Report Provides Snapshot of Pandemic’s Effects on Newark Families – TAPinto.net
NEWARK, NJ — Amid rising unemployment rates and positive COVID cases, a report issued this month by Advocates for Children of New Jersey highlighted the toll the pandemic has taken on Newark families.
As part of the first report released in a two-part snapshot series, “Newark Kids Count Data Snapshot: The Impact of COVID-19,” analyzed how the city’s children and families have endured the pandemic since it forced a citywide lockdown in 2020. The report looks at several factors such as the state and city’s response to assist families in addition to the effects of increased unemployment on families and children.
“The city of Newark has taken extraordinary measures to help support its residents, which impacts the well-being of its children,” said Cecilia Zalkind, president and CEO of ACNJ. “They have created a comprehensive website dedicated to keeping everyone informed throughout the pandemic, opened up vaccination sites and have supplied an abundance of resources for both residents and small businesses. But the pandemic has been devastating to families and may require a long road to recovery.”
As part of the city’s response to the pandemic, officials have undertaken various efforts to inform and educate residents about the virus as well as counteract the crisis.
With the implementation of citywide COVID testing and vaccination sites, officials created a COVID-19 portal on the city’s website for both residents and small businesses. The online portal includes pertinent information on vaccination and testing sites as well as assistance resources for small businesses and residents.
Since vaccines first became available in December 2020, the city has also hosted multiple county-run pop-up vaccination clinics at churches and public parks in addition to reaching several groups of underserved residents like homeless and homebound citizens. This week, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka even launched the first round of citywide pop-up clinics to create greater access and ensure equity in vaccine distribution.
While the city has provided a direct response toward fighting the spread of COVID, the numbers, however, continue to rise.
In New Jersey, the city faces some of the highest positive COVID cases and is nearing 1,000 COVID-related deaths. As of May 13, Essex County officials reported that Newark has tallied 36,000-plus positive cases and 976 COVID-related deaths.
Alongside these numbers, ACNJ’s report found that while Newark’s unemployment rates declined between 2015 and 2019, from March to April 2020, monthly unemployment rates rose from 6.2% to 19.7%, compared to 3.7% to 15.9% for the state.
As unemployment rises, so do its effects on Newark families trying to provide basic necessities for their children.
“The hardships documented in this report are not limited to adults,” Zalkind said in a statement. “Children face the negative effects through less food on the table or housing insecurities. This reality underscores the necessity for supports to help ensure that Newark’s children do not fall through the cracks as a result of COVID-19.”
Despite the city’s high rates of unemployment, ACNJ’s report indicated that usage of public benefits programs, such as SNAP or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), did not increase among Newark’s children from June of 2019 to June of 2020.
The report showed that the number of Newark’s children receiving NJ SNAP benefits declined both from 2016 to 2020 as well as in the one-year comparison between 2019 and 2020. The state overall experienced a decline in child recipients over a five-year period similar to Newark’s, yet the one-year trend data differ. Statewide, children receiving NJ SNAP increased by more than 8,000 between 2019 and 2020.
In an overview of data during six-month increments for January, June and December of 2020, ACNJ reported that Newark and Essex County saw a decline in the number of children receiving NJ SNAP in the first half of 2020, but those figures later increased between June and December of 2020.
“The changes in SNAP enrollment in Newark alone were substantial— from June 2020 to December of 2020, child recipients increased by more than 10,000 individuals,” the report said.
For TANF, annual data from June 2019 and 2020 revealed declines in Newark and Essex recipients but increases in statewide child recipients.
From January to December 2020, ACNJ reported that Newark and Essex saw “very slight increases” while statewide data show a slight decline.
As Newark continues to emerge from the pandemic and bounce back, ACNJ’s report indicated that the city did overall respond with much-needed support and guidance for residents, but unemployment data and high COVID numbers still show a vital need for public safety net programs.
With vaccination numbers on the rise both in the city and statewide, ACNJ officials noted that it will be important to continue to monitor data such as usage of assistance programs which may indicate the pandemic’s long-term effects.
“It is likely that many children and their parents will need additional support after months of high unemployment rates,” the report said.
“The city of Newark has established programs to help promote the nation’s mission to get a vaccine shot in every arm, while also looking for ways to better support its residents during this difficult time,” said Alana Vega, ACNJ Kids Count Coordinator. “As we anxiously await the end of the pandemic, we will continue to track the data for children so that we can make more informed decisions and craft a brighter future.”