Churches Improving Communities

DEPORTATION & IMMIGRATION RESPONSE EQUIPO (D.I.R.E.) SUPPORT SERVICES (including D.I.R.E. Legal) provides supportive volunteer community and connection services for immigrants and their families who are affected by family separation due to deportation enforcement activity. Detention and deportation throws otherwise stable families with a mixed legal statuses into precarious legal, economic, health, and mental health situations. Arrest, detention, and deportation have devastating effects on children in particular. DIRE Legal Services provides very low cost legal services for immigration cases, focusing on Unaccompanied Minors referred by Accompany Now, a program of the Reformed Church of Highland Park Affordable Housing Corporation, as well as asylum seekers in general. Accompany Now provides post-release services to juveniles who have crossed the US border without a parent or guardian or who have become separated from their parent/guardian.

Employment Readiness Training Program is a partnership between RCHP Affordable Housing Corporation and CIC to provide basic employment training to refugees to prepare them to enter the workforce. CIC coordinates the efforts and provides the training, with costs covered by the the RCHP.

NEIGHBORCORPS RE-ENTRY SERVICES provides free, supportive services that help individuals to transition from jail back into society, avoiding recidivism. Neighborcorps pairs program participants from Middlesex County jail with trained volunteer navigator groups to create and carry out customized 30-day action plans that lead TO successful RE-ENTRY into the community. Plans include steps toward finding gainful employment and housing, pursuing personal development through counseling and other supportive and treatment services focused on regaining the trust of others through communication and accountability. Estimated 90 people benefitted.

The NJ INTERFAITH CENTER FOR CANCER CARE (NJIC3), formerly named NJCCCC program, is an interfaith community responding to the complexities of cancer in our families and communities, offering direct service, volunteer opportunities, and community engagement to support underserved communities and individuals dealing with cancer. Estimated 50 people benefitted.

CHURCH-BASED MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES (CBMHS) provides free and sliding-scale professional mental health counseling to individuals and seven church locations in central New Jersey. CBMHS staff also provide support groups, resources and training for community leaders, and referrals to community mental health providers. CBMHS strives to reduce the barriers to high-quality mental health care, including cost and the stigma that often accompanies seeking mental health care. Churches are places that many people feel comfortable seeking and receiving help. Estimated 40 people benefitted from the program.