Tag Archives: Rebecca Heath

News

Amy Flynn Brings Innovation, Decades of Nonprofit Leadership as New TASK CEO

By Rebecca Heath

Amy Flynn, Chief Executive Officer of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, first learned the importance of giving back while growing up food insecure on a dairy farm in the midwest.

“There were times when we didn’t have heat in our home except for a wood burning stove,” Flynn said in an interview with The Streetlight. “I can remember my mom just piling blankets on top of us at night, waking up in the morning and being able to see my breath.”

Despite their own struggles, Flynn said her family always found a way to support their neighbors, a common practice in her rural community that sparked her decades-long passion for service.

“We never had so little that we didn’t have something that we gave away,” she said. “Whether it was going to a neighboring family’s home to help because someone was sick. … . I can
remember our neighbors coming to help us in similar ways.”

Flynn said she has always been particularly inspired by her grandparents, who often brought her along to help neighbors in need as a child.

“Both of them were just so dedicated to giving back. They truly set the example for all of us in the family,” she said. “Even in service now so many of our friends and neighbors are just one paycheck away from experiencing, it could be homelessness, it could be going without a meal.”

Motivated by her upbringing, Flynn has dedicated her life and career to serving her community. Following nearly two decades of non-profit leadership, including a recent two-year tenure as the CEO of Meals on Wheels of Mercer County, Flynn officially took the helm of TASK in January. The long-standing organization provides meals daily and offers a variety of programs and services to people facing homelessness and food insecurity in Mercer County.

Flynn’s appointment at TASK followed the retirement of Joyce Campbell, who led the organization for eight years before announcing her plans to step down as CEO in May 2024.

As Flynn maps out her goals for her tenure, she said she aims to
“figure out how TASK can continue to be innovative in its approach to tackling the issue of food insecurity, and to engage and involve our community partners.”

“Joyce Campbell was a visionary leader of this organization, and so
I felt very fortunate,” Flynn said. “I’m standing on her shoulders right
now. I mean, she and the board and this amazing staff here have already built so much, and so it’s important to me to keep that momentum moving forward.”

As one of her initiatives, Flynn said she hopes to expand training programs at TASK, such as Emilio’s Culinary Academy. The program,
which is the only one of its kind in Mercer County, teaches culinary
skills to aspiring chefs for free, and helps them land jobs in professional kitchens.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunity to grow around that space,” Flynn said. “There’s lots of culinary training programs, but I think what
makes Emilio’s Culinary Academy stand out is it’s a really small group, a specialized approach. … We have students in the program that have a lot of barriers, and so what’s wonderful is that they have the benefit of our case management team around
them.”

Flynn said the success of the culinary academy has sparked “the potential for us to feed into other training and skills programs,” including workforce readiness and development initiatives.

“We know that there’s always going to be individuals that need the soup kitchen…but if we have the opportunity to help people lift out
of needing this type of support, to find meaningful employment that
has generational impact…that piece really excites me,” Flynn said.

In addition to serving patrons from its flagship Escher Street location, Flynn said TASK has expanded to various satellite locations across Mercer County, and recently celebrated the one year anniversary of launching its food truck.

“We’re working hard to be innovative and get out into communities, to individuals that can’t come to the soup kitchen,” Flynn said. “I think it takes all of us working together to kind of cover our community and surround the community, with care.”

Since starting her role, Flynn said she has met with various board
members, staff members, volunteers and community partners to better understand the barriers the organization is facing and how to effectively address them.

“There’s always going to be challenges, and there’s nobody better to learn from than the people that are on the front lines every day,” Flynn said.

With recent federal policies jeopardizing programs such as SNAP benefits and Medicaid, Flynn said TASK has been working to
ensure the organization can continue serving their patrons. She anticipates the demand for TASK’s services to increase while donations may decrease.

“That presents a layered challenge because we’re going to have to provide more food, with the same amount of resources that we have, or perhaps we’ll have more limited resources because more families are experiencing financial challenges,” she said.

As Flynn and her team navigate uncertainty, working to ensure
the organization has “long-term sustainability” remains their
“number one priority.”

“Obviously what would be wonderful is if we could put ourselves out of business, that nobody was hungry. But we know that that’s not going to be the case for a while,” she said. 

Flynn said TASK will continue its efforts to “meet people where
they are,” and emphasized that food insecurity can affect anyone.

“I think it’s important for us to always understand that our neighbors, we have no idea what they might be going through, Flynn said. “It’s always important to me to pay it forward and give back.”

News

Mobile Outreach Project: The Rescue Mission’s Van Offers Addiction Recovery Services

By Rebecca Heath

The Rescue Mission of Trenton — armed with a variety of resources and support from local non-profits — provides addiction recovery services through a mobile outreach initiative designed to meet people where they are.

The initiative supports individuals who are struggling with addiction in the Mercer County area, in partnership with Catholic Charities, Henry J. Austin Health Center and Iron Recovery & Wellness Center.

Staffed by peer recovery specialists, the van hits the road six days per week.

The specialists, some of whom have recovered from addiction or faced homelessness themselves, aim to build relationships, while serving as role models to individuals at all stages in their recovery.

The van primarily travels early in the morning to places where people experiencing homelessness tend to congregate.

Since its inception in 2022, the initiative has created a profound impact, and has grown to be an established and trusted resource
in underserved communities throughout the county.

According to The Mission, the initiative delivers coffee, food and clothing, dispenses Narcan kits, provides addiction treatment, ar-
ranges medical treatment and transports individuals in need of
housing assistance to The Shelter.

The Mission’s Behavioral Health Center, which is a state-licensed
treatment facility, offers both short-term and long-term support for individuals battling addiction, according to the organization’s website.

“With the vast capabilities of our unique partnerships, this outreach program is allowing us to provide what is needed, for individuals struggling with addiction — engaging this in their healing process,” said Barret Young, CEO of The Mission.

According to Chalia Perry, peer recovery specialist, the team aims to empower the individuals they serve through consistency and compassion.

“Showing up every single day, I think that plays a big part. … I’m
not in a fancy suit. I’m just me in rare form,” Perry said. “They take
me with all my aspects the same way I take them.”

For Perry, sharing her own experiences with homelessness allows her to develop trust and meaningful relationships with patrons.

“Where somebody else might shy away from them, from giving them a hug or saying hello, we’re there,” Perry said. “This is not just my job,
this is my family. This is what we get up for every day.”

News

Mary Gay Abbott-Young Looks Back on Decades of Service as Rescue Mission CEO

By Rebecca Heath

Mary Gay Abbott-Young may have recently retired from a 50-year stint as CEO of the Rescue Mission of Trenton, but the veteran advocate who led the organization through a period of evolution and growth, says she “never worked a day in her life.”

“I’ve had a wonderful career and met some of the most amazing people from our community, from New Jersey, and really, in some cases, from well beyond the New Jersey borders,” Abbott-Young said in an interview with The Streetlight. 

Abbott-Young, who concluded her career at the Mission in June, has always been driven by a passion for service. Following a brief stint as a volunteer with the AmeriCorps VISTA, she landed her first role at the organization in 1978 as a program coordinator, shortly after graduating from Temple University with a degree in social work. “I loved [the Mission] from the day I got there,” Abbott-Young said.

The social justice trailblazer subsequently moved up the ranks, becoming CEO and the first woman to lead the long-standing nonprofit in 1986. 

As a woman asserting her place in the organization, Abbott-Young recalls facing stigma from her male counterparts. While interviewing for her role, she said she was asked if she was married and if she was going to have children, to which she replied, “I don’t think you’re allowed to ask that question anymore.”

“You can imagine this young woman, fighting, coming out of the women’s movement and ready to take on everything,” she said. “And [I] get this conservative guy, who has the nerve to ask a question like that.”

Despite the initial challenges, Abbott-Young said she and her co-workers were united by a common desire: “To make the Rescue Mission the best place it could be for those people we served.”

Throughout her tenure as CEO, Abbott-Young says she was amazed by the resilience of the Mission’s patrons and the collective efforts among nonprofits, government agencies and private sector organizations to address the growing issue of homelessness in Mercer County. Abbott-Young cited initiatives such as the Continuum of Care Program, which has helped alleviate the homelessness crisis through providing funding for efforts by nonprofit providers. 

“The stars have all lined up throughout my career with very, very few exceptions,” she said

However, at the root of the homelessness crisis is economic poverty, which “opens up an entire world of different issues,” Abbot-Young said. In order to create a systemic impact in alleviating poverty, issues like racial, economic and educational inequality must first be addressed, she explained.

“Unless we are willing to move into those areas, all of the wonderful progress that we’re making will continue to be individual based rather than system based,” she said. 

For the Mission, Abbott-Young said the biggest hurdle in effectively serving the community has always been finances. While her predecessor refused government funding, even as the organization was “close to closing,” gaining support from local, state and federal agencies marked a pivotal step in the organization’s history. 

“We had a knock-down fight about it, but I believed we had to accept it to keep serving people,” she said. “Eventually, he agreed to support my direction. That was a pivotal change for the Rescue Mission.”

“The culture changed when we took government funding,” she added. “But the support from the state, business community, and government was remarkable. Instead of pushing people away, they were asking, ‘How can we help you help these people?’”

Since its inception in 1915, the Mission has grown to encompass a shelter, behavioral health center, a thrift store, food pantry and vocational development services. In the last year, the organization has helped more than 4,000 individuals and served nearly 200,000 meals, according to the Mission’s website. 

“The organization has never missed a day of service,” Abbott-Young said. “We never failed to open that shelter door. We never failed to be there for them and to keep our residents who were in treatment for behavioral health issues safe in a residential building. That was not the work of a lone CEO. It is the work of the entire organization’s dedication.”

Despite her decades of service and transformative leadership, Abbott-Young considers her greatest accomplishment to be raising her two children. Her daughter, who is now an attorney, advocates for homeless families at HomeFront, and her son, Barrett Young, has succeeded her as CEO of the Mission.

Although Abbott-Young said stepping down from her post was “more bitter than sweet,” she realized during the Covid-19 pandemic that her “lack of ability to use technology was a deficit to both me and the organization.” 

 “If you could figure out how to make me 50 years younger and I can start my career again at the rescue mission, I’d be happy to do so,” she said. 

As she looks ahead to the future of the organization, Abbott-Young said she hopes whenever someone steps on to the Rescue Mission’s property, the first question will always be, “Did you eat today?” 

“And second, I pray that everyone who interacts with our clients is able to look in that person’s eyes and see not only their pain, but also see their potential.”

News

Vanessa Solivan Empowers Trenton Families Through New Beginnings Housing Program

By Rebecca Heath

When Trenton native Vanessa Solivan, a mother of three who had long battled housing insecurity, became overwhelmed with rent costs amid the pandemic, the home health aid began to look for avenues to become a homeowner. But as she reached out to numerous organizations, she quickly grew frustrated over the lack of opportunities for low-income individuals and families. 

“Why aren’t we giving people an opportunity? We’re working just as hard. It’s not our fault that these jobs are barely paying a living wage,” Solivan said in an interview with The Streetlight. “Housing should be a right. Why here in the richest, wealthiest country in the world are working mothers with children finding it difficult to follow their dreams?”

Determined to make a difference in her community, Solivan began working with the City of Trenton to spearhead the New Beginnings Housing Program, an initiative that seeks to provide City residents with abandoned houses, and the financial tools to redevelop them, according to The Trentonian. Approximately 1,000 properties around Trenton are abandoned, and while the program is starting small, Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora told PBS that expansion is on the horizon to address this crisis. 

“I’m very excited about [the initiative], and I see it having a lot of potential and just kind of inspiring people,” Solivan said. 

Through the pilot program, Solivan gained ownership of 651 North Clinton Ave., her childhood home. 

“It’s not finished yet but I’m still proud to have it the way that it is,” Solivan told The Trentonian.“I’m following in my mother’s footsteps who is the first generation to own a home.”

“My mom was the first person in our family to be a homeowner, so to see her working and being responsible and paying the bills and doing everything that she was supposed to do, to this day, I could only want to be like her and be a homeowner,” she said. 

After the construction of her home is completed, Solivan said that the program will move forward with recruiting other families. Through Solivan’s journey, the program facilitators will work out the “kinks,” to ensure a smoother process for future participants. 

“I’m definitely happy with the progress,” Solivan said of the construction process. “We recently just got word that we will start our demolition phase pretty soon. I think that’ll be a very exciting time for not just my family, but the community, because everybody is watching. And they’re very interested to know about the program. So I will be excited to show that we’re moving along, that the program is still alive.”

While people of all ages have expressed interest in the program, Solivan said the population they are primarily targeting is families with children. She emphasized that prospective participants should be employed and have documentation, such as state identification and a W-2 form.

“I want us to be careful with the people that we are choosing and make sure that we have the right candidates that will really want to be a homeowner,” she said. They want to be in the city. They invested in the city. Their children go to the schools here.”

Solivan said that while participants must be able to prove they are ready to embark on homeownership, they aren’t looking for people with a perfect credit score. 

“If that was the case, you wouldn’t need our help,” she said. “We can help them build up their credit and work on all those kinds of things through the financial literacy and the homeownership program.”

While Solivan’s recent advocacy work has centered around housing security, the 38-year-old is no stranger to using her voice to empower her community and catalyze change. In 2018, Solivan began advocating for better pay for home health aids, in addition to fighting to reduce lead in Trenton’s water, soil and air. 

Solivan has also become involved with the Trenton Restorative Street Team, where she has aided in efforts to promote justice and peace in the city. As a board member of the Princeton Justice Initiative, Solivan has also recently hosted share fairs in hopes of providing free legal services for individuals who cannot afford a lawyer. 

Solivan said she considers herself a spokesperson for mothers like herself in Trenton. Though she acknowledged that working with the government to develop the program has been a slow and tedious process, she stressed her determination to continue fighting on behalf of her community. 

“You have to keep pushing. You have to keep fighting. You have to keep making awareness,” she said. “I feel like I’m the voice for the unspoken, these moms that can’t get out there and fight because they’re too busy working to take care of their families.”

Although Solivan is first and foremost committed to supporting the city of Trenton through her initiative, she doesn’t intend on stopping there. She said she hopes to eventually bring the New Beginnings Housing Program to other states, and one day, expand internationally. 

“I feel like I’m slowly but surely spreading my wings and hopefully, I’ll be able to take this to other cities, other states and across the world,” she said. “There’s a lot of people living in poverty and suffering from homelessness, but I always feel we have to start at home first. I made a commitment to my community and I want to be a woman of my word and continue on helping the people.”

As she prepares to further expand her efforts, Solivan emphasized the power of numbers in making her ambitious dreams a reality. 

“Hopefully we can get more investors and more people involved in the city and just rebuild,” she said. “I mean, I can’t do it all alone. New Beginnings can’t do it all alone. But if we all work together, do you know how powerful that would be? So that’s what I’m calling for. In the city of Trenton, we need to come together more and work together.”

News

Anchor House Provides a Safe Space for Adolescents, Young Adults Experiencing Homelessness

By Rebecca Heath

Ever since its 1978 establishment, Trenton-based nonprofit Anchor House has strived to serve as a community safe haven for children and young adults experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness.

Though it began as just a shelter, the organization has since grown to encompass a wide range of programs and services, from trauma-informed counseling to life skills and education assistance.

To fulfill its mission of supporting more than 1,000 youth and families each year, Outreach Services Director Ben Thornton said the nonprofit relies heavily on collaborative, community efforts.

“We have to incorporate intelligent partnering,” Thornton said. “We have to bring the resources of the community together and learn to work within the community to raise awareness for youth experiencing homelessness…and to make sure that the young people themselves know where to find resources.”

Though a majority of the organization’s services are designed for local youth, Thornton said the stigma surrounding homelessness often discourages displaced young people from seeking essential resources.

In order to combat this systemic obstacle, Anchor House assembled an outreach team that aims to inform this population about “what they are experiencing and where those resources are for them to get back on the right path,” Thornton said.

For temporary housing crises, Anchor House provides a 30-day shelter placement to young people who have been removed from or have voluntarily left their homes.

The shelter, which is located on Centre Street in Trenton, lies next door to their transitional living program. This residential facility houses individuals facing homelessness who have recently entered adulthood and are no longer eligible for foster care, yet still require support as they transition to independent living.

“They all live in the same home but they have their individual rooms, and there they learn some really critical life skills,” Thornton explained. “They get therapeutic services, mental health services, and they start to basically stabilize in a program like that and start learning life skills and everything that will take them forward.”

To accommodate young adults who have outgrown the supervised living model, Anchor House launched their “Anchor Line” program, which provides each participant with their own apartment — without the burden of paying rent.

“This is where they are learning to live alone,” Thornton said. “They’re learning to incorporate those life skills, running their daily lives, and getting ready to be able to pay rent and to handle leases and work with landlords.”

At each stage of housing support, Thornton said counselors are tasked with helping their residents achieve self-sufficiency through building their support network and teaching them how to access resources within their communities.

In an effort to create a platform for their clients to provide input and share their experiences as they navigate their path to self-sufficiency, the organization established a youth advisory council in 2014. This empowering initiative offers opportunities to build leadership skills, network with other individuals facing similar struggles and invoke meaningful community change.

“This is where we give the young people in our services a chance to tell their story if they choose to,” Thornton said. “And to build community with other young people from other programs so they can understand the diversity of placements and the trajectory of where they may want to go.”

Uncategorized

Art on the Move: HomeFront’s New Mobile Initiative Fosters Creativity in Underserved Communities

By Rebecca Heath

In an effort to engage and enrich children and families living in under-resourced Mercer County communities, HomeFront recently unveiled “Artie the ArtSpace Mobile.”

HomeFront’s ArtSpace fosters a safe environment for individuals who have experienced homelessness to express creativity, according to the organization’s website.

The nonprofit, which is based in Ewing and managed by Ruthann Traylor, facilitates therapeutic art programs and seeks to empower clients by offering a number of opportunities throughout the year to showcase their skills.

ArtSpace’s new mobile initiative was developed to educate potential clients about the organization’s programs and support services. Chock-full of supplies and clients’ artwork, the vibrant truck will also host hands-on activities for children while serving as a pop-up shop to benefit HomeFront artists.

The journey of bringing Artie to life involved collaborative efforts, said Traylor, who worked alongside local graphic designers Barbara DiLorenzo and Kim Moulder, in addition to Leigh Visual Imaging, to make her vision a reality.

“The process for creating Artie was brewing for a few years,” Traylor said. “Once we received the grant and the truck was donated we worked with a few local designers to help us create our vision.”

The innovative art truck currently partners with community-minded businesses to collect art supplies, and hosts company team-building workshops as part of ArtSpace’s corporate engagement efforts.

Artie is also slated to travel to HomeFront properties and motels to serve families experiencing homelessness, in addition to arts and music festivals, community events, summer camps, craft fairs, schools, day care centers and after-school programs for disadvantaged youth, according to the organization’s website.