Jan Nicholson delivered the following speech in October 2010 at a farewell reception honoring Mark Hoover.
A Moment in Transition:
Looking Back and Moving Forward
Welcome. I am Jan Nicholson, President of The Nicholson Foundation. Thank you for coming to be with us this evening—to recognize Mark, to review the progress we all have made together, and to look forward with Charlie Venti and Joan Randell, who are taking over the Foundation’s leadership.
It was eight years ago that Mark started to explore how the Foundation might participate with local service providers, other funders, and government at all levels to improve services for Newark residents. One of the first things he did was bring Charlie on board as his Deputy. Together, they sought, and forged, alliances with many of you. This was a critical first step.
There are a lot of good programmatic ideas out there; best practices are known. It is the implementation that is the hard part. Because effective programming generally requires the integration of services, it takes a team of providers—if not a village—to succeed. Sometimes, an alliance Mark and Charlie helped form was just two organizations plotting together, simply to change a process. More often, there were a number of players—half a dozen or more—and the goal was as ambitious as creating an entirely new model for providing services to a particular population.
Because county government and county-wide organizations were integral to the work, the Foundation’s focus widened to other communities in Essex. Alliances were formed at the state level, and the work expanded yet further.
As I look at the portfolio of programs that we worked on with you, there are a number that particularly please me. I would like to briefly describe ten of them and recognize the organizations that were instrumental in their implementation.
Opportunity Reconnect is a one-stop approach for helping newly released prisoners reenter the community. It offers, in one physical location, the coordination of services across multiple providers and agencies. Over one thousand people are coming every month. The key partners are Essex County College, New Jersey State Parole, Essex County Probation, Essex County Welfare, Legal Services of New Jersey, FORGE, and the City of Newark.
FORGE is a re-entry program that focuses on the unique needs of women connected to the criminal justice system. It was designed with New Jersey State Parole. Piloted in Newark, it is now operating statewide. The FORGE program’s visionary and sponsor was Senior Parole Officer Angela Marshall.
The Fatherhood Center is a successful replication of a program that reconnects fathers (most of whom are former offenders) to their children. By assisting the fathers in finding jobs, it helps them support their children both emotionally and financially. Newark Now deserves the credit for this program’s remarkable outcomes.
Fugitive Safe Surrender for Essex and Union Counties was the replication of a national program that helps citizens resolve outstanding warrants. During a four-day period, over four thousand people came to Bethany Baptist Church—recognized as a safe haven—to surrender, appear before a judge, and work out terms for resolving their warrants. This initiative involved a broad coalition of law-enforcement, judicial, public-safety, faith-based and community-based-organization partners.
The YE2S Center is a one-stop model focusing on reengaging youth who are at-risk, or who have already dropped out of high school. The Center offers coordinated services and an opportunity to participate in innovative alternative education programs. Important members of the implementation team are Rutgers T.E.E.M. Gateway, Communities In Schools, the Ironbound Boys & Girls Club, the Schools of Criminal Justice and of Law at Rutgers Newark, and, of course, Newark Public Schools.
The Virtual School is a computer-based high school curriculum that can also be used at places other than a traditional school. There are a number of populations it can serve. Newark Public Schools deserves the credit for capitalizing on this tool to help students complete courses they are missing and must have to graduate.
Family Success Centers are a community-centered approach for providing and coordinating services for fragile families. The initiative has grown from a small pilot in Newark to a state-wide program with more than 40 centers. Key partners include Newark Now, the State Department of Children and Families, Family Intervention Services, and the many local-government and community-provider agencies that operate each center.
The Grandfamily Center is a specialized Family Success Center that is providing support services for grandparents and other non-parent relatives who are the primary caretakers for their young family members. It has served over 2500 families in its first two years. The Center is operated by The Salvation Army. The New Jersey State Department of Human Services, the Essex County Department of Citizens Services, and the City of Newark are important partners.
The Family Justice Center is the first implementation in New Jersey of a national model that provides a walk-in center for victims of domestic violence. The Center is designed to improve access to and the coordination of social, legal, and law enforcement services. Initially incubated by Partners for Women and Justice, the now autonomous Center partners with numerous agencies including the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, Safe House, the Rachel Coalition, the Essex County Judiciary, and the American Friends Service Committee. The recent realization of this vision is due to the single-minded determination of the Center’s Executive Director, Mary Houtsma.
The Financial Empowerment Center offers a variety of financial services including tax preparation, financial literacy training, benefit screening, and benefit application assistance. Single Stop USA helped set up the Center, which follows their model. Also instrumental were the Essex County Department of Citizens Services, and Newark Now.
This is quite a tapestry of programming, which may touch some families a number of times over—hopefully, to cumulative positive effect. All of these programs are in Newark, but many of them—not just Family Success and FORGE—have been, or are in the process of being replicated in other counties.
This sampling of ten also represents a tapestry of collaboration: national organizations with state and local ones; government with non-profit and for-profit entities; educational institutions with criminal justice departments; education with welfare with workforce training; legal services with housing services with protection services; on and on and on. The Foundation is gratified to have been a thread in all of this. Our role would never have happened without Mark’s vision, Kathleen Hoover’s dedicated administrative management, the Foundation team’s experience and expertise in government and human-services, and the collective determination to achieve results.
This is a great place from which to move forward. Charlie is the Foundation’s new Executive Director and Joan, the Deputy Director. I am excited about the possibilities they see. They are working, for instance, on an array of initiatives to improve access to healthcare. I have long believed that this has to be part of the programming mix for vulnerable populations. People cannot perform at work, or stay focused in school, or be patient with their children, if they don’t feel well. Another area we want to turn our attention to is youth aging out of foster care and the challenges they face as they transition to independent living, often without the supports they need.
I think the past will be prologue. Mark leaves us well positioned to continue this work together. Charlie and Joan and our entire Foundation team are optimistic, in spite of the current economic climate. The myriad alliances so many of you represent are encouraging and reassuring. I thank Mark for his vision, his leadership, and his tireless effort. I thank you for your leadership, your ingenuity, your commitment, and your friendship.