Logo for InfluenceWatch InfluenceWatch

Donate
Non-profit

New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA)

Website:

www.njcitizenaction.org/
Location:

NEWARK, NJ
Tax ID:

22-2395222
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(4)

Budget (2022):

Revenue: $993,140
Expenses: $903,989
Assets: $1,527,019
Type:

Policy advocacy group
Formation:

1985
Executive Director:

Dena Mottola Jaborska
Budget (2023):

Revenue: $569,089

Expenses: $952,132

Total Assets: $1,020,709 25

Contact InfluenceWatch with suggested edits or tips for additional profiles.

New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) is a state affiliate of the now defunct Citizen Action, a national left-of-center voter mobilization and community organizing group. Citizen Action of New Jersey works in tandem with its sister 501(c)(3) group, New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund (NJCAEF) to conduct left-progressive advocacy and social service organization that is involved with issues like healthcare, housing, the environment, and increasing the minimum wage, among others. 1

NJCA supports left-of-center policies such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare),2 a $15 minimum wage,3 and automatic voter registration. 4 NJCA supports left-of-center environmentalist policy and criticized former Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) for taking NJ out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). 5

Activities

New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) focuses its left-of-center advocacy on policy issues for healthcare, housing, environmentalism, and increasing the minimum wage. 1 NJCA is a supporter of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,2 advocates for a $15 minimum wage throughout New Jersey along with paid sick day and secure choice retirement mandates,3 and is actively campaigning to overturn the Citizens United decision of 2010 that recognized the rights of people to form advocacy groups to make public, un-coordinated messages supporting or opposing political candidates. 6 NJCA also supports the New Jersey Democracy Act, which would implement automatic voter registration and allow for early voting. 4

NJCA supports environmentalist climate change policy and has previously advocated for the state of New Jersey to eliminate conventional fuels in favor of renewable energies. NJCA criticized former Governor Chris Christie for taking New Jersey out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and claims that Christie defunded renewable energy development and did not properly implement the 2007 Global Warming Response Act. 5

NJCA provides assistance to low-income residents with free tax preparation, mortgage and financial advice, healthcare sign-up, and other educational outreach programs. 7 In conjunction with these services, NJCA supports policies like the Community Reinvestment Act8 and the Preserving American Homeownership Act. 9

Leadership

Dena Mottola Jaborska is the executive director at New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA). Jaborska has previously served positions at the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group and Environment New Jersey. 10 11

Board of Directors

The New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) board is co-chaired by Paulette Eberle and Christian Estevez. Estevez is the former executive vice president of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1037 and former education training coordinator for the New Jersey State AFL-CIO. Estevez is the current president of the Latino Action Network and former executive vice president of the Latino Leadership Alliance of New Jersey. 12 Estevez’s alternate, Daniel Santo Pietro, serves on the board of the Latino Action Network (LAN) and formerly served as LAN’s public policy chair. 13 14

Treasurer Marcia Marley is the founder and executive director of BlueWave NJ and the chair of the board of trustees of New Jersey Policy Perspective,15 a left-of-center policy organization that is a member of the union-aligned Economic Analysis and Research Network. 16

Milly Silva is the executive vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East (UHE). 17

Rex Reid is the political and legislative representative of AFSCME NJ Council 63. 18

Vic De Luca is a founding board member of NJCA, the president of Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, and serves on the Committee on Family Philanthropy at the Council on Foundations. De Luca has formerly served on the boards of Philanthropy New York, Funders for Reproductive Equity, and the Diversity in Philanthropy Project. De Luca is the former mayor of Maplewood, New Jersey. 19

Hetty Rosenstein is an at-large board member and the organizing director at Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 1. 20 Rosenstein’s alternate, Seth Hahn, was the NJ legislative and political director for Communications Workers of America (CWA) and treasurer of the CWA PAC before joining NJ United. Hahn serves on the board of the Working Families Alliance, is a former national field director for the National Association of Letter Carriers, and served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention pledged to Bernie Sanders in 2016. 21

Mitch Kahn is the president of City Green, the vice president and an organizer with the New Jersey Tenants Organization, and the former chair of Political Action for Candidate Election (PACE) at the National Association of Social Workers. 22 Kahn’s alternate, Matt Shapiro, is the President of the New Jersey Tenants Organization. 23

Funding

New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) received $65,000 from the Sixteen Thirty Fund in 2017. 24

According to its 2023 990 form, New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA) received a revenue of $569,089, expenses of $952,132 and total assets of $1,020,709 25

In February of 2025, it was reported that NJCA’s sister 501(c)(3) group, New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund (NJCAEF), had received over $800,000 in federal grants from the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) since 2021. 26

References

  1. “About NJCA.” New Jersey Citizen Action, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://njcitizenaction.org/?page_id=43.
  2. “Health Care.” New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://njcitizenaction.org/?page_id=139.
  3. “Good Jobs.” New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://njcitizenaction.org/?page_id=141.
  4. “Voting Rights.” New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020.  https://njcitizenaction.org/?page_id=697.
  5. “Climate and Clean Energy.” New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://njcitizenaction.org/?page_id=718.
  6. “Money in Politics.” New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://njcitizenaction.org/?page_id=145.
  7. “Services.” New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://njcitizenaction.org/?page_id=55.
  8. “Community Reinvestment (CRA).” New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://njcitizenaction.org/?page_id=196.
  9. “Fighting for Foreclosure Prevention.” New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://njcitizenaction.org/?page_id=675.
  10. “Dena Mottola Jaborska – Experience .” LinkedIn . Accessed April 21, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dena-mottola-jaborska-9190a854/.
  11. “Staff.” New Jersey Citizen Action, accessed April 28, 2025. https://www.njcitizenaction.org/staff
  12. “Christian Estevez.” LinkedIn, 2020. Accessed April 25, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-estevez-3409a229/.
  13. “Daniel Santo Pietro Refers to the ‘Destructive Dozen’ in His Testimony on Behalf of LAN to the New Jersey Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.” Latino Action Network, March 20, 2013. Accessed April 25, 2025. https://latinoaction.blogspot.com/2013/03/daniel-santo-pietro-refers-to.html.
  14. “NJCA Board of Directors.” New Jersey Citizen Action, Accessed April 28, 2025. https://www.njcitizenaction.org/njca_board
  15. “Who We Are.” New Jersey Policy Perspective, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://www.njpp.org/about/who-we-are.
  16. Watson, Michael. “State Policy with the Union Label: The Economic Analysis and Research Network,” November 5, 2018. https://capitalresearch.org/article/state-policy-with-the-union-label-the-economic-analysis-and-research-network/.
  17. “Leadership.” 1199SEIU, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://www.1199seiu.org/leadership.
  18. “Your AFSCME NJ Team.” AFSCME New Jersey Council 63. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://www.afscmenj.org/about-us/your-afscme-nj-team.
  19. “Vic De Luca.” National Center for Family Philanthropy.” Accessed July 24, 2020. https://www.ncfp.org/people/vic-de-luca/.
  20. “Hetty Rosenstein.” LinkedIn, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hetty-rosenstein-99395819/.
  21. Wildstein, David. “Seth Hahn departing CWA for Coughlin-aligned group.” New Jersey Globe, September 27, 2019. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://newjerseyglobe.com/fr/seth-hahn-departing-cwa-for-coughlin-aligned-group/.
  22. “Mitchell Kahn.” LinkedIn, 2020. Accessed July 24, 2020. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchell-kahn-0b120b6/.
  23. “Legislative.” New Jersey Tenants Organization.” Accessed July 24, 2020. http://njtenantsorg.homestead.com/LEGISLATIVE.html.
  24. Sixteen Thirty Fund, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2017, Schedule I, Part II.
  25. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Citizen Action Of New Jersey. 2023. Part I. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/222395222/202403169349303170/full
  26. Braun, Ken. “Grants to SPLC and DEI Demonstrate Federal Spending against Taxpayer Values.” Capital Research Center, February 3, 2025. https://capitalresearch.org/article/grants-to-splc-and-dei-demonstrate-federal-spending-against-taxpayer-values/.
  See an error? Let us know!

Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: December - November
  • Tax Exemption Received: February 1, 1985

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2022 Dec Form 990 $993,140 $903,989 $1,527,019 $815,445 N $223,385 $763,860 $0 $135,058
    2021 Dec Form 990 $928,810 $680,877 $918,909 $296,486 N $140,915 $781,562 $0 $95,519 PDF
    2020 Dec Form 990 $876,348 $662,901 $660,789 $286,299 N $112,426 $760,047 $0 $327,871
    2019 Dec Form 990 $469,568 $752,516 $479,219 $316,416 N $96,609 $369,443 $0 $326,686
    2018 Dec Form 990 $970,539 $810,207 $728,918 $283,167 N $98,645 $868,451 $0 $319,614 PDF
    2017 Dec Form 990 $745,092 $611,601 $545,371 $259,952 N $130,121 $609,562 $0 $129,010 PDF
    2016 Dec Form 990 $527,342 $513,573 $417,826 $265,898 N $141,214 $380,205 $0 $150,055 PDF
    2015 Dec Form 990 $492,994 $453,051 $333,852 $195,693 N $102,811 $388,559 $0 $79,781 PDF
    2014 Dec Form 990 $686,503 $760,357 $317,913 $219,697 N $99,464 $580,108 $0 $240,995 PDF
    2013 Dec Form 990 $706,459 $662,165 $359,269 $187,199 N $83,616 $588,511 $0 $68,023 PDF
    2012 Dec Form 990 $744,728 $712,929 $358,965 $231,189 N $52,226 $584,716 $0 $105,265 PDF
    2011 Dec Form 990 $835,545 $868,352 $370,528 $274,551 N $207,947 $560,116 $0 $64,635 PDF

    Additional Filings (PDFs)

    New Jersey Citizen Action (NJCA)

    625 BROAD ST STE 270
    NEWARK, NJ 07102-4418