Project Purpose

37 Voices is an initiative that combines journalism, oral history, research, and theater to change the narrative around economic vulnerability in New Jersey, one of the highest-cost states in the country. This initiative began in 2017 as a student project with Rutgers University Professor Todd Wolfson, and has since expanded to include many stakeholders in Middlesex and Essex Counties to combat perceptions of poverty. We hope that through 37 Voices, the stories of these individuals will present a more humane, whole and nuanced understanding about what it means to experience economic hardship. We also explore the structures and policies that make it difficult for people to break out of poverty.

The stories on this site include first-person narratives with individuals who find themselves within the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) threshold. Grassroots partners identified these participants; then Free Press' network of New Jersey journalists interviewed these individuals and reported their stories. coLAB Arts will use the story transcripts to create monologues to anchor public conversations around economic vulnerability, and is developing a theater piece that synthesizes these narratives. New Jersey Policy Perspective has annotated all of the interviews to provide context in response to transcript statements. Oral History and Folklife Research has produced short-form podcasts from the audio of each interview.

BACKGROUND

The United Way of Northern New Jersey produces an annual report - referred to as the ALICE report - for the state of New Jersey. The study provides data on topics like health care and housing for the state’s economically vulnerable residents. These are individuals who earn above the federal poverty level, but less than what it takes to survive. The 2016 report indicated that 37% of the state’s population live below the ALICE threshold, including ALICE and those in poverty. This statistic is the number from which the project takes its name. The 2018 updated ALICE Report indicates that this figure is now 38.5% (www.unitedforalice.org).

RESEARCH AND RESOURCES

The 37 Voices website houses a public archive of audio and annotated transcripts of the collected interviews. In collaboration with New Jersey Policy Perspective, each story is tagged based on measurable data points from the United Way of Northern New Jersey’s ALICE Report, NJPP’s own state reports, tied to published journalism, and references state-level policy and legislation for further inquiry. Participating community partners are providing outreach and advisory support for this project.