Not far from the children’s zoo and train ride in Van Saun County Park in Paramus, NJ is a brick pathway winding its way amid a garden of flowers and shrubs. It is a quiet enclave, intentionally so.
Take a stroll along the Pathway, look closely, and you’ll see that each brick and bench carries a message. Of gratitude. Love. Hope. Or sorrow.
Each brick tells a story—about a woman who survived domestic violence … about a woman who did not … about the support of friends and family … about the need to put an end to the pain that humans inflict on one another.
The Center for Hope & Safety Pathway to Self-Sufficiency symbolizes and honors a larger road, one that women whose lives have been shattered by domestic violence must travel to find a life of their own.
At Center for Hope & Safety, our mission—our passion—is to guide each individual on her own Pathway to Self-Sufficiency—day by day, step by step, building a new life brick by brick. That journey only begins with offering her—and her children—a safe place to stay.
Soon after arriving at our emergency shelter, a woman will be contacted by a staff trainer with Project Self-Sufficiency. Together, their goal will be to:
- Discover the woman’s inner strengths and capabilities;
- Equip her with the skills she’ll need to make it on her own;
- Connect her to the resources that can speed her along the way; and above all,
- Enable her to discover the inner strength and confidence to make it happen.
She may need an education. We’ll help her get it, whether that means being tutored in English as a Second Language, earning her high school equivalency degree, or exploring college.
She’ll likely need financial aid. We’ll likely find it.
She may need a job. We’ll help her land it. With job readiness training—the very heartbeat of Project Self-Sufficiency—she’ll learn how to write a compelling resume and letter of introduction. We’ll teach her the essentials of computer skills, prepare her for interviews. Along the way, we’ll help her manage her own money matters—banking, home budgeting, maintaining good credit.
When she returns to the community, we want her to be energized by newfound confidence and fueled by newfound hope, ready to stand—and thrive—on her own.
In real life, the Pathway to Self-Sufficiency is not a stroll through a garden but a journey filled with practical challenges. At Center for Hope & Safety, we work hard to help each woman move forward, step by step, toward personal independence and financial stability.
A journey that begins in the darkness of fear must turn to the daylight of safety, strength, and hope. That’s the Pathway we travel at Center for Hope & Safety. To learn more, call 201-944-9600 Come. Find us.