At the Pascale Sykes Foundation, we are committed to the health and safety of our community. As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve we want to continue to share helpful resources and information on a variety of different topics. We understand the challenges that COVID-19 presents, particularly for working, low-income families. Below are helpful resources for employers and businesses from our trusted networks.
As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve we want to continue to share helpful resources and information on a variety of different topics. We understand the challenges that COVID-19 presents, particularly for working, low-income families. Below are helpful resources related to financial assistance and grants. We will continue to update this page with new resources.
As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve we want to continue to share helpful resources and information on a variety of different topics. We understand the challenges that COVID-19 presents, particularly for working, low-income families.
For the latest information from the U.S. government about Coronavirus (COVID-19), visit: https://www.coronavirus.gov/. Below please find resources from federal and state governments.
Have general questions about COVID-19? The NJ Poison Control Center and 211 have partnered with the State to provide information to the public on COVID-19:
Call: 2-1-1
Call (24/7): 1-800-962-1253
Text: NJCOVID to 898-211
Visit the website for more information for additional information
STAY UPDATED: Text COVID to 692-692 to be enrolled in Notify NYC and get the latest updates on the coronavirus in New York City. You can also text COVIDESP to the same number and get the updates in Spanish.
To view all of our COVID-19 resources and Information on a variety of different topics, click here.
At the Pascale Sykes Foundation, we are committed to the health and safety of our community. As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve we want to continue to share helpful resources and information on a variety of different topics. We understand the challenges that COVID-19 presents, particularly for working, low-income families. Below are helpful child well-being and parenting resources from our trusted networks.
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At the Pascale Sykes Foundation, we are committed to the health and safety of our community. As the nation works to address the recent COVID-19 outbreak, we are grateful for the many people who are at the forefront of stemming its spread. We understand the challenges that COVID-19 presents, particularly for working, low-income families, and hope to share helpful information with our New Jersey’s Heartland community.
Below we have gathered helpful resources and information to keep you informed as the situation evolves and to help maintain your mental and physical health. We will continue to update the New Jersey’s Heartland website with new information as it becomes available.
On October 27, 2020, The Pascale Sykes Foundation, the Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers University-Camden, and the University of Pennsylvania co-hosted Impact of the Whole Family Approach on Working Families, a virtual event showcasing new research that demonstrates the powerful results of the Whole Family Approach for working, low-income families. In addition to sharing valuable insights our researchers and practitioners have acquired from a seven-year research effort, this event highlighted how family-centered approaches like the Whole Family Approach have helped mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on families and communities. Watch the video recording below to catch the presentations.
Featured speakers included:
Ross Whiting, Ph.D., Director of Research and Evaluation, Senator Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers University-Camden
Amy Castro Baker, Ph.D., MSW, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice
Frances Sykes, President, Pascale Sykes Foundation
In this era of the dwindling middle class, addictions threatening families and communities, and social media influences, is there any way we can make a difference? Is there a way to increase family economic stability, improve interpersonal relationships and ensure child well-being? Practitioners of the Whole Family Approach believe there is.
Last week, family well-being advocates from around the country gathered to discuss these questions and more at the Pascale Sykes Foundation’s “Working Together for Working Families” National Conference held at the Luciano Center at Rowan College of South Jersey.
“Working, low-income families are the backbone
of our country, working the jobs that keep America running. But too many of
America’s working families are one emergency or one paycheck away from crisis,”
said Frances Sykes, president of the Pascale Sykes Foundation.
“The Foundation believes life’s goals are much
easier to achieve when we work together with our families, communities, and
service providers to reach them. This logic fuels the work of collaborative
approaches that are improving family well-being throughout the country. Our
conference brings together experts and practitioners in the field to cultivate
a national conversation focused on making family-centered efforts like the
Whole Family Approach the norm.”
Approximately 250 community, nonprofit,
foundation, and business leaders attended the one-day conference. Throughout
the course of the day speakers discussed the current status and future outlook
of working, low-income families, particularly through the lens of the Whole
Family Approach, its ability to help change the narrative for working families
in America, and the impact it has had on families and communities.
The
Whole Family Approach
The Whole Family Approach is a proven, family-led collaborative strategy that empowers adults and children as they set goals for themselves and achieve their full potential.
Many social service systems approach family
well-being from an individualistic, fragmented, and crisis-oriented
perspective. The Whole Family Approach aims to serve families and family
members holistically. It puts equal priority on the needs of adults and
children and enables seamless collaboration among multiple organizations to
support a family’s plans. It is prevention rather than crisis-driven. Working
alongside a family with the tools to reach their goals has far better long-term
benefits than helping them once they have already reached poverty.
“Essential to this effort is access to
integrated services that can address families’ needs,” said Jackie Edwards,
vice president of strategic engagement at the Foundation. “Our grantees, many
of which were speakers at the conference, are on the frontlines everyday
working to provide a supportive environment that empowers families to stabilize
themselves and make decisions that will not only keep them out of poverty but
get them closer to their long-term goals.”
Many
Voices Share Their Perspective
Keynote speakers, Drs. Sampson Davis, Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins, fondly known as The Three Doctors, and legendary broadcast journalist and 60 Minutes co-editor Lesley Stahl, joined panelists, funders and grantees to add their voice to the conversation.
In the morning session, Dr. Davis stressed the importance of extended family in his upbringing, sharing a story about the role of mentors and teachers who helped to keep him on the right path. “Education is paramount. It’s especially important for young people to hear from mentors and teachers that they need to follow the path of education because that’s what saved all of our lives,” as he pointed to his colleagues on the stage. Watch the Livestream link here.
At lunch, Stahl, author of The New York Times best-seller, Becoming Grandma: The Joys and Science of the New Grandparenting, was interviewed by Liz Murray, the subject of the Homeless to Harvard made-for-TV movie and co-founder of The Arthur Project, a Foundation grantee which provides transformative mentoring services to middle school students in the Bronx.
During the interview, Stahl talked about extended families as well, sharing a personal story about the importance of multigenerational families and her own mother giving her permission to be a working mom and encouraging her to have a career. View the interview here.
She also shared her concerns about the role social media is having on families: “The biggest change in our lives is technology, social media. I am seriously concerned and worried that these children are living online and it’s dangerous.”
During breakout sessions, grantees presented
on a variety of topics connected to their experience implementing the Whole
Family Approach, including immigration, collaboration, trust-building,
education, mentoring and transportation.
Paula Sarro, the associate executive director at Mercy Center, a community center in the South Bronx, who co-leads Familia Adelante/Family Forward, a Pascale Sykes Foundation Whole Family Approach collaboration, shared insight on what makes a good collaborative during her breakout session.
“A
shared mission has really been one quality that is the most effective trait of
any collaboration,” she said. “Our shared goal fits into the overall mission of
each of our member organizations. It’s a key part of the way they do their work
already and how they see themselves doing the work in the future so the
collaboration was a natural fit. This is really critical to success and why I
think we will be sustainable going forward.”
A variety of the Foundation’s grantees
participated in the conference, including the Child Connection Center,
Connecting Families to Communities, Familia Adelante/Family Forward, Families
for Literacy, Families in Motion, Families to College, Family Strengthening
Network, First Star, Stronger Families, Unidos para la Familia, People for
People Foundation, Bigs & Littles NYC Mentoring, South Jersey
Transportation Authority, Greater Bridgeton Area Transit, English Creek-Tilton
Road Community Shuttle, Pureland East-West Community Shuttle, the 54/50
Community Shuttle, New Jersey Community Capital, and New Jersey’s Heartland.
In addition, Marjorie Sims from Ascend at the
Aspen Institute; Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer with the New Jersey
Department of Children and Families; Joyce Thomas with US-DHHSACF, Region 2;
and Elaine Zimmerman with US-DHHSACF, Region 1 were among conference speakers.
New
Research on the Horizon
Research teams from Rutgers University and the
University of Pennsylvania, commissioned by the Foundation to evaluate the
Whole Family Approach, shared their initial findings on the positive impact it
is having in rural and urban areas in New Jersey and South Bronx.
Dr. Ross Whiting with Rutgers shared from the stage: “The biggest theme that we are seeing across collaboratives is flexibility. The Whole Family Approach is able to be implemented with immigrant families, foster youth and their families, and families with unrelated caregivers who are committed to improving children’s lives, so there are a variety of people who can benefit from this approach.”
Looking
Ahead
With new research and years of practice
supporting service agencies as they work with a diverse array of families, the
Pascale Sykes Foundation is looking ahead to the next chapter of this work. The
Foundation seeks to build on a national movement that champions the Whole
Family Approach and encourages more service agencies to adopt it in order to
better support more children and families.
That also includes growing the funding streams
that support collaborative work. One call to action from the conference was encouraging foundations and philanthropists to
insist on collaboration in service provision through their funding models and
support strategies.
“We’re proud of the work we’ve accomplished together, but we have more work to do and it will take different stakeholders — from service providers to government agencies to funders — to get the job done,” said Sykes. “We hope that this conference will add to the national conversation our country should be having on the needs of working low income families today and lead to greater action. Working families are truly the foundation on which strong communities are built.”
Photo caption for header photo (pictured from left to right): Ashley Putnam, Liz Murray, Elaine Bradford, Jackie Edwards, Richelle Todd-Yamoah, Bernadette Blackstock, Rus Sykes, Christine Norbut Beyer, Fran Sykes, Lesley Stahl, Karen LoGrande, Mark LoGrande, Joyce Thomas, Elaine Zimmerman, Steve Fittante, Marjorie Sims, Fred Storey, Ronda Urkowitz, Susan Kyrillos, Nadine Manning, Joni VanNest, Jim Donio, Michael Jeary
Axe and Arrow Brewery in South Jersey opened with a mission to make “just quality beer,” including classic styles and seasonal and experimental offerings. We are so excited that this THRIVE South Jersey Small Business Recipient is nominated for USA Today Readers’ Choice 10Best in the new brewery category. Cast your vote for Axe and Arrow Brewery today!
Today we’re here in Vineland, NJ for our 2020 Conference: Working Together for Working Families: The Whole Family Approach! We’re excited to join our grantees, speakers and family well-being experts to cultivate a national conversation in making family-centered efforts like the Whole Family Approach the new norm. Watch our video below to learn more about the Whole Family Approach and its impact.
The English Creek-Tilton Road Community Shuttle and transportation initiatives in general, are a lifeline for families and a vital service for the community. We are so proud of our grantee, Cross County Connection, for making transportation services accessible to families striving to meet their goals.