NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN BERGEN COUNTY SECTION COMMUNITY SERVICES TOUR

On December 3 an enthusiastic group of 13 NCJW members participated in our second Community Services tour for 2015. We visited the Women’s Rights Information Center and the Bergen Family Center, both in Englewood.

The WRI Center provides a place for women in transition to gain career, life and resource-building skills that can change the direction of their economic futures for the better. We met with the new Executive Director, Esmilda Abreu, Ph.D, members of the staff and volunteers, who gave us an excellent overview of the Center’s work. We learned with interest about their Career Training services and Shared Housing program and then took a tour of the building. We were most impressed with their accredited Microsoft Training and Certification program, the job and interview consultation service and, occupying the entire top floor of the building, the “Career Closet” where low-income job seekers can select at no cost “dress for success” interview-appropriate outfits and accessories.

We continued on to the Bergen Family Center, a multifunctional institution which is the home of our much-lauded HIPPY program (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters).  BFC provides elder day care, afterschool and infant care to a large number of our Bergen County residents. Following a light lunch, Mitch Schonfeld, MSW, Executive Director and CEO; Marcia Gongora, MSW, Director of Family Success; and Davia Valenzuela, BA, Supervisor of Eldercare Management, talked about some of the many services the Center provides. We then took a tour of the building to see the infant care program (though most of the children were taking their afternoon nap!) and Adult Daycare Center.

The people we met spoke glowingly about NCJW and the many ways we support their organizations, and the NCJW group was impressed by these two exceptional facilities and gratified that we are able to help them achieve their missions