Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children
Jeffrey Fetzko, ACSW, LSW, CFRE
Vol. 8, No. 4, February 18, 2010
The Executive Director's News is published every two weeks, and is specifically written for the employees, board of trustees and friends of the Somerset Home.
This issue and past issues are available on our web site at http://www.somersethome.org/main/pages/employee_newsletter.htm.
Rep. Rush Holt secures grant to help transitional home in Somerset County
Rep. Rush Holt (center) with Somerset Home Board President Dennis Flynn (right) and Transitional Living Program youth Crystal (left) Tara (center) and Meghan (right)
By KARA L. RICHARDSON • COURIER NEWS STAFF WRITER • February 16, 2010
BRIDGEWATER — A $400,000 federal grant will help create place for homeless young adults to live between the child welfare system and a home of their own. Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J. 12th District), who secured the funding, will visit a Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children location on Whitney Court East to talk about the organization's programs.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will help Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children to expand its services to young adults, Holt said. "There are a lot of kids who are just looking for a good break," Holt said. "They will be OK if they get some help at the right time."
When older teens and young adults are released by the child welfare system at 18 or 21, they usually don't have the skills, resources or support network to live on their own, Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children's communications manager Kathy Coulahan said. Somerset Home provides housing, counseling and workshops to help them build the bridges to independence.
There now are 36 youth in the organization's homes that serve males and females, age 13 to 18, Coulahan said.
"There are more kids who need a place to stay and not enough places they can go," Coulahan said. The proposed transitional housing would help eight young adults, she said. Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children officials have not decided whether the new transitional housing would support young men, women or both. They would like to find an eight-unit building, or build a new one, with a central area. Each of the residents in the new home would have leases and pay an affordable rent, she said.
The $400,000 federal grant will pay for services for the new home, such as 24-hour supervision, Coulahan said. Coulahan said the new transitional home should be centrally located in Somerset County, as the existing Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children homes are, with access to higher education, shopping, services such as the library and transportation.
"These are kids who have been neglected or abused by their parents or caregivers. ... They have had a lot of trauma in their lives," Coulahan said. "This is another step toward helping them to be part of the community."
Reprinted from The Courier News - by Kara L. Richardson: 908-243-6621; krichardson@mycentraljersey.com.
Friends of Archie Chiles Expands Support
Jeffrey Fetzko (left) accepts check from Peter Jordan (center) and Sandra Fosselman (right)
The Friends of Archie Chiles fundraising group has expanded it relationship with Somerset Home offering to fund additional scholarships for our youth.
Governor Christie Cuts $2 Billion from NJ State Budget
Governor Christie in a budget address last week announced plans to close an estimated $2 billion shortfall in revenue. The details of those cuts can be seen here.
NJ's Gov. Christie Shuts Down COAH Panel for 90 Days
A state panel that oversees affordable housing availability in New Jersey has been put on hold for the next three months by Governor Chris Christie, who believes the panel’s proven to be, in his words, a failure.
The Council on Affordable Housing was created in light of 2 lawsuits resulting in what’s been dubbed “The Mount Laurel Decision” requiring communities set aside affordable housing. That council has been the subject of complaints over the years on both sides of the aisle.
Democrats in the state senate led by Senator Lesniak have proposed Senate Bill S-1, a bill that would supposedly "abolish" the state Council On Affordable Housing. In reality it would create a sort of super-COAH that would regulate on the state level virtually every aspect of local zoning.
Christie appointed a new 5 member panel to review the agency’s effectiveness:
“No action can be taken by COAH of any kind over the next 90 days, while this task force does its work. And so, effectively, COAH has been shut down.”
The challenge here is to comply with the court’s mandate on the housing front while allowing municipalities to control their own development without answering to state bureaucrats.
COAH was created by the Fair Housing Act of 1985.
As always, thank you all for your continued hard work on behalf of our youth.
