Michael Swayze's Community Resources

Category: Community Resources

  • LIHEAP Deadline: May 31, 2017

    The deadline to apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is May 31, 2017. Applications with a May 31 postmark will be accepted. Applicants who had previously been denied may wish to reapply if their circumstances have changed, particularly if their monthly income has been reduced.

    For details see the Department of Community Affairs March 9 press release. Applications with incomplete documentation will be put into pending status for thirty days, according to a DCA spokesperson.

  • Online Safety Net Tools and Applications, Part II

    The purpose of this article is to alert you to a number of safety net applications that can be downloaded or completed directly online. They cover a variety of topics, including programs for seniors, financial assistance, child care, energy, utilities and welfare.

    There is a section of this site’s community resource page known as the ‘Public Benefits Corner’ that provides links to a number of these online or downloadable applications. There are links for the following:

    • NJ FamilyCare application
    • Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled (PAAD), Senior Gold, and Medicare Savings Programs – programs for seniors
    • Child Support Services
    • Subsidized Child Care
    • LIHEAP/USF/Weatherization – one application to apply for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Universal Service
      Fund (USF) and the Weatherization Assistance Program
    • Communications Lifeline program for Verizon landline customers
    • Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) – how to find your local WIC agency
    • State Unemployment Insurance
    • State Temporary Disability Insurance
    • Transportation Programs for former TANF clients

    Links to these safety net programs and applications are available in the
    Public Benefits Corner of this website. Knowing where to go online is the first step.

  • Employment Search Websites

    Note: OnRamp became inactive as of October, 2018. Job search tools for New Jersey job seekers are available at the state’s Career Services webpage.

    The unemployment rate has dropped significantly in the past few years. However, don’t expect cheers from the 1.6 million in the United States who have been jobless for more than six months, or the out-of-work breadwinner in Cape May county where the unemployment rate currently stands at 14.1%.

    One of the most read blog articles on this site is titled, “OnRamp – New Jersey Job Seekers Online Tool” and was posted in 2012. Today’s post is a revisit of current employment search tools and programs available to New Jersey job seekers.

    The New Start Career Network was created in 2015 to help the long-term unemployed. They “provide older (ages 45+), long-term unemployed New Jersey job seekers with access to free, personalized career services, including web-based information resources and in-person and virtual career coaching.” Visit their site. Read their brochure.

    One Stop Career Centers are located in all twenty-one counties in New Jersey. They provide: job search assistance, training and education assistance as well as on-site resource rooms (PCs, telephones, etc.).

    OnRamp is an online service provided by the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development (LWD). You can create an account and receive the following:

    • Simple upload and use of an existing resume and online tools to easily build a new resume;
    • Resume enhancing tools that suggest ways to improve your resume;
    • The ability to search job opportunities collected from over 2,400 sources in one place;
    • Automatic email notices of new jobs matching your skills and experience;
    • Matches to jobs you have the skills for, but may not have considered applying to;
    • You control what information an employer can see and how you are contacted by employers who wish to interview you.

    LWD provides a page with a listing of Job Fairs throughout the state.

    Public libraries provide easy access to employment resources. For example, go visit the Newark Public Library’s job and career resources webpage. Reference librarians are more than happy to help. See the New Jersey Libraries page for your local public library.