September Update

We face many challenges in the Trenton region that directly link to each other:  high unemployment, soaring dropout rates, record homicides, expensive police and prison costs, fractured communities, and more.  In 1995, Isles organized an innovative response to these threats and called it Isles YouthBuild Institute – until now.  With the introduction of YouthCorps and family based services, we changed the name to Isles Youth Institute (IYI).  Since its inception, we have offered 900+ high school dropouts the chance to earn a diploma, obtain vital life skills, learn construction basics, and rebuild vacant homes and open spaces in their own communities.
  
This fall, IYI is in an exciting phase of growth and transition, so this newsletter highlights that part of Isles which targets challenged youth and their families.  Let us know what you think.  Really.
  
In community, 
  
Marty Johnson

July Update

Greetings!
 
Since our goal is to help make challenged urban places more self-reliant and healthy, we always ask, “What’s getting in the way?”  After years of research and testing, we found one surprising answer: our homes.  They are making us sick.
 
The presence of lead in homes is poisoning thousands of kids.  Other home hazards trigger asthma and have driven nearly epidemic levels of asthma in the city.  As science becomes more aware of the real costs and impacts of these hazards, we have worked to find low-cost ways to identify and clean up homes.  
 
One important effort is training local residents, contractors, visiting nurses, and others that enter homes on a regular basis through Isles’ Healthy Homes course.  They can help identify the hazards and give tools to the residents of the homes to protect themselves. This summer, we’re expanding our Healthy Homes impact by collaborating with Mercer Street Friends, a nonprofit that runs a Visiting Nurses program, to train a cadre of home assessors to go out into the community and help mitigate these threats.
 
As always, we’re grateful to our community partners and all those that help us keep our eyes on the prize and act with thoughtful urgency.
 
 
In Community, 

Marty 

August Update

Greetings!
 
This summer, the news in Trenton seems focused on violence and disorder. It’s important to view our challenges through clear lenses – the annual murder record will be set soon, and it’s only August – but it’s also important to see the good work and positive news.  The Trenton region has strong groups and leaders with integrity that, like us, live and work here.  We choose to be here, investing in places and people with thoughtfulness and yes, high expectations for the long haul.  Isles is one of numerous groups that collaborate across the region to see meaningful change happen.
  
They may not get the media coverage, but these collaborations are evident all across the city and county.  You can see them building 50 community gardens and beautifying the Princeton landscapes of Morven Museum & Garden and Drumthwacket.  Working with residents and other organizations, Isles and volunteers have created lush oases and beautiful art in Trenton, while encouraging young people to learn and grow outside the city.  At the same time, volunteers gain new skills and knowledge, and the landscapes of the county become more beautiful.
  
 Enjoy the rest of the summer and keep your eyes on the prize – not just the challenges we face.
  
In community, 
 
Marty

May Update

Recently, Isles was introduced to Felicia, an Isles Home Buyer Workshop participant who will buy her first home this month. Her new place is a formerly vacant, now beautifully restored, affordable and energy efficient 120 year-old home on Stockton Street in Trenton. And she’s excited.
 
But didn’t we just learn from the recession that homeownership can hurt working families?
 
The answer to that is yes. But if we are smart, this can be a great time to buy a home. If we provide quality homes that cost little to operate in places that are stable, with good low cost mortgages to prepared buyers, then the benefits of homeownership become clear – for buyers and the entire community. 
 
Isles’ goal is self-reliance, and homeownership can offer both stability and ‘forced savings’, both key to building self-sufficiency. To be successful, new homeowners benefit from housing and budget counseling and workshops. Since 2003, Isles has counseled and trained more than 1,500 prospective home buyers. 
 
Homeowners create more stakeholders in a community, if the conditions are right. The magic is in knowing those conditions. Having 32 years of experience really helps.

In community, 

Marty

June Update

June is always a powerful month. The gardens are looking great, construction is in full gear, and we have the honor of witnessing Isles YouthBuild Institute (IYI) students graduate and begin the next phase of their lives. 
 
These students make us proud, both because of where they have come from and now where they are going. Their challenges have been awesome – a number were homeless, with deep family health issues. A number were incarcerated, gang-connected, and on the way to a life in prison. Others have been abused. Nearly all had dropped out of high school. 
 
For them, it seems obvious that traditional classroom settings will not work. Here at IYI, these 18 young men and women have overcome many obstacles to earn a diploma and found a last chance to learn how to learn, be employed, and self-reliant. They’ve learned to be accountable to each other and themselves, and to be responsible to their community. They’ve built sound relationships with friends, mentors, and staff. And, they have earned self-respect. 
 
But the ‘proof is in the pudding’, as they say. One YouthBuild graduate, Lamar Allen, works for Princeton University’s dining services. Working with Isles Financial Solutions services being offered at Princeton University, he plans to buy a house this summer!
 
Marty

 

IYI Students at Drumthwacket

Drumthwacket’s historic Italianate gardens, designed by Daniel Webster Langton circa 1905, are one of New Jersey’s most admired garden destinations. Now, our  Isles YouthBuild students have played an important role in  helping to preserve Drumthwacket’s gardens and landscape. Our students were asked by Robin Brenner/Executive Director of the Drumthwacket Foundation  to assist in helping to beautify the grounds. Ms. Brenner was impressed with the professionalism and attention to detail that our students displayed while working. All of the YouthBuild students who participated received official letters of reference from Drumthwacket Foundation.

 

 

 

Isles Financial Solutions Receives Funding from Citi Community Development

Trenton, N.J. – Summary: Most of us are hard-wired to make illogical decisions about our money at times, especially when we are under financial duress – a constant pressure for a majority of lower income workers.  Isles has developed  tools  and techniques to help people overcome those tendencies and make it easier for them to reduce debt and improve their financial decisions. Using what we’ve learned from years of experience and research on behavioral psychology, we teach financial concepts, but more importantly we create realistic budgets, automate savings and payments, refinance high cost debt, and provide one on one coaching until good habits are learned and practiced.  Good financial decision-making is a key building block for self-reliance. Citi agrees.

Isles, Inc. recently received a $160,000 contribution from Citi Community Development to support the expansion of Isles Financial Solutions. Isles Financial Solutions (IFS) is an employer-based financial capability initiative for low-wage workers, designed to create positive, long-term behavior change in financial knowledge and decision-making.  

Isles empowers IFS customers to improve their financial capacity through an innovative mix of financial coaching, credit-building finance, savings products and group-based learning.  Currently, Isles works with employees at Princeton University and Trenton community members.  With this funding, Isles will expand these services at Princeton University as well as begin working with  at least one new local employer of lower wage workers.  

In addition, $10,000 of this contribution will be used to fund the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation (PFEEF) to conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of IFS services.  The year-long evaluation will measure the improvements in employee financial capability, savings, and credit scores, as well as the benefits to employers of improved worker productivity and reduced financial distress.

“We’re honored and delighted that Citi would provide us the support to expand IFS services to more  workers in Mercer County,” states Peter Rose, Isles Managing Director of Community Enterprises.  “We’re excited about this opportunity to measure the effectiveness of our model, which we believe offers a unique blend of services that can rapidly help improve the financial capacity, increase savings and lower high-cost debt for lower wage workers.”

During an IFS pilot at Princeton University in 2012, 40 low to moderate income employees were invited to join the program to reduce their debt and build assets.  These individuals became active participants with measurable positive consumer financial behavior changes that included: 

  • 100% prepared and are using a household budget;
  • 50% improved their credit scores (at least 100 points);
  • 100% accumulated at least $500 in savings; 
  • 75% decreased overall debt at least 25%; and
  • 50% decreased what they paid in interest and fees.

“Isles Financial Solutions is truly a results-oriented program helping lower income workers effectively address their financial issues and enabling them to focus more on their jobs and careers, benefitting both themselves and their employers,” said Helen Steblecki, Citi’s State Director of Community Development for New Jersey.  “Citi is pleased to support Isles in its expansion of this program and the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation in its evaluation of IFS to provide further evidence of the critical need and benefits of this type of comprehensive financial counseling program.”

 To learn more about Isles Financial Solutions, visit us here or contact [email protected]

New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance Conference Registration is Open

The New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance (of which Isles is a partner) is hosting Climate Change Preparedness in New Jersey: Leading Practices & Policy Priorities.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013
7:45 AM to 5:00 PM
Cook Campus Center, Rutgers University
59 Biel Road, New Brunswick, NJ

The purpose of this conference is to highlight climate preparedness and resilience activities underway in New Jersey, as well as leading practices throughout the United States, in order to enhance climate change adaptation capacity in New Jersey.

Click here for a complete agenda. 
Click here to register online.

 

March Update

Spring is on its way, and soil is being turned in neighborhood and school gardens around the region. When we started Trenton’s first community garden in 1981, we didn’t know how the “grow your own” movement would, well, grow. 
 
The benefits are now clear – you can eat better, cleaner food, save money, improve the environment and most importantly, build community through gardens.   Recently, Isles embarked upon a statewide study of the potential for more urban agriculture and what our role might be in furthering this movement. Funded by the Rita Allen Foundation, the study will be released in a few weeks. 
 
Many have heard about food “deserts,” where quality produce is unavailable or expensive at local delis or corner stores in lower income neighborhoods. (This is a good example of how expensive it really is to be poor!). One additional finding is that healthier food is not just an access issue – consumers must demand it, buy good food, and know how to prepare it.  As a result, Isles invests in education and changing the culture of food in the region. 
 
As the adage goes, “many hands make light work” and springtime brings out many corporate partners and volunteers for which we are thankful. Helping out in gardens that need extra hands, volunteers often leave feeling physically satisfied and enriched by the experience of working and learning alongside local gardeners and their families. Yes, there is lots of good news in Trenton!
  
In Community

Marty

 

Give for Youth Challenge: Voting is Open

Isles has entered a microproject in the Give for Youth Challenge and we need your vote! The top 20 youth-focused nonprofits with the most votes win a spot on GiveforYouth.org, a microgiving portal that helps nonprofits get new projects funded and off the ground. Give for Youth is a Microsoft YouthSpark program in partnership with GlobalGiving. Our project focuses on Isles YouthBuild Institute, which provides the tools for self-reliance in a non-traditional educational environment and better prepares at-risk youth for employment and higher education. Voting is open until March 1st!

Visit our project page here and click “Vote for this Idea” to vote for us! After you vote, leave a comment in the discussion section at the bottom of the project page to help get the word out!

If you need to register, please remember to validate your email address (you’ll receive instructions after you vote) so your vote gets counted. You’ll see a notification at the top of the screen once your vote has been successfully counted. Remember, everyone can only vote once, so be sure to also let your friends know and spread the word! 

Please take a second to help us out with your vote, and if you’re feeling extra helpful, share this message with your friends and post it on Facebook! You can also share this announcement by clicking on the social media buttons at the bottom of this page. Thank you for supporting this important work – We need all the votes we can get!