The First Round of RAC projects, funded by DCF’s Office of Resilience, is now five months into the grant period and we have seen some outstanding results. While three of our projects in the Central RAC are preparing to launch, five others are up and running. We are seeing creative project activities and curriculums, participants experiencing success, and programs evolving. Projects are currently serving Hunterdon, Union, Mercer, and Middlesex counties. One of the most exciting, inspiring aspects of our funded programs is the great diversity of ideas and approaches to bringing our youth positive experiences, and healing to our communities. Perhaps the most amazing part is that each project in the Central RAC does not have a clinical component, which is important when considering the potential of our communities to heal, and what defines the journey of healing. While clinical aspects are useful and in certain cases essential, the healing journey can be understood as a personal and community endeavor that necessitates genuine connection, sharing of knowledge and resources, self-inquiry, and reflection. All projects receiving RAC funding engender these qualities while maintaining a unique formula for impacting their respective communities. Each project is featured in this blog post to illustrate the great diversity of ideas, unique program components, and their success thus far. Enjoy the inspiration!
Commit Meal Kits
The Flemington Food Pantry has done great work to engage whole families. Monthly, they serve up a healthy meal kit for families to prepare together and have even provided breakfast recipes to consider those who may not be able to prepare dinner during the week. Children are trying new foods regularly, and one participant said they love the meal kits because it’s their way of “eating out” since their family is unable to do so. The program has also evolved to include two new features. A walking challenge was introduced in April to get families moving, spend more time together, explore area parks, and ultimately, improve health. A cooking demonstration series is also being offered starting in July, wherein families will harvest fruits and/or vegetables, then watch the demonstration and prepare the meal at home with the items harvested. They are currently serving 75 families each month with their meal kit program.
Finance Park
Junior Achievement, currently funded to work with Plainfield schools in Union County, is offering a robust financial literacy program called Finance Park. Following a weeks-long financial literacy curriculum, this program sees students “graduate” by completing a simulation in which they are assigned an occupation and a fictional life, then proceed to figure out their monthly income and a budget before managing their finances. Although the simulation’s driving elements are based in financial literacy and practicing the associated hard skills, students become acquainted with the realities of adulthood: responsibility, pragmatic decision-making, prioritizing, and dealing with unforeseen circumstances among others. Over 200 students have been served so far, with the end goal being 2,000. In addition, the RAC grant has allowed JA to experiment with engaging entire school districts rather than individual schools and educators and is helping drive their strategic planning to utilize this nascent model throughout NJ. The work they are currently doing with Plainfield schools is serving as a blueprint for further developing this model and incorporating additional elements. Their strategic vision includes JA creating a learning track for school districts. An example would be starting with BizTown (one of their two on-site simulations), for younger students to learn about business management and civics, then Finance Park level one for middle schoolers and Finance Park level two for high schoolers. The learning track may include different JA programming than the examples provided and is also dependent upon the unique needs of each school district.
Dress for Success
A self-empowerment program for Trenton Central high school girls, Dress for Success provides opportunities for self-exploration, career exploration, career skill-building, and a boutique for participants to access professional clothing. Current workshop offerings include Self-Love, Road to Your Success, and Personal Branding/Interview Skills. Their two-part Self-Love workshop saw participation from sixteen girls, all of whom attended both sessions in which the group worked on building self-awareness, establishing healthy boundaries, and eliminating self-doubt. In addition, the group also worked on positive affirmations and made friendship bracelets. During the first session, program coordinators observed that the students were hard on themselves and experienced difficulty identifying their positive qualities. The students were given a workbook to take home that provided guidance and exercises on how to identify those qualities and see themselves in a more positive light. By the end of the second workshop, program coordinators noticed a clear difference in how the students perceived themselves and their strengths. Over a hundred students have attended at least one workshop, and a “core group” of students have attended multiple while creating community among themselves.
HAY Group
HAY group, which stands for Horse and Youth group, is a project run by Spring Reins of Life in Hunterdon County. This project is an equine-assisted psychotherapy group that focuses on emotional healing and improving relationships by providing a safe, non-judgmental space for participants to explore patterns of interaction with horses. Though run by professional therapists, the approach is non-clinical and does not necessitate discussion of deep trauma or attachment wounds. The activities are intended to be exploratory and experiential, with the learning taking place through metaphor in many cases. For example, in one activity participants write, on a note card, one attribute/quality/item that is very important to them. The group then creates a physical boundary within the horse arena using objects in the environment and put their note cards into the physical boundary with the goal of protecting them from the donkeys/horses. Youths are invited to bring a donkey or horse over to the area but are encouraged not to allow them to cross the boundary into the notecard space. When they invite the horse/donkey into the area of the boundary, but do not allow them to "cross" the boundary, they are developing an understanding of what it takes to maintain a boundary. If the horse/donkey does cross into the protected space, youths are encouraged to discuss what happened and how to try again with a different plan. The activity involves problem solving, communication, and interpersonal skills. A variety of activities function in this way, providing participants opportunities to learn new concepts, build new skills, and raise their self-awareness.
Caritas Program
The Caritas program is a summer music camp located in New Brunswick that started in 2018 and did not operate in 2022 due to a lack of funding. The RAC grant has helped bring back their summer camp for 2023 and 2024. Participants learn how to play the ukulele, are introduced to music theory, and take part in workshops and team building activities. Social workers are onsite to facilitate social-emotional workshops focusing on such topics as social justice and managing emotions. At the start of camp, participants vote on their most valued topics to discuss in group, and each day a different social worker facilitates that day’s workshop. Camp culminates with a concert in the final week, and due to an additional funding source this year, campers will be taken on a field trip which may include an amusement park, water park, or similar venue. Thirty campers are served each summer.
Little Steps that Make a Big Impact
With RAC funding for multiple counties, Big Brothers Big Sisters has successfully implemented a program to utilize an ACEs screening tool as part of their intake process. Dependent upon family comfort level, an ACEs questionnaire is provided to parents and guardians to fill out on behalf of their child. Questionnaire results are used to inform the Youth Outcome Development Plan which includes case management, mentorship, and wrap-around services. 29 youth have been paired with a mentor thus far, with a goal of fifty by the end of the grant period.
You First, and Youth Coaching & Leadership Program
Two additional projects are currently in the planning phase and are expected to launch by mid-September. One of those is in Mercer County, and the project is called You First. This program is designed for mothers to build self-care and self-awareness skills within a supportive community. Various workshops drive the curriculum including topics such as: overcoming negative patterns and behaviors, attachment styles and romantic partnerships, self-care, and many others. The primary focus of this program is on the inner world of participants to help them grow spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. In Monmouth County, Counseling Support Services will be launching their Youth Development and Leadership program at the end of July. Focus will be on self-exploration using journaling, yoga and mindfulness practice, and learning the importance of restful sleep as well as healthy meal preparation. Their program launches on July 26th and will run for seven weeks before implementing a second cohort in the fall.
We are honored to be in partnership with these wonderful organizations. Each project is essential to its respective community, and their impact will continue to grow through the grant period and beyond. Within the next two weeks the Central RAC will be welcoming a second round of awardees, each with their own unique ideas and skill sets. We look forward to adding our new awardee cohort and intend to help build sustainable networks between programs to increase collaboration, resource sharing, and participant referrals in order to deepen the existing impact these programs have on their respective communities.
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