(Graphic: Mandy Coriston for Square Amplified; Source USDA Census of Agriculture, New Jersey)

The Community Food Bank of New Jersey (CFBNJ) has been named as the lead organization to implement a $9.7 million Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) grant in New Jersey under the program name Jersey Fresh for All. The program connects what the USDA classifies as ‘socially disadvantaged’ farmers and producers to local food banks to provide fresh food in communities throughout the state.

On Sept. 17, over 75,000 people took to New York City streets to call out President Biden’s failed climate policies. The largest gathering of climate demonstrators since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the March to End Fossil Fuels brought together a cross-section of citizens and activists to demand the president act with urgency to reverse his recent decisions regarding projects detrimental to the climate, move to bring an end to fossil fuels, and declare a climate emergency.

For the 11th year in a row, the Newark Science and Sustainability organization (NewarkSAS) held its annual Sustainable Living Empowerment conference on Thursday, June 22, in virtual mode. The conversation titled 'Branching communities together through sustainability' centered on creating a sustainable food economy, environmental advocacy actions, and processes to engage communities in these efforts.

For many, commemorative holidays have been reduced to another day off or a means to host a barbecue or ravage a sale. Yet, they all came at a human cost. 

Juneteenth is one such noble day that represents more than just the end of the enslavement of Africans in America, but reminds us of a political moment that lives vividly in our contemporary space. It is also referred to as "Freedom Day" or "African American Emancipation Day." 

In the four decades since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began, the disease has taken the lives of more than 750,000 Americans, part of a total of 40.1 million deaths worldwide. A 2022 estimate shows that there are currently over 1.2 million Americans living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), of which 13% remain undiagnosed.

Photography cannot only capture an image but also a sound. Public Square Amplified's photojournalist, Brian Branch-Price, displays his adeptness in depicting gospel music through his signature black-and-white medium. Through his photos, he gives us a glimpse of the rhythms that tie family to music and God.

Following the devastating impacts of the recent earthquakes hitting both Syria and Turkey, one woman saw an opportunity to lend a hand in a way that is often overlooked. She did not donate food, clothes, or even money. Instead, Eiko La Boria, founder of The Flow Initiative, donated over 20,000 menstrual products to the people of Turkey and Syria.

Heavy rainfall, runoff, urban flooding, overbank flooding and drainage problems threaten several areas in Camden County, but the City of Camden—one of 37 municipalities in the county—has the greatest number of residents living in a floodplain. Like a peninsula, water surrounds the city, such as the Delaware River, Cooper River and Newton Creek. But residents aren't just taking in floodwater. There's raw sewage in the mix. As an overburdened Black and brown community with about 36% of residents living below the poverty level, residents, environmental specialists and community nonprofits say it's an environmental justice issue.

On Tuesday night, March 7, hundreds of citizens gathered to mourn and protest in outrage the killing of yet another Black man, 31-year-old, Najee Seabrooks, by two Paterson Police officers, while Seabrooks was experiencing a mental health crisis.

In provocative irony, Seabrooks worked as a high-risk violence interventionist with the Paterson Healing Collective to assist Paterson community members, mainly young people, experiencing a crisis.