About Us

WHAT WE DO

All family success centers share the same vision and mission and their services are embedded into the 5 protective factors that make families strong. To that end, everything we do at the Village is geared toward strengthening families. Such a goal is accomplished through a helping process focusing on preventive programs to ensure social and competence of children, parent resilience, knowledge of parenting and child development, social connections and concrete support in time of need are nurtured and integrated into our service delivery system. Therefore, the 5 protective factors are the core of our intervention model. Staff and volunteers work continuously with families to make them strong by using such a model in their practice.

Access to Health

Families are screened every Thursday and eligible families sign up for NJ Family Care at the center through a partnership with Well-Care. The Center provides information relating to other child, maternal and family health issues with specific collaboration with Maternal and Child Health and Children’s Specialized Hospital.

Advocacy

As a community based program, the FSC is in constant need of up to date information on services and programs available in the community to connect families in time of hardship. In addition to information and referrals, the center has to embrace the empowerment approach to help families advocate on their own behalf.

Skills based Programs

The focus of Village Family Success Center has been around social skills building through educational workshops and support group activities to provide social learning experience to individuals and families. Our life skills groups aim to strengthen social connections, parental resilience and emotional competence.

Parents Leadership

The village family success center is based on the shared leadership principle to make sure that families become a part of the center by providing feedback, inputs on the best approach to work with the community. The Village has an active Parents Advisory Board (PAB) that meets once a month to help the staff get a better understanding about the community…

Who we are

Village Family Success Center is a non-for-profit community based gathering place funded through funds provided by The Department of Children and Families. Village Family Success Center’s purpose is to enrich the lives of children and adults by making families and neighborhoods stronger. Village Family Success Center implements training programs and evidence based strategies, practices and programs that are outcome based and empower all segments of a community to be actively engaged in changing their environment.

SUCCESS STORIES

Mrs. D.S. is a single mother of 6 children. Back in April 2020, she was laid off due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Having no other choice or anyone else to support her and her children, Mrs. D.S. applied for unemployment. While waiting for their answer, she was very proactive and applied for several jobs. Luckily during the month of July, she was offered a position at a warehouse. The family is now able to afford their expenses and is working day by day to reach their goals.

Mrs. S. is a 28 years old single mother of two twin children who came to the Center seeking help as a victim of domestic violence. She was very desperate and overwhelmed from being homeless and not capable to respond to the needs of her children. Due to active advocacy of our family partner, she was approved for welfare benefits. In addition, she was approved for temporary rental assistance so she can leave the shelter as soon as she finds an apartment. She was also linked to pro-bono legal services to assist with immigration issues.

Mrs. A.R. came to the office for rental assistance services. Mrs. R. is unable to work right now due to her place of work being closed since March 2020. Mrs. R is currently pregnant and is about to give birth soon in September. With the help of the FSC, Mrs. R. was able to pay her back rent in order to avoid eviction proceedings. As of now, Mrs. R. is receiving unemployment and is hoping to go back to work after giving birth. Village Family Success Center has been helping Mrs. R. with other things such as diapers, clothes and food for the family since she lost her husband back in March 2020.

Mr. I.J, a single mother of 2 children who came to the center to apply for support services since she is undocumented and has no income to respond to the needs of her family. The family worker helped her get connected to a pro bono lawyer to assess her legal options. The center is actively working with her through referral services. She is getting involved in all training provided the center to improve her parenting skills and develop social connections with other families

On November 7th 2019, Mr. G.J. came to the Village Family Success Center in order to apply for a job. Family partner helped him fill out several applications for OTG, Walgreens and a warehouse. After 3 weeks of waiting, Mr. G.J. was able to secure employment. He was scheduled for an interview and started his new position on Thanksgiving Day. Mr. G.J. was very grateful and that made my day.

Mr. R.W. was overwhelmed with everything that was going in his life. He got divorced and became homeless due to losing his job because of health issues. What he is receiving for his pension is not enough to cover his expenses. Now, the landlord is taking him to court for nonpayment of rent. Fortunately, after calling several places, Family Partner was able to secure an apartment and also find help in order to pay for his first month rent and security deposit. Mr. R.W. will be able to maintain the apartment since it is within his budget. Mr. R.W. was very grateful to find City Hall willing to help with $1000 security deposit and also another agency that will help pay the remaining balance for. Mr. R.W. was looking forward to move into his apartment in Elizabeth, NJ by the beginning of March 2020.

During the month of December, the center was very active in helping individuals with employment services. A total of 30 individuals were assisted with resume writing, job counseling and job applications. Most of them have been called for an interview and expect to get hired in a near future. Employment search has become the most expressed need of our families as they are looking for ways to achieve self-sufficiency goals. Due to language barriers and lack of employable skills, they rely on us to help navigate through the job search process.

Mrs. D.C came to the Family Success Center looking for help. She is originally from Santo Domingo. She is married and have a son. Unfortunately, Mrs. D.C had been a victim of domestic violence from her husband. She has been verbally, emotionally and physically abused. Mrs. D.C was seen by Family Partner and was given information for legal aid, applied for employment, fill out housing assistance forms and was scheduled to see a counselor at Proceed regarding the abuse. Mrs. D. C. also filled a restraining order against her husband. She did obtain full time employment and found an apartment. Mrs. D.C. is currently going for counseling session for herself and her son at Proceed.