More than a name it’s a strategy for the truth to be told Prophetic Ministry 2020 Level 1 Certificate Program…
The Smith Family Foundation of New Jersey believes that Higher Education is the normal next step for students after high school! This means that students are working during their high school career with the goal in mind to attend a two or four year college, trade school, or to become career ready upon their graduation. Along with our corporate sponsors, Wilkin & Guttenplan, P.C., Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Johnson and Johnson, on August 6, 2018 we celebrated our 2nd Annual College Freshmen Care Package Give Away to show our support and dedication to young people moving on to institutions of higher education.
The give away was a huge success. Last school year we were able to serve 100 students, this year (2018-2019) we provided 230 care packages to low-income, first-generation college students. The College Care Package Give Away is our way of supporting local youth and letting them know how proud we are as they pursue their educational endeavors.
Pictures below show the students receiving their care packages and some of our partners. Students served were from Trenton Public Schools, Charter School and Community Organizations. We are also in partnership with The College of New Jersey’s Educational Opportunity Fund.
Girls Out Loud! hosted our 2nd Annual Day of Adornment on September 5, 2018. Day of Adornment celebrates the sisterhood of women who donate and dedicate their time and talent with school age girls. Girls Out Loud and its partners, provided school supplies, free nail care services, free hair styles and hair care services, and information that helped 50 young girls explore the careers of entrepreneurs and Cosmetologist.
Our sponsoring salons this year were
Timeless Hair Gallery
JCPenny
The Salon by InStyle
In His Image Hair Studio
Manely Luxe Signature Salon
Innovate Salon Academy
Stylist Jessica Jay
Pamper Me Pretty: Kids Spa Themed Parties.
This year’s Day of Adornment was sponsored by The Smith Family Foundation NJ and Merrill Lynch.
Summer 2018 saw 25 Youth Turn Performing Artist engage in a Seven Week intensive program within the arts focusing on music, theatre, performance and stage production. In partnership with Passage Theatre, Youth Turn’s 2nd summer production was “Motown Meets Trenton”.
The students learned about the history of Motown and its rise during the Civil Rights Era and Black Power Movement. They learned the lessons of innovation, hard work, creative thinking, problem solving through the inspiration of Berry Gordy and his role in creating music that transcended racial lines and brought people of all colors, races, and creeds together and broke all barriers.
During the seven-week program, the students engaged in piano and drum lessons, music theory, and community service. Students used the Motown theme to inspire their writing, singing and acting skills. The culmination of their hard work was the production of a 2 Day SOLD OUT presentation at Paper Mill Play House of “Motown Meets Trenton” written by Josh Campbell and the Artist of Youth Turn, under the Musical Direction of William Robinson Jr, and inspired by Rene B. Idowu, founder of Youth Turn.
The Smith Family Foundation of New Jersey continues its support of non-profit community in the city of Trenton. With an emphasis on “grassroot” organizations. The Smith Family Foundation NJ awarded 5 Summer Funding grants totaling $40,000. In additional to funding, each awardee received leadership development and training in best practices in the nonprofit sector as part of our Transformative Leadership Development Program. “The Smith Family Foundation is God sent, they really made a difference for Howard’s Healthy Choices this summer,” said Ms. Tynetta Howard, Executive Director for the foundation says, “Each of our grant recipients share the collective effort to encourage urban school age children to begin to consider higher education as a real option after high school.” This year’s Summer Funding Grant Awardees are:
The Smith Family Foundation NJ is excited to begin its second year of community empowerment workshops. With classes beginning September 2018 meeting every 2nd and 4th Tuesday from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM. The community empowerment workshop is designed to help both grassroots non-profit leadership and concerned citizens of our community to become more active in their mission as it pertains to bettering our city. We believe community empowerment refers to the process of enabling communities to increase control over their lives by working to improve concerns, increasing interests, and establishing the city’s identity from within the city limits. This is why The Smith Family Foundation NJ Community Empowerment Workshops were established and will continue. In addition to the community empowerment workshops the Smith Family Foundation will also offer a Free workshop for anyone looking to learn how to register as a 501.c.3 non-profit organizations on Oct 9 2018 at 5:30 pm. If your organization is interest in receiving the tools to empower yourself to be the change that our city needs; please contact Dawn Reyes the Community engagement specialist at The Smith Family Foundation to revive more information at (609) 888-6300.