The Provident Bank Foundation (PBF) is pleased to announce the recipients of its Third Cycle 2018 Major Grants, totaling an impressive $165,350 for projects and programs throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

A Major Grant funds programs that address one or more of PBF’s funding priority areas – Community Enrichment, Education and Health, Youth and Families. Major Grants provide between $5,000 and $25,000 in funding and support organizations that have identified an immediate need in the community and for the individuals they serve.

“This cycle of Major Grants is benefiting some truly inspiring programs. The recipients provide everything from support to domestic abuse survivors, suicide prevention programs, free movement classes for those suffering from Parkinson’s disease, and so much more,” said Jane Kurek, Executive Director, The Provident Bank Foundation. “The resources that these programs offer fulfill so many important needs in the communities served by Provident Bank and we are thrilled to be able to fund these efforts.”

The recipients of PBF’s Third Cycle 2018 Major Grants are as follows:

NEW JERSEY

The Arc of Monmouth (Monmouth County) — $12,000 — The Arc of Monmouth’s Work Opportunity Center (WOC) is a vocational training facility for adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities (I/DD). This grant will develop a year-long, weekly training opportunity focused on employment in the foodservice industry. This program will teach industry-specific tasks such as safe food preparation and handling, bussing tables, and using a cash register, as well as communication skills like appropriate interactions with customers and maintaining eye-contact. Upon completion, participants will attain independent employment in the food service industry.

Caring Contact (Union, Essex, and Morris Counties) — $10,000 — Caring Contact’s Save Our Youth Campaign is a multi-faceted approach to reducing suicide among young people. Through training and education of both adults and youth, Caring Contact seeks to “break the silence” around mental health, depression, and suicide, and give those suffering safe places to share their pain before it overwhelms them. The Save Our Youth Campaign improves the quality of life for all by encouraging people to talk about their emotional struggles, rather than suppressing them until they become unbearable. By giving people the tools to talk and to listen, Caring Contact is creating stronger and safer communities.

Center for Educational Advancement (Hunterdon and Somerset Counties) — $10,000 — CEA’s Career Pathways Transition Project provides a person-centered approach to inclusive vocational rehabilitation services with the goal to move people with disabilities away from sheltered workshop environments into market-driven positions in their community. The Career Pathways program addresses numerous barriers to employment faced by people with disabilities to improve inclusion in the workforce. CEA will do so by focusing on changing attitudes about people with disabilities and their ability to work in competitive integrated work sites, building strong community partnerships, and providing wrap-around services to support the transition, placement, and retention of employment.

CentraState Healthcare Foundation (Monmouth, Ocean, Middlesex, and Mercer Counties) — $10,000 — Colorectal cancers are the third most common type of cancer in New Jersey and have the third highest mortality rate. CentraState’s colon cancer screening and care coordination project will increase the rate of colon cancer screening for low-income individuals by providing care coordination of the screening process, using immunochemical fecal occult blood (iFOBT) testing as an alternative to colonoscopy. A group of 90 uninsured/underinsured patients of the CentraState Family Medicine Center will be provided with care coordination of the screening process by a bilingual Care Coordinator, in order to ensure correct handling and timely return of the test kit.

Collier Youth Services (Monmouth County) — $7,500 — The Collier Residential Program provides safe housing, counseling, life skills training, and a 24-hour-a-day support system to teenage girls and young women who cannot live with their families due to abuse, neglect, and other trauma. By completing a rigorous process to become the first residential program in New Jersey certified in the Sanctuary Model, Collier has been able to implement an innovative model of care. The Sanctuary Model, tailored for young women, provides the foundation for Collier to address the residents' psychological and behavioral issues. The Sanctuary Model has helped to transform the interactions among the staff, counselors, residents, and families of the residential program.

Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault Crisis Center (Warren County) — $22,000 — DASACC’s Parenting Education Program is for mothers who are victims of domestic violence and whose children have experienced trauma and exhibit negative behaviors because of the violence. The goal of the program is to provide mothers with information and tools leading to an increased capacity to protect their children, a better understanding of how their own and their children’s exposure to violence influences their parenting, and to improve the parent-child bond. Funding will expand the program into four locations within Warren County, providing 12 weeks of supportive services for 30 women plus childcare services for their children during support group sessions.

Garden State Equality (Monmouth County) — $16,850 — Garden State Equality’s Map and Expand Asbury Park LGBT Patient Advocacy Project is dedicated to ensuring LGBT individuals have access to quality healthcare professionals who respect them and promote safe, inclusive environments. The GSE team will work with doctors, therapists, and hospitals to figure out what advocacy and programming efforts are needed to provide the best care possible for this vulnerable population who are at higher risk for mental illness, cancer, sexually transmitted infections, and other diseases, and for participating in risky behaviors. The project is run in partnership with the Prevention Resource Network, a division of the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group, and in collaboration with The Center in Asbury Park and Jersey Shore University Medical Center’s HIV and AIDS Ambulatory Clinic.

Interfaith Food Pantry (Morris County) — $25,000 — Interfaith Food Pantry’s Healthy Choices Mobile Pantry program delivers fresh produce and dairy to people in need throughout Morris County by partnering with smaller pantries located in areas further from IFP sites and with low-income senior housing sites. The program also offers easy-to-prepare foods to low-income seniors receiving Meals-on-Wheels through a partnership with the Morris County Division on Aging, Disabilities and Community Programming. Through this program, IFP anticipates serving 360 to 400 individuals, families, and seniors facing hunger over the next year.

New Jersey Ballet Company Inc. (Essex, Middlesex, Morris, and Somerset Counties) — $6,500 — New Jersey Ballet’s Dancing for Parkinson's program provides free weekly movement classes to individuals living with Parkinson's disease. Classes are held throughout the year at New Jersey Ballet's studios in Livingston, NJ, and at the Robert Wood Johnson Fitness & Wellness Center in New Brunswick, NJ. These classes promote movement, social inclusion, creativity and exercise through the art of dance in an environment where individuals can enjoy movement to live musical accompaniment. The program develops participants’ stability and gait through consistency and repetition of movement, which in turn will contribute to a greater sense of confidence.

The Phoenix Center (Essex, Hudson, Bergen, Passaic, Morris, Union, and Monmouth Counties) — $13,000 — The Phoenix Center will use the grant from The Provident Bank Foundation to purchase a Welch Allyn Spot Vision Screener and an Oto-Acoustic Emissions (OAE) Screener. This will enable The Phoenix Center to deliver early intervention hearing and vision screening services to its special needs students and comply with the New Jersey Department of Education screening standards. Vision and hearing screenings and treatment are important for the proper development of speech and language. With early and accurate detection, treatment outcomes are significantly more successful and participation in the learning process is greatly improved.

Zufall Health Center (Morris County) — $25,000 — Using Zufall’s mobile oral health treatment unit, the organization will provide a series of Mobile Dental Van events in Morristown and Dover for underserved children and teens whose families have difficulty affording and/or transporting their kids to the dentist. Participants will receive dental screenings, oral examinations, and preventive treatments including X-rays, cleanings, dental exams, fluoride, and sealants. Additionally, school-age children and their families will receive oral health education through various outreach approaches.

PENNSYLVANIA

Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County (Bucks County) — $7,500 — Funding will support the development of Woodland Park, a project of Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County that will build four single-family homes in Morrisville, PA, providing affordable homeownership opportunities for four low-income families that either live or work in Bucks County. In addition to the direct impact on the homebuyers, Habitat anticipates that over the course of this project, another 20 participants will complete Almost Home, a free homebuyer education program which provides direct access to the professionals who can best assist them in tackling the obstacles that are blocking their success as homebuyers. Habitat also expects to engage 400 volunteers in construction activities, plus another 15 volunteer coaches/mentors for Almost Home.

The Provident Bank Foundation supports not-for-profit groups, institutions, schools and other 501(c)(3) organizations. These organizations provide valuable services to the communities served by Provident Bank. PBF is committed to strengthening and sustaining its relationships with communities in the bank’s marketplace.

For more information and guidelines on these funding opportunities, visit www.theprovidentbankfoundation.org or call (862) 260-3990.

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About The Provident Bank Foundation

The Provident Bank Foundation was established in 2003 by Provident Bank to enhance the quality of life in the region through support of not-for-profit groups, institutions, schools and other 501(c)(3) organizations that provide services in communities served by the Bank. Since inception, the Foundation has granted more than $24 million to not-for-profit organizations and institutions working toward stronger communities. For more information, visit www.theprovidentbankfoundation.org or call (862) 260-3990.