Nearly 200 leaders from New Jersey Together (NJT) gathered on April 27th, 2025, to call on the gubernatorial candidates to commit to NJT’s agenda on affordable housing and criminal justice reform. NJT is a strictly non-partisan citizens' power organization comprised of over 50 member congregations and organizations. Over the past six weeks, teams of NJT leaders met with five of the leading candidates to share their perspectives on the most pressing issues facing New Jersey and to highlight solutions that are achievable with focused and effective leadership from the next governor.

“Everyone knows that the housing crisis is key to so many challenges in our state. And yet, 50 years after the Mt. Laurel decision, the situation is worse than ever,” said Rev. Dr. Alonzo Perry, Sr., Co-Chair of Jersey City Together. “We know what works because our sister organizations in East Brooklyn, the South Bronx, Baltimore, D.C., and now Chicago have pioneered major efforts to create new critical masses of affordable homes and apartments.”

Representative Mikie Sherrill, along with Mayors Ras Baraka and Steven Fulop, attended the assembly and expressed strong commitments to working with New Jersey Together on the organization’s top priorities. Specifically, they committed to:

• Identifying and assembling sites and subsidies for new affordable housing development

• Supporting the expansion of Cohome, a model of humane housing for adults with disabilities, to address the challenge faced by aging parents who worry about care for their adult children once they are no longer able to provide it

• Acting to end technical parole violations, such as traffic tickets, missed meetings, or unpaid fines, that can result in a return to prison

New Jersey Together reaffirmed its commitment to organizing around these issues to ensure they remain central to the next administration’s agenda, regardless of who is elected.