Tenants, Teachers, Businesses? Who Should Get Last $1M In COVID Funding In NJ

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey has $1 million in federal COVID aid to spend, but who should get it — tenants who face homelessness, small businesses, urban colleges, or another group?

Starting last year, New Jersey received more than $6 billion from the nearly $2 trillion federal American Rescue Plan Act, signed by President Joe Biden in early 2021.

A million of the funds remain and must be allocated by the end of 2024.

Many New Jersey residents are suffering from the financial and health effects of the virus, particularly with more than a million having died from the virus nationally and others still suffering from long COVID.

Who Gets The Money?

Recently, Gov. Phil Murphy held two 90-minute virtual sessions with various advocates to discuss how the remaining aid should be spent.

A story in NJ Spotlight last week revealed a tough truth: Many people need the money but won't get it.

The story summarized some of the arguments made by the various advocates.

Here are the advocates and who they thought should get the aid:

• Jeffrey Chang from AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) Montclair said the money should be invested in minority communities, particularly small businesses owned by people from marginalized groups.

• Joe Johnson of the New Jersey American Civil Liberties Union said that thousands of people need rental assistance. He said 86,000 people applied to a recently opened state rental assistance program, but fewer than 5 percent of those will receive aid.

• Maura Collinsgru from New Jersey Citizen Action expressed a similar concern about a coming "tidal wave" of evictions and homelessness.

• Donna Chiera of the American Federation of Teachers-New Jersey advocated for public colleges in Jersey City and Paterson. She said that if federal money could be used to renovate Rutgers' basketball arena, certainly more could help urban colleges.

• April Fitch of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International labor union talked about helping frontline health care workers who've worked and suffered through the crisis.

• And Stephanie Hunnel just asked for funding for an Asbury Park tennis program used by low-income youths.

You can send your comments on this matter to the governor by emailing outreach@nj.gov.

Read more of the Spotlight story here.