In New Jersey, 37 percent of residents have trouble affording basic necessities, according to the United Way of Northern New Jersey. The “37 Voices” project will feature interviews with 37 people living in the greater New Brunswick and Newark areas who fall into this threshold — people who find it hard to pay for basic needs.
For an oral history project, an audio interview, which may take several hours, is then transcribed, archived and made available to researchers and the public. The stories will be woven into a series of news articles and podcasts. Social science researchers will produce a scholarly report. A play based on the project will be produced at Luna Stage in Orange.
coLAB Arts is the lead on this project and partners include the United Way of Northern New Jersey, Rutgers University, Montclair State University and FreePress.net.
Funding is provided by the Dodge Foundation and the Knight Foundation.
For more information or to participate, email Debbie Galant at debra.galant@gmail.com.
