Blog

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...

The Bloom Project, initiated by Sanar Institute to address the profound impact of adverse childhood experiences, particularly violence, stands as a beacon of hope and healing. Established with a prevention-oriented mindset, the project provides trauma healing services to youth and young adults who have endured adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). By facilitating their journey towards holistic well-being, the Bloom Project aspires to heal existing trauma and also to mitigate the risk of...

Program Name: Expressive Art Therapy RAC: CUMAC Organization name: Aspire NJ Person of Contact: Davida Hunter Davida Hunter was a longtime school counselor about to start Expressive Art Therapy, a program for children, when the pandemic disrupted her plans. What she found was that during COVID, while it was easy enough to provide online therapy, she was finding it difficult to keep the attention of the children with which she worked. To address this, Davida and her coworker, a former art...

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...

Dress for Success- Central New Jersey is dedicated to empowering women and teen girls by providing them with clothing and essential workforce development tools. Their mission is to instill confidence through effective communication, personal branding, and image enhancement, guiding these individuals to the next level of their academic and professional journeys. Dress for Success Mercer County began modestly in 2007 as a small affiliate, primarily focused on providing clothing to women...

A small purple ukulele sat inside Deacon Nelson’s office, waiting for its next musician. Deacon Nelson picked it up and started to play. “ The ukulele is easy to play. It is a soft instrument.” Deacon Nelson’s connection to music is clear – music has the ability to heal, to calm the noise all around. A guitar player himself, Deacon Nelson wanted to give this same gift of music to the youth of his community. He landed on the ukulele because of its relative affordability and ease of playing.

Something amazing keeps happening in our CRC Accelerator program that we want to shout out from the rooftops this December. Thanks to our committed participants, the number of CRC graduates keeps increasing! The number of graduates has increased by 15x this year. As we head into a new year, w e are grateful for the unique role CRC Accelerator participants have played in expanding the PACEs movement through the willingness to explore healing-centered practices through a PACEs science lens.

Beyond Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), our members seek to deeply understand strengths-based insights embedded in the remaining ACEs quadrant: Adverse Community Environments, Adverse Climate Experiences, and Atrocious Cultural Experiences.

Awareness about health outcomes are as much about the long-term impact caused by adverse childhood experiences as they are by positive childhood experiences. By providing education on trauma-informed awareness and resilience building frameworks, the CRC Accelerator certification is a tool for both.

Work within or interact with the child welfare community in New Jersey and want to get involved in a movement to prevent childhood adversity? You're invited to participate in embrella's P.E.A.C.E. Initiative! Our goal is to Help Build a Connected and Healthy New Jersey Child Welfare Community embrella’s inaugural Power to End Adverse Childhood Experiences (P.E.A.C.E.) Initiative is a year-long series of Educational Workshops and Family/Community Engagement Events for foster, adoptive, and...

As we head into our full CRC curriculum this January, we invite current and future CRC Accelerator participants to join us with collective care and self care in mind.