N.J. Human Services Chief Leaving Post

Jennifer Velez, credited by policy analysts and healthcare advocates with expertly handling some of the biggest Medicaid changes in New Jersey’s history, is ending her eight-year run as state human services commissioner.

Her tenure was marked by an ability to balance competing demands under governors from both major political parties, and reshaping Medicaid as well as non-healthcare programs affecting the state’s children.

N.J. Assemblywoman Seeks Impact Study Prior to Closing Developmental Center

TRENTON, N.J. -- Gov. Chris Christie should halt any plans to close the Vineland Developmental Center in Cumberland County until a new legislative panel has studied the impact on its disabled residents, the chairwoman of the Assembly Human Services Committee announced today.
In a letter to Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez who oversees state institutions, Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen) questioned the administration's recent transfer of 59 Vineland residents. Two-thirds of them were sent to one of the six other institutions serving people with developmental disabilities while the remaining residents moved into community housing.