Blog

What gives me hope is that we have agency in this. We can make eye contact or provide physical touch, if those are appropriate and feel comfortable; we can be kind, we can bring intention to building connection – it all has ripple effects. And we can put.down.our.phones.!

March marks the final month of the granting period for the CRC Accelerator. Here are the next steps for certification or a certificate of participation.

The OOR Police-Youth Initiative was highlighted in the newest issue of The NJ Police Chief Magazine. Community navigator Tim Woody authored an article – look for it on page 25 on this link: The NJ Police Chief Magazine - Volume 30, Number 5 FEB 2024 MAG (joomag.com)

The hubs coordinate medical and social services, especially for people with complex challenges like homelessness or addiction. When state health officials sought to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates in Camden — one of a handful of communities lagging statewide immunization levels in July 2021 — they turned to the Camden Coalition for help. The Coalition, a nonprofit alliance founded two decades ago to improve health outcomes in the city, distributed information about the benefits of...

Please open attached PDF file for registration link. Meeting Registration - Zoom (zoomgov.com)

DCF Documentary, Truth to Transformation , to Screen at Garden State Film Festival Documentary Short Follows the Stories of Three People Affected by the Child Welfare System as They Work with the Department to Co-Design the Future of Child Welfare in NJ ASBURY PARK, N.J. – Over the last six years, the New Jersey Department of Children and Families has been actively working to change the narrative of child welfare in the state, to promote a vision of a family-serving system that helps all...

Nationally recognized days of awareness remind us of important civil and human rights movements led by Black and African-American communities and social justice advocates. February puts leadership, education, access, justice, policy, and governance under the spotlight. Through a PACEs science lens, this month is an opportunity to consider trauma-informed transformation through a PACEs science lens as the way forward.

Makers Place, launched in July 2018, was founded on the principles of asset-based community development, emphasizing the value of building relationships and fostering a sense of community strength. Instead of focusing on what a community lacks, Makers Place recognizes and celebrates the inherent gifts within each individual. The organization is committed to bringing people together and leveraging community support to create a more unified and empowered environment. The challenges posed by...

Idalmis T. Lamourt, MSW, LSW Assistant Director DCF Office of Resilience As I began my new position at the Office of Resilience, I found myself thinking a lot about the word trauma. We hear the term so often that we can become numb to it. But that isn’t case for those of us who have been impacted by trauma. We don’t become desensitized to what it truly means or what it took to get through that trauma. And each new trauma builds upon past ones. The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health...

At the Center for Prevention and Counseling (CPC), staff are committed to seamlessly integrating strategies and education on healthy youth development They saw a natural alignment between Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets for youth and the importance of raising awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including strategies to prevent and mitigate their impact. Using funding from the Department of Children and Families’ Office of Resilience microgrants, CPC staff developed...

Program Name: Champions For Life RAC: Give a Kid a Dream Person of Contact: Jacklyn Atkins In her long professional career, Jacklyn Atkins has a diverse background. From being the Executive Director of Research and Development at AT&T to working with at-risk youth in Long Branch, to traveling to India for similar work. Her travel required long absences from her clients in New Jersey, which became increasingly difficult, eventually leading her to build her own program- Champions for Life.

In July 2021, Governor Phil Murphy signed into law P.L.2021, c.187 to create a statewide, universal home visiting (UHV) program for newborns in the State of New Jersey.1 The program has been branded in New Jersey as Family Connects NJ. New Jersey is the second state in the country to legislate a statewide program through which families with a newborn can have a specially trained nurse visit their home in the first few weeks after the child’s birth. The services are free, voluntary, and meant...