• Babyland
• Focus: Hispanic Center for Community Development, Inc.
• La Casa de Don Pedro, Inc.
• Newark Now
• North Ward Center

Welcome to the 12th issue of the Newark Family Success Center Newsletter! On an ongoing basis, this newsletter will highlight some of the wonderful work of Newark's Family Success Centers, which are "one-stop" centers that connect Newark families to essential resources and services. There are 13 Family Success Centers in Newark and that number will continue to grow in the months to come.

Currently, Family Success Centers are operated by 11 Newark organizations: The Against All Odds Foundation, ASPIRA, Babyland Family Services, FOCUS, Ironbound Community Corporation (2 Centers), La Casa de Don Pedro (2 Centers), Newark Now (2 Centers), Newark Emergency Services for Families, New Community Corporation, North Ward Center, and the Salvation Army. In this issue we welcome the Salvation Army, which operates the Grand Family Success Center to help support the needs of grandparents raising grandchildren. In addition, Newark Now serves in an intermediary role, helping to facilitate the work of all 13 Family Success Centers with regard to the sharing of best practices, creation of data collection systems, development of strategies to increase awareness of the Centers' work, and identification of additional resources to support the Centers' work.

The Newark Family Success Center Network is supported by many key partners, including the City of Newark, County of Essex, State of New Jersey, Victoria Foundation, and Nicholson Foundation.

What follows is a small sampling of some of the ways that Family Success Centers are empowering Newarkers. (Please note: to protect the privacy of the families we serve, we generally have not used their real names in the information that follows.)

We hope you find the newsletter to be informative and inspiring. If you know of any Newark families who can be assisted by a Family Success Center, please encourage them to use the contact information that follows below.

To read previous issues of the Newark Family Success Center Network Newsletter go to http://www.newarkfamilysuccess.org/newsletters/

Address: 755 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ 07106
Phone Number: 973-399-3400
Contact Person: Genieva Broadus

Success Story
A woman visited Babyland FSC and disclosed she was currently living in a Domestic Violence Shelter. She stated she's waiting to move into her own apartment and needed help possibly getting beds for her child and herself. She shared as result of her former violent relationship she lost everything. Babyland FSC referred the woman to Furniture Assist and she was able to fully furnish her new apartment. She also received a television and other household necessities. She called the FSC to express her gratitude and also said "she feels she can now start her life all over again".

Address: 441-443 Broad Street
Phone Number: 973-624-2528 x131
Contact Person: Alexa Baez

FOCUS Wears Blue
Child abuse is more than bruises and broken bones. While physical abuse might be the most visible sign, other types of abuse, such as emotional abuse or child neglect, also leave deep, long lasting scars. Some signs of child abuse are subtler than others. However, by learning common types of abuse and what you can do, you can make a huge difference in a child's life. The earlier abused children get help, the greater chance they have to heal from their abuse and not perpetuate the cycle. Learn the signs and symptoms of child abuse and help break the cycle, finding out where to get help for the children and their caregivers.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness about child abuse and neglect and create strong communities to support children and families. All children deserve a healthy, happy and safe childhood. Each April, New Jersey makes a promise to prevention by distributing pinwheels and hosting educational events throughout the state. Pinwheels are a symbol of a happy, carefree childhood. Doesn't every child deserve one?

Everyone has a role to play in preventing child abuse and supporting families. The FOCUS FSC hosted a day of raising awareness by wearing Blue on Monday, April 11, 2011. All the staff wore blue and donated $3.00 in exchange for wearing jeans on a Monday. The money fundraised was utilized to purchase ShopRite gift cards that were be raffled among families that attend our "Child Abuse Prevention Education Activity" on Saturday, April 30, 2011.

The Family Success Center hosted an activity geared to educating families on the topic of the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. On Saturday, April 30th we invited 20 families to our Family Success Center where they had the opportunity to take part in an Educational Workshop about the following topics:

• Healthy ways to discipline your children
• Speaking to your children verses yelling at your children
• Interacting with your child

While the parents were receiving valuable information the children were enjoying themselves playing board games, coloring, completing puzzles, etc. Once the workshop ended we joined the parents with their children and began our parent/child activity. The children and their parents worked on planting a pinwheel on a flower pot, during the activity we explained to the families that pinwheels represented and are a symbol of happy, carefree childhood. The families were very happy during the activity many of them expressed how happy and fortunate they felt attending the activity.

Once the parent/child activity concluded we treated the parents to lunch served by the staff and their children giving the children an opportunity to serve the parents as a symbol of their appreciation to them and their unconditional love.

Child abuse is more than bruises and broken bones. While physical abuse might be the most visible sign, other types of abuse, such as emotional abuse or child neglect, also leave deep, long lasting scars. Some signs of child abuse are subtler than others. However, by learning common types of abuse and what you can do, you can make a huge difference in a child's life. The earlier abused children get help, the greater chance they have to heal from their abuse and not perpetuate the cycle. Learn the signs and symptoms of child abuse and help break the cycle, finding out where to get help for the children and their caregivers.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness about child abuse and neglect and create strong communities to support children and families. All children deserve a healthy, happy and safe childhood. Each April, New Jersey makes a promise to prevention by distributing pinwheels and hosting educational events throughout the state. Pinwheels are a symbol of a happy, carefree childhood. Doesn't every child deserve one?

Everyone has a role to play in preventing child abuse and supporting families. The FOCUS FSC hosted a day of raising awareness by wearing Blue on Monday, April 11, 2011. All the staff wore blue and donated $3.00 in exchange for wearing jeans on a Monday. The money fundraised was utilized to purchase ShopRite gift cards that were be raffled among families that attend our "Child Abuse Prevention Education Activity" on Saturday, April 30, 2011.

Family Success Center I
Address: 23 Broadway
Phone Number: 973-483-2703 x2218
Contact Person: Diana Rojas

Family Success Center II
Address: 595 North 6th Street
Phone Number: 973-482-9002
Contact Person: Nila Rouiller

Community Event
La Casa's Family Success Center I and II in collaboration with the American Heart Association , celebrated mother's Day with a beautification event, we offered free manicures, haircuts, make ups, massages, and beauty tips. We had live entertainement, prizes, raffles, and a educational video about heart care education (Go Red for your Heart). The event concluded with a very healthy lunch. An approximate of 80 mothers participated in this event.

La Casa's FSC II's Advisory Board, took the initiative to visit Casa Israel Adult Medical Day Care Center . Children performed a dance for the seniors, and the Advisory Board members danced with the seniors, some of them got a manicure and make up, and even one of the seniors taught the kids to play pool! Seniors really had a great time with the visit of the AB and the children.

We held a series of workshops on self esteem and at the end of the series participants were taken to play bowling!

La Casa's FSC I and II held the Strengthening Families event. Approximately 350 families attended. We hosted the event at the Burger King parking lot. Families enjoyed of live entertainment,games, face painting, raffles, information, parent-child games, music, and lots of prizes. The purpose of the event was to gather families and to transmit them the importance of the family unit in our society.

Success Story
This family became familiar to our center on November 17, 2010. A family composed of a mother and a seven year old daughter was expecting a baby. The mother is a domestic violence survivor. As she stated, she lost her sight in one eye due to the beatings of her abusive partner, who is father of her older child. When she came to the center she was seeking assistance with eyeglasses. Her case had been closed at the New Jersey Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (NJCBVI). Other needs were identified as well and a family success plan was developed. She was referred to the LIHEAP Program at La Casa de Don Pedro, Inc. She was also advised to apply for food stamps and cash assistance at welfare; and to apply for child support at the family court. Unfortunately, nothing could be done to help her obtain a VISA for domestic violence victims since there is a time frame for application and the incidents had occurred more than a year ago prior to her coming to La Casa de Don Pedro, Inc.

The Family Support Worker advocated for this family at the NJCBVI. After many calls to her caseworker at the Commission for the Blind and after a couple of months; she finally received her eyeglasses in February 2011. Hopefully she will be transferred to Independent living.

The LIHEAP Program at La Casa de Don Pedro, Inc. gave her assistance and paid $276.00 toward her PSE&G bill. Once her baby was born, she applied for food stamps and cash assistance. The child support for the younger child was approved in the amount of $180 and the cash assistance from welfare was approved in the amount of $122.00. She was also given food stamps.

This family is considered a success for all the obstacles this single mother had overcome in her life. This means that when a family's needs are identified and the family works on the success plan; the family may achieve the goals and move on with their life. Families benefit from formal support; whether it is as advocacy, guidance, or information and referral just to mention a few.

Central and West Wards Family Success Center
Address: 982 Broad Street, 2nd Floor, Newark, NJ 07102
Phone Number: 973-639-2100 x258
Contact Person: Mykelle Warren

Consumer Empowerment Workshops
The Central and West Wards Family Success Center collaborated with the various departments within its parent agency, Newark Emergency Services For Families, Inc. (NESF), as well as United Community Corporation, to offer high quality-based presentations, workshops and seminars geared toward the concerns affecting our families. This collaboration created a series of presentations entitled the "Consumer Empowerment Workshops", where the premise is to tackle the growing problems and worries parents have in association with their children and families.

These workshops, which began during the month of January, covered many topics ranging from Employment Empowerment (such as resume building, interview techniques and job readiness) to how to build better credit and what a credit score really means. The activities we had during the months of April, May and June involved the discussion and examination of Domestic Violence (how to detect domestic violence within your home and those of your relatives and friends) Motivational Engagement (how to stay positive in a negative world) and Financial Literacy (how to budget and create a savings plan on a limited income).

For the month of August the following workshops will be held:

• August 10^th: Credit Coaching, Legal Services and Medication Discount Program
• August 20^th: Job Readiness and Employability Skills
• August 24^th: Stress Management

Other workshops, highlighting other areas of concerns affecting the family unit, have been formulated through December, 2011. For more information, please contact Noemi Ballester at 973-639-2100, extension 204.

Month of Wellness
During the month of May The Central and West Wards Family Success Center assisted NESF's Self-Sufficiency Services Department with a series of seminars entitled the "Month of Wellness". Every Wednesday evening during the month of May (and one Wednesday morning) a variety of workshops were held which provided an overview of the many health/social related topics that stifled physical/mental health amongst our families and individuals. The purpose of these presentations was to promote a sense of calm and well-being amongst the participants once they left each seminar.

Over the course of 4 weeks, many topics were covered and reviewed in detail which included:

• Nutrition
• Mental Health
• Family Health Insurance
• HIV/AIDS and STDs
• Medicaid coverage
• Social Security issues

The Wellness Series culminated into a Saturday Health Fair where 11 health and social service agencies were represented. During this Fair participants received information about HIV/AIDS and other STD treatment options, pre/post natal care, adult daycare, family-related health insurance and Family Success Center activities. Attendees were also screened, on-site, for blood pressure, diabetes, lead poisoning and HIV. A lunch was provided to all participants. The Health Fair enlightened 104 individuals with invaluable health care information as well as on-site testing.

Bradley Court Family Success Center
Address: 48 Munn Avenue, Suite 12
Phone Number: 973-991-1290
Contact Person: Sharmine Williams

Georgia King Village Family Success Center
Address: 250 West Market Street
Phone Number: 973-621-2221
Contact: Aliya Myrie

Success Story
Newark Now Family Success Centers Celebrate A Family's Success: The Brown Family and Parent of the Month: Marshella Brown!

(Family Success Staff - Aliya Myrie, Sharmine Williams and Robin Williams with proud recipients of Family Success Center awards, Linda Lee, Tomeka Gumbs and Marshella Brown)photo credit- Anthony Alvarez

On May 26th 2009, Ms. Marshella Brown walked into the Family Success Center at Bradley Court for the first time. After engaging in the first steps of family planning with Ms. Brown, the Family Success Staff learned that Marshella was aspiring to obtain a better life for herself and her two sons.

Ms. Brown received a screening for benefits based on her income and was eligible for more than she had expected. Leaving the Center saying that she "didn't know such a great place existed", Marshella promised to come back if she ever needed anything...

Why Marshella Brown?

"Marshella has transformed from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Previously isolated to her apartment, she has since become a leader in her community. Family Success provided her and her children the opportunity to just BE. Family Success Staff reinforced the greatness she already had inside." - Family Success Center Director, Chesha Hodge

Marshella has joined the Family Success Center "movement" at Bradley Court full force. She has assisted the FSC with various afterschool and child based activities. She encourages the local youth to focus and express themselves positively while learning. Marshella assists Greater Newark Conservancy and their Junior Ranger team at Bradley Court every week whilst they teach children about nutrition, agriculture and home preservation.

Ms. Brown has become a familiar face amongst Bradley Court, acting as an activist for the youth and tenants of the community. Working on the board of her tenant association, Marshella, works to create programs and make decisions for the improvement of her community; taking steps to make the environment that she and her children live in safe thus "creating" a better life for herself and her two sons. Marshella is very close to achieving the goal she set approximately two years ago, the first day she stepped into the Family Success Center.

"She is a very inspiring and positive mother who lives up to her potential. From what I see she is a good person with a good heart that has a gift of expression with words." ~ Outreach Coordinator, Vernon Riley.

Marshella Brown reading a self written poem "A Mother's Love..." at Family Success Day held 4/16/2011 - photo credit Anthony Alvarez

Marshella Brown introducing and greeting Charlie Venti (Nicholson Foundation) at Family Success Day held 4/16/2011 - photo credit Anthony Alvarez

In Marshella's Words
I am a young single mother of two boys aged 4 and 7. I am also the youngest child of 6 at 28 years old. I am a former live-in nanny that writes & performs poetry & short stories against gang violence.

I reside at Bradley Court and I have recently become the Vice President of the Tenant Association. I work providing childcare while teaching children how to express themselves through poetry.

I often volunteer at the Family Success Center. They do such a wonderful job in the community that it inspired me to do more. We need more programs like this to help our community get better. They help single moms & dads, people without jobs & food, teens who need guidance etc....

Whenever I was in need of assistance, I was helped or guided to help by the Family Success Center. It showed me people who care not just about their families but their community & that's something we need to push forth in our community... unity.

June In Review
This June, the Family Success Centers centered their activities on the idea of "Rebuilding Your Life" and National Men's Health Month. Did you know that according to the Male Health Center website (www.malehealthcenter.org) that the 10 leading causes of death among young men are accidents, homicide, suicide, AIDS, cancer, heart disease, pneumonia and influenza, cirrhosis of the liver, congenital abnormalities and stroke. They also report that about 37.7 million adults in the U.S. have high cholesterol and men over 45 are at higher risk of developing high cholesterol. These staggering numbers were enough for the FSC to conduct outreach in efforts of empowering the males in our community.

For the whole month of June the Newark Now Family Success Centers held a Men's Health Contest. We asked that men participate in free and low cost health initiatives around the city, gaining information resources and access to available health services. The two men that participated in the most health related activities and workshops were awarded family tickets to a Lady Liberty basketball game.

In addition, the Family Success Centers collaborated with Horizon NJ Health in conducting a health fair at our sites. At the health fair, attendees had access to WIC and health insurance information, FREE pregnancy tests and on-site glucose testing. Participating agencies were: Horizon NJ Health, NCHC, NJ Northern Maternal Child Health Consortium and the Department of Children and Family Services.

The Family Success Center at Essex County College held its first community event at the county college. A STRESS FREE... Day was had in the snack area of the school. All were welcome to participate in this FREE workshop that offered massages and valuable information on stress relief from the spine to the mind. Dr. Uchenna Abba Onyeani, a chiropractor in Union NJ, and his team, provided answers to many questions while sharing how stress effects the human body. Dr. Brenda Pittman, Certified Anger Management Facilitator, offered tips on how to cope with anger in stressful situations. Stacey of Absolute Hands CMT provided attendees with deep tissue massages in the very relaxing and peaceful setting. The event was a huge success and participants walked away refreshed and renewed.

Address: 286 Mt. Prospect Avenue
Phone Number: 973-485-5723
Contact Person: Vanessa Bohler

Community Event
The North Ward Center's Family Success Center Helps to Create a Healthier Community

The North Ward Center's Family Success Center invited the community to take steps toward preventative health care and learn about services available to them at a health fair on Saturday, June 11 at Casa Israel Adult Medical Day Care Center.

"These events are vital because for people who don't have insurance, this is where they find out what's wrong and where prevention can take place," said Newark Community Health Centers (NCHC) Marketing and Outreach Representative Nilsa Santiago, who coordinated the fair in collaboration with the North Ward Center.

NCHC is one of six federally qualified health centers in Newark, East Orange, Orange and Irvington, and those without insurance can receive a special promotion for a free visit. Santiago noted that NCHC works on a sliding scale fee so patients are able to keep coming back.

"I think it's worth mentioning that the partnership with the North Ward Center and NCHC is great," Santiago said. "The North Ward Center focuses on social empowerment and we are into health and prevention, so it's a great marriage for this community."

Adrianne Davis, the executive director of The North Ward Center, said the goal of the health fair is to encourage the community to take time out to focus on their health and wellness.

"With the high incidents of breast and prostate cancer and heart disease, it's crucial that our community become more proactive in obtaining the necessary screenings, such as yearly breast exams, glucose testing, mammogram and HIV and AIDS testing to ensure that any problems are detected early," Davis said.

Andrew Pogorelec, a vision screener for the NJ Commission for the Blind, administers a glaucoma test to Deche Southwood. Vanessa Bohler, the director of the North Ward Center's Family Success Center, said the health fair has become a vital service offered to the community.

"Health care is often not a priority for families who are struggling for survival," Bohler said. "By bringing health care literally to the street, we hope to educate the community so they can take the next steps to a healthier lifestyle."

NCHC Certified Medical Technician Migdalia Bonilla was at the fair performing health screenings for glucose levels, blood pressure and breast cancer while Andrew Pogorelec, vision screener for the New Jersey Commission for the Blind, was available to perform glaucoma testing.

"This is where people come in and get checked out," Santiago said. "Early detection is important in a lot of the silent killers like high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer."

Neurological pediatrician Dr. Beatriz Gonzalez and Pat Hampton, a nurse who is an outreach coordinator at Children's Specialized Hospital, were also on hand to answer parents' questions about behavioral health issues. Funded by the Governor's Council for Medical Research and Treatment of Autism, the Children's Specialized Hospital offers autism outreach and free screenings in underserved areas.

Mayra Gonzalez, who regularly participates in the Family Success Center's parenting programs, came out to the fair to get her blood pressure and glucose levels checked.

"A lot of people in the community don't like to go out and get their medical exams done, or maybe they don't have time," Gonzalez said. "But activities like this are great because they're around your block and your community. It's easy to go out and take advantage of it."

Family Success Center Chairperson Gloria Nivez said this year the center started its preparation earlier and teamed up with more vendors than last year. New to the health fair were representatives from the Division of Citizen Services Division of Welfare and the NJ Commission for the Blind. There was also new entertainment for children like caricatures and face painting while parents received health screenings.

"We're trying to offer services that the community is in desperate need of, and let them know that today we are here," said Nivez.Stephen N. Adubato, the founder of the North Ward Center, said events such as the health fair are the key to a strong community.

"The North Ward Center has been playing a role in strengthening the community for more than 40 years," Adubato said. "The health fair is just one of the many ways in which the center helps to build a healthier, stronger community."

The North Ward Center's Family Success program started in June 2007 and is one of 32 such sites in the state. Family success centers are open to any member of the community seeking support, information, and services.