Impact100 Essex awards $100000 grant to prevent child abuse – New Jersey Hills
Impact100 Essex awarded its fourth annual grant to Prevent Child Abuse New Jersey (PCA-NJ).
PCA-NJ’s mission with the $100,000 grant is to implement a research-based, trauma-informed Children’s Wellness Initiative in five Essex County schools or childcare centers, with the goal of reaching 1500 students and their families.
“It’s an amazing honor to be chosen by this remarkable group of women leaders in Essex County. This project will truly transform many schools in Essex County with new tools and information that teachers, principals, parents and students can use to better understand how ‘toxic’ stressful events affect their ability to succeed in school,” said Rush Russell, executive director for PCA-NJ.
“This program will provide the critical skills needed to strengthen the resilience needed to overcome the challenges in life. Our mission is to improve a broad array of critical outcomes, in school and in life, for hundreds of Essex County children and their families.”
PCA-NJ is in the process of identifying the first five schools in Essex County for this program. The Newark Educators Community Charter School is the first school to commit to the project, Russell said.
“This project resonated with our members during the pandemic. The additional stress of the Covid crisis adds urgency to providing the skills for resilience in the face of trauma, particularly during the childhood years,” said Kate Shoemaker, co-chair of the Grants Committee of Impact100 Essex.
“Once again this year, we’re pleased that we are able to award our finalists and semi-finalists with grants for their amazing work. These grants to 10 Essex County nonprofits were made possible by the contributions of our 157 members,” added Mayuri Chandra, co-chair of the Grants Committee.
Impact100 Essex awarded Leverage Grants of $15,000 to the three finalists: The Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris, Inc., Montclair State University Foundation, and North Jersey Community Research Initiative (NJCRI).
Six Inspiration grants of $2,000 were awarded to: Connections at Home, La Casa de Don Pedro, Newark Community Solutions, NJ Leep, Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey, Partners in Prevention / LMTI.
Margo Greenfield, co-convener of Impact100 Essex, added, “With this year’s award, the women of Impact100 Essex have now contributed over $500,000 to nonprofits in Essex County. It feels especially good to hit this milestone at such a difficult time. As always, we want to do more and invite more women to join our mission.”
The Impact100 Essex grant is funded by gifts of $1,100 per member, per year. The organization holds information sessions throughout the winter and spring to establish the grant funding for the year.