NJCAEF Accomplishments and Highlights — 2002
NJCAEF was originally called the Citizen Policy & Education Fund of NJ (CPEF) until May 2004, when the name was legally changed, but our mission and programs remain the same.
Overview
In 2002, CPEF led a successful fight for tax reform, opened a second Financial Education and Technology Center in Camden, designed a historic financial workout program for victims of predatory lending, protected community assets in the state’s first for-profit hospital conversion, helped nearly 1,000 families become first-time homebuyers, and registered, informed and mobilized 10,000 voters in a non-partisan grassroots issue campaign. CPEF also educated thousands of consumers about quality health care, lead poisoning prevention, energy and telecommunication choices and financial literacy also produced key research about access to health care, fair taxes and campaign finance reform. We expect that these efforts will strengthen families’ self-sufficiency and enhance political power in communities around New Jersey.
Fair Taxes
Fair Corporate Business Tax Enacted
In a major campaign that culminated in a victory for working families and seniors, CPEF exposed inequities in New Jersey’s corporate tax structure and fostered a sea change in the state’s corporate business tax. Our report, Corporate Taxes and Equity in New Jersey, encouraged elected officials and community leaders to endorse a restructuring of the tax system that helped fill the state’s $4 billion budget deficit and prevented massive cuts in state services. More than 50 organizations, representing tenants, labor unions and civil rights organizations, signed on to a Fair Tax Coalition.
CPEF’s research on corporate tax loopholes provided the context for public education and events, including a spirited demonstration in front of the Business and Industry Association that received network news coverage. In television and radio ads, the NJBIA wrongly claimed that changes in the tax structure would result in job losses. Our grassroots effort countered that misinformation campaign, and a more fair tax structure was adopted by the Legislature in June.
Community Reinvestment, Housing and Economic Development
Historic Predatory Lending Program Enacted
CPEF shepherded a financial workout program for more than 150 families who were victims of a massive predatory property-flipping scheme in Essex County. CPEF exposed this scheme in 2001 and led a network of elected officials, federal and county agencies, and non-profit housing developers to put together this financial remediation solution, the first of its kind in the nation. This program prevented families from losing their homes due to foreclosure. It is centered on Fannie Mae’s $5 million Predatory Lending Remediation Plan, involving various participating lenders, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department, Essex County, NJCA and CPEF. The program will address the various situations and circumstances for those families whose credit problems are the result of a predatory home loan and whose homes are in desperate need of rehabilitation. In addition, all borrowers participating in the workout process are required to obtain homebuyer education and to participate in CPEF’s individual loan counseling program.
CPEF organized several public events around the announcement of the workout program, which provided opportunities for victims to tell their stories to a variety of audiences. As a result of CPEF’s public education about predatory lending, state legislators made significant progress in their effort to ban such loans in New Jersey. In response to criticism from lenders about this legislation, CPEF organized the release of a report showing that predatory lending bans in other states have not impaired access to credit and fair loans for low-income people.
Camden Financial Education Center Opened
A year after expanding our Newark Financial Education Center to accommodate a growing technology component and to meet the increasing demand for our services, CPEF opened our second Center in Camden. This facility also has a Technology Room, in which up to 10 consumers at a time can take advantage of small group trainings to learn more about computers and master the Internet for on-line banking and other monetary services. The on-line training is part of the Center’s workshop series, which help residents better understand basic financial services, including basic banking, money management and consumer education topics. Curriculum topics include: Protecting Your Money, Keeping the Money You Make, Getting Credit and Keeping Your Credit, Predatory Lending, and Investment Strategies.
Staff are available conduct these trainings on-site at our Centers, as well as off-site for community organizations and social service providers. CPEF began efforts to take our financial literacy program on the road, developing a mobile education component to reach community organizations. In 2002, our Camden and Newark Centers conducted 275 trainings for over 7,250 people, bringing the total for the project to 563 trainings reaching more than 13,000 people since its inception.
Fair Housing & Predatory Lending Outreach Program Launched
In 2002, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development designated our ally, NJCA, as a Fair Housing Agency. CPEF is working with NJCA in this capacity on an extensive statewide education and outreach initiative to inform consumers of their fair housing rights and warn them of the dangers of predatory lending. By the end of the year, our Financial Education and Technology Centers had conducted over 130 consumer predatory lending workshops, reaching more than 3,500 individuals. In conjunction with Legal Services of New Jersey, CPEF conducted three of four planned trainings for HUD-Certified loan counselors to be proficient at preventing predatory lending.
Small Business Outreach Program Launched
In 2002, CPEF began our Small Business Outreach program to raise awareness of the opportunities for current and future small business owners to access capital through CRA. Working with the NJ Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Black Urban Alliance/African-American Chamber of Commerce, the NJ Department of Economic Development and individual banks, CPEF held the first two informative events in Hudson County. Based on the overwhelming success of these seminars, we conducted three more luncheon events in 2002, in Lakewood, Cherry Hill and Maplewood. Hundreds of potential and current small business entrepreneurs learned about the availability of small-business funding and technical assistance through our efforts. CPEF is planning at least four additional seminars in the coming year.
Schuyler Savings Bank Exposed
CPEF educated members of the Kearny community about the poor lending record of one of its local banks, Schuyler Savings Bank. Schuyler, which received a 'Needs to Improve' rating from the Federal Government, made no loans to African-Americans in either 2000 or 2001 (the last year for which data is available) and did not make any loans to low-income residents from 1998 to 2001. The Bank rebuffed CPEF’s offer to meet and develop a Community Reinvestment Act agreement, which would help Schuyler comply with federal fair lending requirements. To bring attention to the Bank’s resistance to fair lending, CPEF organized an informational Holiday Picket outside the Bank with the ?Grinch? who stole Christmas. CPEF is now mobilizing letters to be sent to the Bank, and included in its CRA file, to encourage Schuyler executives to meet with CPEF and other members of the community.
Wealth-Building Education Initiated
CPEF was selected as one of two agencies that will provide the mandatory financial literacy education to participants of the State of New Jersey’s Individual Development Account (IDA) savings match initiative in five counties. Financial education workshops are expected to begin in the spring of 2003, and will include classes on savings and investment, basic banking, credit and money management, fair housing and predatory lending, and understanding relationships with money. We continue to participate in the Federal Home Loan Bank’s IDA match savings account program.
Hundreds of First-Time Home Buyers Assisted
In 2002, more than 850 low and moderate-income families became first-time homeowners through CPEF’s Loan Counseling Program. The Loan Counseling Program provides families with budgeting and credit counseling, home repair information and below market rate mortgages and grants. Over 4,000 families were actively involved in Counseling in 2002. The Loan Counseling staff assisted predatory lending victims with credit counseling and repair, as part of the restoration project. We were chosen as the first HUD certified New Jersey agency to provide Section 8 Homeownership classes and counseling by Perth Amboy in September.
Home Ownership Institutes Expanded
The Institute, a new CPEF project, is a series of three to six classes which offer participants an overview of all of the self-sufficiency information CPEF handles, including credit, mortgage and budget counseling, banking fundamentals, telecommunications and energy conservation and choices, fair housing and predatory lending prevention, health care access, lead poisoning prevention, home improvement and community involvement. In 2002, CPEF conducted our second season of Institute classes in Asbury Park and debuted the Institute in Jersey City, Neptune and Paterson. We are now conducting Institute workshops in Perth Amboy, Long Branch and Red Bank. Additionally, we are planning to conduct Institutes in 2003 in four more urban communities, Plainfield, East Orange, Jersey City and Irvington. In 2002, 100 first time homebuyers were trained through this project and we expect to double that number in 2003.
Women’s Housing Initiative Conducted, Clients and Mentors Matched
In 2002, CPEF held 'Home of Her Own' events around the state, including Hackensack, Asbury Park, Camden and two in Newark. The seminars reached thousands of women (and men) and encouraged them to become first-time homeowners. Two thousand people, mostly female heads of households, attended these standing room only events to hear new home owners talk about the challenges they overcame to purchase a home of their own. These inspirational stories encouraged the majority of the audience to enroll in CPEF’s Loan Counseling Program. Our mentoring program 'Been There, Done That' pairs women who have purchased homes through us with women who are entering counseling and face long-term credit repair. We are expanding this program in 2003, so that an additional twenty-five mentors will be trained in the middle of the coming year.
Lead Poisoning Prevention
Inspections on Request Policy Publicized in Newark, Backed in Irvington
For the last two years, CPEF has worked with local groups to publicize the need for a municipal lead Inspection on Request (IOR) policy in Newark, to stop the practice of using children as lead-detectors in that city. Last Spring, CPEF educated community leaders and candidates for office in Newark about the need for a viable policy to be enacted by the Council. In response to public pressure from parents and community members, the Council enacted an alternate rule requiring landlords to conduct lead inspections when new tenants rent a home. CPEF is now monitoring the effectiveness of this program. In neighboring Irvington, Mayor Wayne Smith has pledged his support for an IOR program in his city. CPEF is working with his administration to develop one, as Irvington has a high rate of childhood lead poisoning cases.
Community Leaders and Service Providers Informed
In 2002, CPEF conducted two Train-the-Trainer sessions in Newark, reaching more than 125 community leaders and social service providers with critical information to prevent childhood lead poisoning where childhood lead poisoning continues to be a health care crisis. CPEF, in conjunction with the Greater Newark Conservancy and Rutgers Cooperative extension, held the largest session in the program’s history, training all 88 school nurses from the City of Newark. Additionally, CPEF conducted another Train-the-Trainer session in Newark in the summer, directed at parents and local social service providers. CPEF continues to be a leading member of the Newark Partnership for Lead-Free Children, coordinating two of the Partnerships Committees and providing expert training on the issue to the 80 other participating Partnership organizations
Lead Abatement Funding Promoted
CPEF worked with affected homeowners to educate policymakers about the need for low-cost lead abatement loans, to be funded by a state loan pool. As a result, state legislators introduced bills that would create such a loan pool, although the funding source is still being explored. CPEF conducted a consumer analysis of this legislation, which led sponsors to amend it, so that homeowners as well as landlords would be eligible for loans and grants. Additionally, we educated trained Newark landlords and homeowners with lead burdens, at the Unified Vailsburg Service Organization. This forum informed property owners about their responsibilities and of below-market rate loans available to abate their property. Dozens of homeowners attended the forums and CPEF continues to work with them to abate their lead hazards.
Utility Advocacy and Customer Education
Permanent Universal Energy Service Implemented
For the last four years, CPEF worked to create a permanent and comprehensive Universal Service Fund for low-income energy customers. The fund will allow eligible customers to pay an affordable portion of their utility bill, which will reduce shut-offs and make utility access a reality for thousands of New Jersey families. The initial program, which began in 2001, was slated to expand to a permanent funding system in 2002. CPEF provided the Board of Public Utilities (BPU), the regulatory agency charged with developing the program, with consumer impact analyses when the BPU lowered the proposed funding level. Additionally, CPEF educated the key stakeholders and policymakers about the need for a fully funded program, encouraging individuals to present their need for such a program to the Board directly.
Low-Income Telephone Service Adopted
After a two-year fight, CPEF and other consumer organizations won a critical ruling at the BPU, requiring the local phone carrier Verizon to enact a viable Lifeline telephone program. This program will automatically enroll eligible phone customers in to a low-rate plan, increasing phone service in areas where residents often go without this basic need. CPEF had provided the BPU with a national analysis that showed other state’s programs were much more successful than New Jersey, and urged the BPU to adopt similar program elements. These recommendations were widely covered by the press and were ultimately chosen by the BPU.
High Cable Rates, Phone Competition Changes Fought
CPEF continued to be a leading voice for fair communications costs for telephone and cable customers. CPEF staff worked closely with media outlets to present the consumer perspective on rising rates and limited choices facing cable customers. Our position received substantial press coverage. Additionally, CPEF put a public face on the need for fair competition in the local and long distance phone markets. At the state and federal level, CPEF provided regulatory agencies with pro-consumer positions regarding New Jersey’s plan for implementing long distance competition. In 2002, the BPU enacted a long distance competition program that addressed many of the concerns raised by CPEF.
Statewide Energy Education Continued
CPEF maintained our statewide energy education and outreach program, which informs consumers about their rights and responsibilities under energy deregulation. In 2002, CPEF’s program reached over 700 organizations, primarily those representing low-and moderate-income customers, seniors and people of color, educating 26,000 individuals. Since the programs inception in 1999, CPEF has conducted energy education presentations to more than 85,000 people and over 2500 groups. Energy education staff members contacted more than 3,000 additional organizations to make them aware of this informative service.
Oil Heat Customers United, $1.5 Million Saved
Our 6,000 members saved as much as 17% on their annual heating costs through our Oil Group, which pools buying power to negotiate for lower oil prices. Together, these members save $1.5 million annually on their home heating bills.
In 2002, the Oil Group changed its membership enrollment process, whereby existing Oil Group members can get their annual membership fee waived if they recruit two new Oil Group participants. This ?tell-a-friend? method helps build the Oil Group, which increases our buying power and provides even better deals on home heating fuel.
Telephone Customers Informed
In 2002, CPEF continued our telecommunications education project, reaching seniors and low-income residents in Northern and Central New Jersey. Customers at these presentations learn how to understand their phone bills, make smart telecommunications decisions and protect themselves from fraud. In 2002, this effort reached more than 180 organizations and 5000 participants, bringing the total to 300 groups and over 8700 consumers since its inception.
Access to Quality Health Care and Family Issues
Community Assets Protected in Hospital Sale, Other Conversions Watched
CPEF had a major victory in the fight to protect community assets and oversight in the conversion of Salem County’s Memorial Hospital to a for-profit institution. Following our 2001 work training community activists and health care providers about their rights for community input under the Community Health Assets Protection Act, CPEF filed regulatory comments with New Jersey’s Department of Health and Senior Services opposing the conversion. We drew particular attention to the fiscal viability and performance of the purchasing company, Community Health Systems (CHS). Though public education and informational meetings with key stakeholders, CPEF raised consumer concerns about access to quality health care, and won substantial changes in the proposal. In collaboration with the NJ Public Interest Law Center (NJPILC), CPEF asked for and won the appointment of an Independent Health Monitor to oversee the hospital for up to five years after the sale.
In September 2002, Superior Court Judge James E. Rafferty approved the conversion, but addressed complaints from CPEF, NJCA, NJPILC and other consumer groups. He gave standing to the groups, along with the State Attorney General and himself, in an oversight role of the escrow funds set up for CHS to settle financial liabilities. He said, "Not a penny will leave those escrow accounts without these parties reviewing the case and making a decision." CPEF will continue to observe Memorial’s conversion, as well as others that may arise. The expected conversion of the state’s largest non-profit health insurance company, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, has been delayed. CPEF will monitor the plans for this conversion and prepare community leaders about its impact on low-income consumers and people with disabilities.
Prescription Drug Coverage Urged, Costs and Need Analyzed
CPEF supported NJ Citizen Action’s July State House rally for lower prescription drug costs. The kick-off event included a send-off for 150 seniors to ?Get On The Bus? to Washington DC to demand an affordable prescription drug plan under Medicare. CPEF’s research regarding the need for such a program and the related costs provided a factual basis for the advocacy conducted by NJCA and others. CPEF and NJCA released local data from Families USA’s national report, Profiting From Pain. The report showed that the largest drug companies spent more than twice as much on marketing, advertising, and administration as they did on research and development in 2001. As a result, CPEF led community activists in an informational picket at Schering-Plough for misleading the public about the high costs of prescription drugs. In conjunction with NJCA, CPEF released Families USA’s report, Bitter Pill, showing that the most popular prescription drugs for seniors rose three times the rate of inflation last year.
Uninsured Problem Highlighted
CPEF continued to be a leading force opposing restrictions on enrollment for FamilyCare, a state program that provides health insurance for working poor adults. Our comments regarding the need for expanded coverage and the comprehensive access to quality health care are widely covered in the media. In 2002, CPEF coordinated the release of Families USA’s report, A 10-Foot Rope for A 40-Foot Hole: Tax Credits for the Uninsured which concluded that President Bush’s tax credits proposal for the uninsured would fail to expand coverage to low-income workers.
Patients’ Needs, Hospitals Staffing Levels Surveyed
In response to the lack of public disclosure about staffing levels and patient care at New Jersey’s health care facilities, CPEF assessed the willingness of these facilities to voluntarily provide this information. Working in cooperation with local and national nursing and health care organizations, CPEF developed a survey asking Directors of Nursing in facilities to report their staffing levels by unit and by shift. We sent the survey to every general acute hospital and 1/3 of the nursing homes in New Jersey. CPEF also hosted a toll-free hotline for patients and family members who had concerns about the care they received in a New Jersey hospital or nursing home. Our research showed that the existing, voluntary self-reporting conducted by hospitals and nursing homes is insufficient to provide patients and communities with an accurate assessment of a facility’s level of care. This determination will provide the groundwork for interested health care allies to pursue a legislative solution to this problem.
Social & Health Security Privatization Opposed, Public Educated
In three Congressional races and the U.S. Senate race, CPEF engaged candidates, the media and voters in non-partisan, grassroots educational events and discussions about prescription drug relief, retirement security and corporate accountability. After surveying candidates in these hotly contested races, CPEF provided the public with a non-partisan comparison of their positions and voting records on consumer issues. CPEF held non-partisan, issue based candidate forums and meetings in the 5th, 7th and 12th Congressional Districts, working collaboration with local organizations, including the United Seniors of Franklin Township, Older Women’s League and the Phillipsburg Tenant Organization, respectively.
As a result of CPEF’s educational efforts, challengers Anne Sumers and Tim Carden, as well as incumbents Rep. Rush Holt (D-12) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), signed our Pledge to Protect Social Security and Medicare. By signing the Pledge, they committed to opposing privatization of Social Security and supporting a Medicare prescription drug plan. CPEF publicized the potential impact of Social Security and Medicare privatization on seniors. We participated in NJCA’s Bumbling Brothers Three Ring Circus, an anti-privatization demonstration organized to counter a $25,000 per person fundraiser for U.S. Senate Candidate Doug Forrester hosted by President Bush.
Campaign Finance Reform and Democratic Participation
Elected Officials, Political Parties Urged to Return Enron Money
In response to the sea of corporate scandals, CPEF analyzed campaign contributions from the bankrupt energy behemoth Enron to state elected officials. Enron was a major proponent of the state’s energy deregulation, which CPEF opposed. Consumer advocates and citizen groups called on more than 35 New Jersey elected officials who took more than $120,000 from Enron and to donate it to programs assisting the thousands of Enron employees who lost their careers and retirement security as result of the company’s collapse. CPEF’s research encouraged tenant, community and civil rights activists to picket the Bergen County GOP Headquarters because the chairman cynically refused to return the money. The picket received wide press coverage and encouraged other elected officials to donate their Enron contributions to charities.
Open Public Records Promoted
Working with journalist and good government organizations, CPEF provided a community and consumer perspective on the enactment of the Open Public Records Act, which allows residents to access their government’s records. CPEF continues to monitor the implementation of this historic legislation, through our participation in the NJ Foundation for Open Government, a technical support network for citizens and advocates who need assistance accessing public records.
New Faces Put on NJ Politics, Hundreds of Photos Snapped
CPEF and our allies continue to mobilize grassroots support for our Fair And Clean Elections Campaign (FACE), which calls for the establishment of full public financing system for legislative and gubernatorial elections similar to those enacted in Maine, Arizona, Massachusetts and Vermont. Our project educated dozens of community organizations about the impact of current campaign financing regulations and the need for reform. We began a 'photo petition,' which allows voters around the state to show their support for FACE. More than 500 Garden State residents have posed for shots to show their commitment to fair and clean elections. In 2003, we will expand the base of community leaders, policy makers and interested individuals committed to enacting comprehensive campaign finance reform in New Jersey
Transit Vote Registration and Mobilization Effort Continued
CPEF conducted our statewide voter registration drive aimed at organizing the state’s mass transit riders for the second year. We continued our 2001 Transit Vote coalition, uniting environmentalists, consumer advocates, disability and civil rights activists and concerned members of the public to encourage mass transit riders to vote. Unlike the Motor Voter law, transit riders are not easily able to register to vote. Transit Vote reaches these voters at train, subway and bus stations in concentrated urban areas around the state. In 2002, we registered 4800 voters through Transit Vote events at key transit locations on two days, with support from over 100 volunteers. CPEF also registered new voters at home-ownership seminars, community fairs and other public events located in urban areas. These efforts bring our total new voter registration to 9800 over two years.
CPEF used non-partisan get out the vote efforts to encourage these newly registered voters to go to the polls on Election Day. We provided them with a non-partisan mail piece about important social issues and another urging them to vote on Election Day. They also got two phone calls urging them to vote on Election Day. In the week before Election Day, volunteers placed a live call to each voter, confirming that the voter had received a sample ballot, making sure the voter knew his/her polling place location and securing transportation, if needed. On the weekend before Election Day, each Transit Vote household received an automated phone call from NAACP Chairman Julian Bond urging them to go to the polls. On the night before Election Day, staff and volunteers handed out non-partisan issue voter guides to transit riders at the same 14 locations where we registered voters. We are in the midst of a review of voting records in two locations to determine the scale of Transit Vote’s impact on voter turnout.
Voting Rights Ensured, Polling Places Assessed for Accessibility
On Election Day, CPEF worked with a statewide effort to conduct poll-monitoring activities in major urban areas around New Jersey. This effort was modeled after the successful 2001 Election Protection Coalition, led by NJCA, People for the American Way and the NAACP’s Voter Empowerment Program and National Voter Fund-NJ. Poll monitors answered voters questions, informed them about their rights at the polling location and provided an instant link to pro-bono attorneys willing to provide on the spot assistance to disenfranchised voters. In addition to calling media attention to the on-going voting rights problems in New Jersey’s urban areas, we provided much-needed assistance to individual voters when they needed it at the polls.
Poll monitors also conducted a physical survey of each polling location at which we were present, as part of our work with the NJ Developmental Disabilities Council (NJDDC) Voting Access project. The project seeks to ensure that voting places are accessible for people with disabilities and is compiling data about the poor state of many of New Jersey’s polling locations. As a recipient of the NJDDC’s Election Challenge Grant, CPEF surveyed 25 different polling places to assess whether they are accessible to people with disabilities. Working with county officials and local disability advocates, CPEF was able to change Election Day operations in Union County so that voters with disabilities could use the Para-transit system to go to the polls.