conditioning utilities.

- Higher usage of electricity.

- Continue, I'm sorry.

- All right?

And most of it, air conditioning, just as you put it there.

I think most people, if you were like me, had their air conditioners on from the beginning of June or the end of May, all the way through the end of August.

And that's not a typical New Jersey summer.

Usually, we get a few, you know, nice 60 degree nights.

We had some cooler nights, but they were so humid that people kept their electricity on and kept their air conditioning running the entire time.

So when they got their bills, you know, during the summertime, they noticed that they were much higher.

But it was like a perfect storm in 2024 because it wasn't just the higher usage, even though all four electric companies in New Jersey reported about 15% increase from 2024 over 2023.

There were other things that contributed to that.

And one was the marketplace to purchase off the grid, electric.

- Explain the grid, Rich.

- I'm gonna explain ta customer's bill.

There are two parts to a customer's bill.

The first part is the supply side.

The utilities do not supply electricity, right?

That comes off of the grid.

They have to buy it off a marketplace.

A marketplace that is for us is run by PGM, which is a, if you will, responsible for 13 states and the grid in those 13 states.

So they actually sell the electricity to the utilities who then have to purchase it under the Board of Public Utilities.

It's a very complicated structure.

But in essence the prices for that supply side rose in the double digits, right?

So you're looking at prices or electricity on the marketplace that have increased dramatically.

- So that then passes down to the consumer?

- It passes down exactly to the consumer because believe it or not, utilities make not one penny out of it.

That is money that is paid to the grid marketplace and that is just passed right on to the consumer.

Where the utilities actually, you know, do their job is in distribution.

So they then take that electricity and they bring that through their network of wires and transformers and that brings it into a customer's home.

And that's what the utilities deliver, and that is what, you know, they're really paid to do.

So over the past few years, they've also been doing quite a bit of work on grid reliability, getting ready for higher electric usage, you know, with EV cars, the electric vehicles, higher usage from AI.

So we're really trying to, if you will, move the ball from, you know, one side to the other where we're gonna be looking at an electric future that's going to increase electric usage dramatically.

- Rich, to say this is complicated is an incredible understatement, but also to say that it's important is an understatement.

So if someone just says, "Climate change isn't real."

"Drill, baby, drill," those are slogans, those are things people say.

That's not real policy and that's why these conversations are so important.

And to Rich Henning and his colleagues at the New Jersey Utilities Association, we thank you.

Again, go on the website.

Let's put it up one more time before we leave this segment.

Put up the website one more time for the New Jersey Utilities Association to feed people to find out more.

Hey, Rich, great having you with us.

We'll continue the conversation trying to create greater public awareness around energy policy, utility costs and issues to consumers and others.

Thank you, Rich.

- Thank you so much, Steve.

All the best.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To see more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato programs, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're joined by Carl McCall, who is the author of this book, "Truly Blessed and Highly Favored."

Former New York State comptroller and former state senator in New York.

First executive director of the Schumann Fund from New Jersey.

He joined us on a previous segment.

Go on our website and check that out.

But I wanted to continue the conversation with Mr. McCall because he had so many important things to say.

I had cut you off, Mr. McCall, when you were talking about the work that was done in Newark with Newark Mayor Kenneth Gibson after the riots and rebellion in 1967 when you were the head of the Schumann Fund for New Jersey.

Talk about that work again, please, Carl.

- Well, what happened is Ken Gibson admitted that he had a very complex job.

It was new, he didn't have a lot of ideas about, you know, what he had to do to really begin to get to the root causes of why there had been an uprising in New Jersey as well as in other cities.

And so we established something called the Office of Newark Studies.

- The Office of Newark Studies.

- That's right.

- Was that headed up by Gus Heningburg?

- No, Gus Heningburg then was head of the Urban Coalition.

- Got it.

- But Gus Heningburg and Steve Adubato Sr. and the others came together to form this office and to pick a leadership of that office.

And that program continued for 10 more years, helping the city administration really do the kind of research and study and develop real meaningful issues, policy issues to address the social inequalities in Newark.

- Can we talk higher ed for a second?

You were the chairman of the SUNY, State University of New York Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2019.

Let me ask you this, Mr. McCall.

The world has changed for colleges and universities across this campus.

The job of being a college president, university president changed forever.

What do you believe the most significant lesson should be for all university and college presidents as it relates to peaceful protest on any issue while protecting the rights of other students not engaged in those protests to go to class and for the campus to move forward?

Please, not an easy question.

- Very tough question.

All universities are dealing with it, and you just have to have the right balance.

People have a right to protest, people that have a right to exercise their free speech, and we need to listen to them.

But they can't disrupt the operation of institutions.

They can't take over buildings, they can't do encampments, they can't have a negative impact on other students who are simply there to learn and they do not want to participate in this kind of activity.

And I think that some people just didn't understand that and I think they went in different ways.

Some people were very rigid and just shut down protests altogether.

Other people allowed the protests to grow and to become more disruptive.

So they just, and you know, many people, I don't wanna be critical of all of them, but a lot of people have grown up and only served in this academic bubble that you get in colleges.

And they hadn't had a lot of outside activity and political understanding of the politics behind these things.

And they just behave very badly.

So we just have to strike the balance.

Free speech, tell us how you feel, we've gotta listen to you, but you can't disrupt the ongoing operations, you can't take over buildings, you can't do encampments.

You have to have some restraint on your advocacy.

- How about another really tough one?

Carl McCall, who I'll just disclose, was also a very close friend of my late dad, Steve Adubato Sr., and they worked together at Newark when Carl McCall was the head of the Schumann Fund for New Jersey, my dad created the North Ward Center, a community organization in Newark.

But it causes me to ask this question.

You and my dad worked closely together.

You understand race relations better than most.

You are a pastor, a minister, part of your illustrious career.

Where are we with race relations in 2025 and where do we need to go?

- Well, first of all, we've gotta be honest about the fact that we have made some progress, but not enough, that there is still systemic racism.

People are still being discriminated against, people are still being denied opportunity, and that has to do with race.

People who might be doing well today have to recognize the heritage, how things were in the past, and that we're still affected by the attitudes that came out of that era.

And we just have to be honest and willing to be open and to discuss this issue and to work together to find common ground.

I think there are more things that really, you know, that we believe in together than things that divide us.

And we have to really focus on what are those values and principles that are enduring, that have made America the country of opportunity.

But how do we make sure those opportunities are available to everyone?

And people now don't feel assured that those opportunities are going to be equal.

- So I mentioned this in the first segment we did with Carl McCall, given your experience, your expertise, your accomplishments at 89 years young, Carl McCall, the reason you're still hopeful is?

- The reason I'm still hopeful is because there are a lot of people who have benefited as I have from the opportunities in America.

And those of us who have had those opportunities have to play a leadership role.

We have to go forward and we have to challenge negative assumptions.

We've gotta challenge this idea that all immigrants are terrible and they haven't made any contribution to this country.

This is a country of immigrants and this is a country that's been successful because they've welcomed everyone and they're provided training and education and assistance to people, particularly those people who are in need.

We've gotta really get out and talk about this and be advocates for the continuation of America as a place of opportunity.

And we've gotta point out, if we don't do that, we're gonna be in decline.

We're not gonna be the great country that we've been in the past.

- The honorable Carl McCall, H. Carl McCall, he, as I said, not only the former, the first New York State comptroller, state senator, first executive director of the Schumann Fund for New Jersey, head of the SUNY Board of Trustees, the president of the New York City Board of Education.

So many things that he's done.

And it's featured in this extraordinary book, "Truly Blessed and Highly Favored, A Memoir" by Carl McCall- - Which is available on Amazon.

- Look at you.

Very effective promotion.

- Okay.

- That's McCall, and we are honored to have him with you, Mr. McCall.

- It's been my pleasure, Steve, and thank you for your leadership and your family's leadership.

It has made a difference in New Jersey.

So thank you for that.

- Very kind of you.

That's H. Carl McCall and we are honored to have him be with us.

All the best to all you watching.

Be positive and optimistic because that's what Carl McCall is.

See you next time.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by PSE&G, New Jersey’s Clean Energy program.

The North Ward Center.

RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

Newark Board of Education.

Valley Bank.

The New Jersey Education Association.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

And by The Fidelco Group.

Promotional support provided by Insider NJ.

And by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

The North Ward Center continues to expand their services and outreach in Newark, from the childhood years to the golden years, Offering programs like preschool, youth leadership development, Casa Israel Adult Medical Day program our Family Success center, as well as a gymnasium.

And most recently Hope House, a permanent home for adults with autism, supporting and nurturing our autism community with Hope House 2 coming soon.

The North Ward Center.

We’re here when you need us.