We’re so proud of our grantee, Cross County Connection, for making amazing strides in transportation services! Shuttle ridership has grown by 159% in the last five years, from approximately 29,000 trips in 2015 to 80,000+ trips in 2019. And overall, 300,000 passenger trips have been provided.
Congratulations to our grantee, Families to College, for being named Social Investment Program winner for the Spring 2018 from South Jersey Gas. South Jersey Gas provides funding to non-profit organizations that align with their four strategic pillars of social investment: community enrichment, environmental stewardship, STEM and vocational career development and health and social services.
Shuttle Routes Funded in Part by Transportation Plus Grants From The Pascale Sykes Foundation to Provide Low Income Families with Needed Transportation to Work
(VINELAND, NJ – March 19, 2018) – Over the past five years the public transportation network of South Jersey has quietly been expanding. South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA) began service on three shuttle bus routes – the English Creek-Tilton Road, Rt. 54/40 and Pureland East-West Community Shuttles. These routes have filled gaps in the public transit network, providing underserved communities with reliable transportation to work.
SJTA plans the service to be efficient and flexible, responding to the shifting needs of the community. The shuttles handle approximately 6,000 passenger trips each month. Fares are kept low, providing an economical means of transportation for lower income residents and others who may not have access to a car. Shuttle services connect to NJ TRANSIT bus or rail service, expanding employment access throughout the South Jersey region. Free transfers between the shuttles and NJ TRANSIT services are provided.
All three community shuttles were planned and developed through a private/public partnership that included SJTA, NJ TRANSIT, Cross County Connection Transportation Management Association, United Way of Gloucester County, local social service providers and community groups, as well as Atlantic County and Gloucester County governments. They were brought together by the Pascale Sykes Foundation, a private foundation that supports initiatives that assist lower income working families. The Pascale Sykes Foundation recognized that access to reliable transportation is often a significant barrier to stable employment and economic opportunity for working families in a car-dependent environment like South Jersey. The shuttle services are funded through grants from the Pascale Sykes Foundation and NJ TRANSIT.
The English Creek-Tilton Road Community Shuttle began operation in October 2012. It serves over 5,000 households and 400 businesses in Northfield and Egg Harbor Township, including the AtlantiCare Health Park. The route recently expanded to include the newly constructed Oak Tree Plaza in Egg Harbor Township. This 35-acre retail center promises to bring over 400 jobs to the community and features a Walmart Supercenter. The shuttle also connects to NJ TRANSIT’s 502, 507, and 509 bus service, providing access to destinations throughout Atlantic County. Service is Monday through Saturday and costs $1 per ride.
The Pureland East-West Shuttle began operation in May 2015. In addition to the Pureland Industrial Complex, a 3,000-acre planned industrial park in Logan Township, the shuttle provides access to other sizable employers, such as Rowan University, Eastern Pro-Pak and Liscio’s Bakery in Glassboro. The Pureland Shuttle connects with 11 NJ TRANSIT buses spreading access to the wider region. Due to the size of Pureland, an “internal circulator” bus provides demand responsive service to get employees that last mile between work and the bus stop located just outside the complex. Riders simply tell the bus driver where they need to go and the driver develops an efficient route on the y, rather than travelling along a circuitous pre-planned route. This flexibility is a must when serving a unique complex such as Pureland, where shift times are variable and job locations disperse. An estimated 40% of Pureland East-West ridership utilize the internal circulator as well. The service operates Monday through Friday and is $1 per ride.
The Route 54/40 Community Shuttle began service in January 2016. The shuttle serves the communities of Buena Vista, Collings Lakes, Folsom Borough, Hammonton, Landisville, Minotola, Newtonville, and Richland. Ridership has steadily grown, doubling between 2016 and 2017. The shuttle service connects to NJ TRANSIT’s 553 and 554 bus routes and AC Rail service. The Rt. 54/40 Community Shuttle operates Monday through Friday and is free, bene ting some of the county’s lower income communities that previously had limited or no public transit options.
More information regarding the shuttles can be found at Cross County Connection’s website www.driveless. com. You can also contact Cross County Connection TMA at 856-596-8228 to inquire as to how these shuttles, public transit or options such as carpooling and vanpooling can help your company reliably get your employees to work. Cross County Connection can also provide trip planning assistance for employees on any shuttle or public transit service in the region. They are eager to help!
The Born This Way Foundation, which was founded by Grammy-award winner Lady Gaga, as well as the South Jersey First Star Collaborative, a college exposure program for children in foster care funded by the Pascale Sykes Foundation, and the Give Something Back Foundation, which provides mentors and scholarships to help Pell Grant eligible students go to college, came together for the installation of the “Our Reason Why” wall at The Monkey and the Elephant, a non-profit coffee shop in Philadelphia that employs former foster youth. This kindness popup will provide an outlet for young people to express their stories.
While at the coffee shop, Students from First Star assembled “kindness packages” for children in foster care. The students, along with other Give Something Back scholars, prepared kits which included hygiene supplies, comforters, pillows, hand-decorated journals, book bags, signed copies of the book Through the Fires, and other Lady Gaga merchandise. The “kindness packages” were personally delivered to children currently in foster care from Philadelphia in partnership with Turning Points.
The theme of “Our Reason Why” was developed by one of the First Star youth during her project-based learning activity over the summer. The website that was created can be found at: https://ourreasony.com/. “Our Reason Why” has become much more than a theme for a project, rather an inspiration of hope for our First Star youth and the young people they serve.
(VINELAND, NJ – September 8, 2017) – Frances P. Sykes, President of the Pascale Sykes Foundation, today announced that the Foundation has awarded $1.5 million in funding to New Jersey Community Capital’s (NJCC) THRIVE South Jersey program to support small business lending throughout New Jersey’s Heartland.
The agreement that governs the funding, which should at minimum generate a dollar-for-dollar return in terms of additional loan commitments, directs that the grants be used solely for small business loans. It designates the funds be equally utilized for loans up to $100,000, between $100,000 and $150,000, and between $150,000 and $200,000.
“New Jersey Community Capital, through it’s THRIVE South Jersey Program, has done a tremendous job generating additional loan commitments while funding a host of impactful economic development and business initiatives throughout New Jersey’s Heartland,” said Sykes, whose Foundation is on track to award more than $50 million in social service, transportation and economic initiative grants by the time it sunsets in 2022-23. “In working with NJCC, we saw a unique opportunity to generate additional funding commitments and small business loans in amounts that are needed and are proven to provide valuable returns throughout the region.”
There are a variety of success stories the Foundation and THRIVE have written since the program’s inception, including a $30,000 loan issued to Andrea Covino, co-owner and chef of Andrea Trattoria Italiana in Downtown Millville, NJ, at the THRIVE kickoff in May of 2016. Since then, THRIVE has awarded $20,000 for the refurbishment of 13 storefront facades in the downtown Millville Arts District, as well as another $10,000 in funding for entrepreneurial training for 18 local, small business owners.
Dreams of a Pocket Park facelift in the heart of Uptown Pitman, NJ, will soon become a reality thanks to a $15,000 THRIVE grant that was just presented by NJCC to the Pitman Chamber of Commerce. The grant will go towards the conversion of Theatre Avenue to Theatre Plaza, a new public space in the center of the downtown.
“We are thrilled to partner with the Pascale Sykes Foundation, and honored they have chosen to demonstrate their faith in this important initiative through the additional $1.5 million grant,” says Wayne T. Meyer, President of NJCC, which is a US Treasury-certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). “Creating quality job opportunities and strengthening residents’ connections to these opportunities will go a long way toward making South Jersey thrive.”
The Pascale Sykes Foundation partnered with NJCC to create THRIVE, a dedicated financing and capacity building initiative created to address poverty and unemployment by catalyzing local economic development in the targeted, four-county region of Cumberland, Gloucester, Salem, and Western Atlantic Counties.
The Foundation’s initial grant of $4.1 million has generated $26.125 million in funding commitments for THRIVE, which operates as an arm of the Foundation’s South Jersey Economic Initiative (SJEI) and supports a wide array of projects in the region. Included among those major projects is the Paulsboro Plaza, a once-thriving shopping center left vacant that is presently being developed to include a Save-a-Lot supermarket and 25,000 square feet of additional retail space to serve the local community.
For more information on NJCC’s THRIVE South Jersey program, contact Laura Wallick at 267.397.1605 or email [email protected].
The Touch-A-Truck event was a huge success bringing in families from all over South Jersey. This is the fourth year the Heart of South Jersey held the event and each year, it brings in more and more people.
Check out the Heart of South Jersey’s mission and the Touch-A-Truck event here.
Click here to check out all the great photos.
Photos by NJ.com
