Stories

Since 2015, VOADV has operated the Safe Return program, providing rapid and immediate voluntary reentry services to residents across southern New Jersey and in Trenton specifically. Through this program, VOADV provides an array of essential services to those exiting the criminal justice system – diverting individuals away from costly crisis-oriented systems, including emergency rooms and jails, and, instead, to expert social service providers who can more appropriately address their needs and ensure success. Over the past few months, VOADV has been challenged to find new, creative ways to reduce costs in order to preserve the Safe Return program and its…

Meet Nora Miller and Kaylee Teesdale from Haddon Heights – these two Glenview Elementary School students are best friends and your typical, happy fifth graders. They enjoy going to school, spending time with one another, going on adventures with their parents and absolutely love arts & crafts. But these days, life is a little different for these two friends. They know they can’t go to school, play with friends or leave their houses on weekends like they used to – and the reason is COVID-19. Although young, Nora and Kaylee understand that the coronavirus is very dangerous, and resources are…

As one of the most densely populated state in the nation, New Jersey has also been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The state as a whole has experienced a high number of COVID-19 cases from its northern most counties all the way to its southern most counties. Sadly, New Jersey also has one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases in its prisons and jails in the country. These facilities house large numbers of individuals with chronic diseases and complex medical issues, putting them at greater risk of contracting and spreading novel coronavirus. Unfortunately, this has resulted in many…

My grandson recently asked me why people are saying that they “don’t like black people.” My grandson is 6 years old and African American. When you consider the innocence of children, you struggle with how to even begin to explain it all – the technicalities, the decades of repression and suppression, the harsh and sometimes brutal realities of inequality and injustice prevalent in our society. You obviously cannot get into a geopolitical dialogue with a child – you have to break it all down into the simplest terms. You say things like, “They just don’t know you,” “They don’t know all…