BETHANY CARES INC. 2015 ANNUAL REPORT

BETHANY CARES, INC. 2015 Annual Report

Letter from the Chair

275 West Market Street � Newark, NJ 07103

Bethany Cares Incorporated (BCI) is very pleased to have marked its 14th year of service to the greater Newark community in 2015. Due in large part to BCI’s dedicated staff and network of supporters, the Board of Directors fostered the BCI Freedom School’s continuing success, while also expanding the reach of BCI’s

highly effective adult literacy program known as Literacy Volunteers of Bethany (LVB). During 2015, BCI Freedom School and the LVB program again proved to be great examples of the organization’s commitment to improving the lives of Newark area residents through programs that effectively promote literacy. In doing so, we are providing youngsters and mature individuals with an often-overlooked life skill that bolsters individual and collective self-determination and confidence. Indeed, it was BCI’s work in literacy that resulted in the organization being formally recognized by the Rutgers University School of Business Institute of Ethics. BCI was the recipient of the Rutgers Newark 2015 Steven J. Diner Ethical Leadership Award. Although BCI made significant strides in terms of its service to community during 2015, we are eager to do even more in 2016 and have a greater positive effect on the Newark community.

For 2016, BCI will again fund and coordinate an 8 to 9 month tutoring program for school age children. We will also be supporting the efforts of the Bethany Scholarship Committee as that body expands its outreach and increases the funding support it provides to deserving college-bound and matriculating students from Newark and the surrounding area. BCI also anticipates that LVB - which is the only adult literacy program in Essex County that has its own team of certified literacy training instructors - will continue to produce the kind of results that recently led to the LVB program receiving the New Jersey Black Issues Convention Community (NJBIC) Change Award in Economic Security and Opportunity. LVB’s work with adults in one-on-one reading skills instruction, and the BCI Freedom School’s success over the past several years in providing over 1000 school age children a fun filled but intensive 6 week summer literacy and cultural awareness program, presumably helped persuade the aforementioned Institute of Ethics at Rutgers University to formally "recognize[ ] BCI and its mission to help enrich the lives of community residents within the greater Newark area...by delivering a literacy and social action curriculum to the children and families of Newark.”

From school age children, to college age students, to young adults and more mature adults, BCI is committed to finding ways to enhance opportunities and the quality of life for people in the greater Newark community. I invite you to review our report, understand the types of efforts we are making to serve the community, and to consider how you can aid us in our quest to improve the lives of children and adults in the Newark area.

We welcome and thank you in advance for your assistance. And if you have been one of our supporters, we heartily thank you again and ask for your continued support!

Sincerely,

Alvin Ricardo Little Chairperson

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What is Bethany Cares, Inc.?

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Bethany Cares Inc. (BCI) is a Community Development Corporation initiated through Bethany Baptist Church. BCI is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, founded on March 20, 2001, created to advance the social, economic and physical well being of individuals living in the vicinity of Bethany Baptist Church, the Newark community at large, and beyond.

Bethany Cares Inc. is organized under two purposes:

1. To help enrich the lives of community residents within the surrounding area by promoting

community and economic development.

2. To provide housing, community service, job training and other activities that will lead to the

improvement of the community infrastructure, standard of living and quality of life.

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Bethany Cares Inc. exists to advance the social, cultural, economic, and physical well being of individuals living in the vicinity of Bethany Baptist Church, the Newark community at large, and beyond. Its work is performed through the resources it secures and provides to Bethany Baptist Church programs and activities intended to effect social and economic uplift for children and adults.

Members of the Board of Directors

Our mission...

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Alvin Ricardo Little, Esq. Chair Attorney-at-Law Edna Baugh, Esq. Vice Chair Rutgers School of Law Dale Anglin, MPP Victoria Foundation Betty Brown, MBA The County of Essex

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Ellen Brown The Doll Loft Patricia Fullilove, MA Newark Public Schools (retired) William E. Lee Berklee College of Music Richard Roper, MPA The Roper Group

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Janice Rowe-Little AT&T (retired) Kimaada Sills, MCRP Rutgers University Zinnerford Smith The Striker Group Tulani Thomas, Esq. TuTu's Green World LLC

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BCI Freedom School is modeled after the Freedom Schools that were established during the "Mississippi Summer Project" of 1964. During that campaign, the Freedom Schools, with a curriculum that focused on literacy and humanities, were structured to motivate young people to become critically engaged in their communities and to help them identify and design authentic solutions to local problems. The Freedom School movement was reborn in 1993 under the leadership of Marian Wright Edelman and the Children's Defense Fund's Black Community Crusade for Children.

The BCI Freedom School project is a six-week summer program designed to serve children in communities where quality summer academic enrichment programming is rare, cost prohibitive or non-existent. The program launched the first Newark site in 2006 at Bethany Baptist Church. Since inception, the BCI Freedom School has worked with over 1000 students to prevent summer learning loss. Last summer, BCI Freedom School provided 75 children between the ages of 5 and 14 years old with a safe academic summer experience that will

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instill in them the belief that they can make a difference (echoing the Freedom School Theme) through a focus on literacy, cultural heritage and parental involvement.

Through the summer Freedom School experience, BCI also aims to provide 15 high school students from the Greater Newark area and 15 undergraduate students with a quality internship opportunity for six weeks during the summer. It is the hope of BCI to expand each young person’s knowledge of literacy and of African American and Latino authors, playwrights, poets and other writers.

Summer Literacy

Program

B.C.I.

Educating Students

Creating Opportunity

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Impact The Literacy Volunteers of Bethany program continues to impact the lives of New Jersey residents through the adult tutor training program. Through the years, LVB’s five certified tutor-trainers – Darlene Anthony, Marinne Walker, Andy Babij and BCI Board Members Patricia Fullilove and Janice Rowe-Little - have trained 27 tutors. In 2015, 10 tutors were trained. Additionally, LVB received the New Jersey Black Issues Convention (NJBIC)

Community Change Award in Economic Security and Opportunity. In presenting the award, NJBIC Conference Director Clyde C. Allen stated that LVB was being recognized for “the outstanding contributions that [LVB] has made with the literacy tutoring program and the impact on employment in the community.” This is no surprise to LVB tutor Gloria Currey-Williams, who worked with literacy student Maria Alejandra and saw firsthand the impact the tutoring program had on Maria.

Maria was new to the United States when Ms. Currey-Williams began tutoring her. Maria was taking ESL courses at a local college, but she had difficulty reading and writing in complete sentences. In a letter to Ms. Currey-Williams, Maria noted that prior to their tutoring sessions she was having a difficult time with English. Unsure of how to change her circumstances, she prayed for a change. It was then that she found Literacy Volunteers of Bethany and began one-on-one tutoring with Ms. Currey-Williams.

Ms. Alejandra credits LVB’s services with providing her with the skills and spiritual encouragement she needed to secure a better job. Since joining the literacy program, Maria’s prospects in the dental care profession have drastically improved. When asked what her next step is, Maria responded by paraphrasing Philippians 4:13 and said she would “become a dentist in America, for I can do all things through Christ [who] strengthens me.”

B.C.I.

The goal of BCI’s longstanding tutoring program, Literacy Volunteers of Bethany (LVB), is to help

adults attain and/or improve basic reading skills. It is the only adult literacy program in Essex County that has its own team of certified literacy training instructors. There are currently 5 persons who have been certified through Literacy New Jersey to train tutors. Those tutors then provide free one-on-one reading skills instruction to adults in need.

2015 Annual Report

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Grants 48%

Fundraising 42%

Program Income 10%

Revenue

Freedom School 79%

General Fund 18%

Literacy Program 3%

Expenses

Revenue and Expenses

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Revenue and Expenses

Revenue

Foundation Grants Victoria Foundation 47,500 PSE&G 5,000 Dircks Foundation 5,000 Total Grants 57,500

Fundraising BCI Day 790 Individual Donations 6,983 Golf Classic 42,739 Total Fundraising 50,512

Program Income Before & After Care 1,356 Application Fees 1,350 Program Fees 9,151 Total Program Income 11,857

TOTAL REVENUE 119,869

Expenses

Personnel Costs Program Director 27,957 Site Coordinator 7,000 Servant Leaders 18,527 Interns 7,562

Benefits / Taxes 8,813 Total Personnel 69,859

Consultant and Other Costs

Fiscal Officer Fees 12,548 Rent 11,500

Utilities & Supplies 9,961 Insurance 9,460 Student Trips 5,725 Staff Development 284 Total Consultant & Other 49,478

TOTAL EXPENSES 119,337 2015 NET INCOME /(LOSS) 532

Suzette Jones, MAFM Fiscal Officer Marjorie Hunter Program Manager

èAttend the 14th Annual Bethany Cares Inc. Golf Classic

on July 11, 2016

How you can support Bethany Cares Inc.

Bethany Cares Staff

èMake a donation by visiting us online at

www.bci-newark.org