Ocean County based nonprofit celebrates 2023 Community Resource Development Fund Recipient and issues Request for Proposals for 2024.
OPC and HSL leadership at Ribbon Cutting Event.
TOMS RIVER, N.J. – Nov. 6, 2023 – PRLog — Ocean Partnership for Children (OPC) had the honor of attending 2023 Community Resource Development (CRD) Fund awardee, HOPE Sheds Light’s Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the HOPE Sheds Light Youth Recovery Center on Wednesday, October 24, 2023, at 253 Chestnut Street, Toms River, NJ.
“Our goal is to bring together a variety of services for young people under one roof,” stated Pamela Capaci, CEO of HOPE Sheds Light. “The Youth Recovery Center offers a safe space with peer led recovery services, a GED lab as well as other opportunities for youth through our partnerships with the service providers. Young people need other young people that are interested in a similar lifestyle. They need to build a new peer group that has a social norm not focused on drug use, a new peer group that understands that a situation does not define you, but how you navigate your way through the situation builds character. Being led by an organization that is peer to peer, we bring our experiences, stories, voices and hope.”
HOPE Sheds Light (HSL) was awarded $67,788 through the CRD Fund to enhance HSL’s Recovery Center program options and offer a comprehensive continuum of recovery support services to adolescents impacted by personal and/or familial substance use disorder. The program will offer a variety of weekly youth recovery support groups as well as monthly sober social recreational activities. Certified peer recovery specialists will work with participants to help them identify their renewed values, beliefs and interests and to create a vision for their future that will serve as an incentive to sustain long term recovery. Each participant will develop their own recovery success plan that identifies their personal recovery goals.
“OPC is so pleased to award the 2023 CRD funds to HOPE Sheds Light. Their work is amazing, and the development of a sober peer community is essential for our youth,” said Mary Jo Buchanan, Executive Director of OPC. OPC provides care management services to children and youth experiencing emotional, behavioral, developmental, intellectual, and substance use needs, and their families. “As part of our contract with the New Jersey Children’s System of Care (CSOC), OPC has access to limited community resource development (CRD) funds designated for one-time use by community organizations to develop new, additional, and/or unique resources that address unmet or under-served needs in Ocean County. HOPE Sheds Light absolutely provides a unique and needed resource,” explained Buchanan.
With the success of the 2023 CRD Funds, OPC announced the next round of funding. The 2024 CRD Funds Request for Proposals was announced on October 30, 2023. Information can be found at: https://www.oceanpartnership.org/
Based on specific needs identified in Ocean County, projects that address the following areas will be given particular consideration:
- Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD)/neurodiverse social and therapeutic groups
- IDD/neurodiverse mentoring and/or respite programs
- Behavioral health services for young children 3-10 years old – i.e. play therapy, sand tray, Al’s Pals (therapeutic, psychoeducation, socialization)
- Acute mental health needs
- First Episode Psychosis Program
- Suicide – therapeutic groups, support groups
- Social determinants of health – housing, early education, childcare, food, minority status (i.e Spanish speaking, Orthodox Jewish, LGBTQIA)
- Integrated Health programs
- Services that support parenting needs
- Specialized Childcare for youth with behavioral health needs
- Specific Spanish speaking services and/or groups.
- Services to address (Adverse Childhood Experiences)
ACEs in children. - Prevention services for youth that have parents/guardians suffering from or deceased due to addiction.
- Services to address youth that suffering from eating disorders.
- Evidence-based behavior parent training treatment for young children with emotional and behavioral disorders that places emphasis on improving the quality of the parent-child relationship and changing parent-child interaction patterns.
“As Ocean County’s Care Management Organization, we are part of the New Jersey Children’s System of Care and are responsible for linking youth in crisis to resources to help them heal and succeed,” Buchanan added.
To learn more about Ocean Partnership for Children, visit OceanPartnership.org.
About Ocean Partnership for Children Inc.
Founded in 2005, Ocean Partnership for Children (OPC) is Ocean County’s Care Management Organization (CMO). Its mission is to enhance the well being of youth and their families through natural and community supports. OPC provides care coordination services for Ocean County youth up the age of 21 years who have mental health, substance use, intellectual and developmental challenges. OPC strives to keep children and adolescents at home, in school, and in the community by connecting them to resources that meet their unique needs and help them achieve their goals.
Ocean Partnership for Children is a non-profit organization available at no cost to all youth and families in Ocean County who meet the eligibility criteria of the New Jersey Children’s System of care. To learn more, visit https://www.oceanpartnership.org or www.oceanresourcenet.org.
