And finally tonight, a conversation with one New Jersey resident who's striving to improve the lives of her neighbors in Jersey City.

Christine Bell launched her nonprofit organization, 100 Kids Inc in 2019, with the goal of giving kids access to programs she never had as a young person.

While caring for her mom.

Growing up in the south ward of the city.

Bell says the organization is combatting a historical lack of access to mental and behavioral health services in the area.

And the seed to become a change maker was planted in her at a very young age.

Christine Bell, it's such a pleasure to get a chance to talk with you.

The mission of 100 Kids Inc is to create a safe haven for every child.

How do you do that?

Whooo.

Our first goal is to create an environment where they feel welcome, they feel open, they feel that they can come into and be their natural selves.

So when we open our doors, when we're offered the opportunity to open our doors, I spend 2 hours before the children even come into the environment, setting it up or before the adults come into the environment for a workshop, setting it up.

Because our goal is when you feel at home and you feel like you're wanted and someone's catering to you, you're more likely to come in and disarm yourself for a little while.

You hone in on this particular part of Jersey City, where you were born and raised Why?

Look at mental health?

I mean, there's a lot of things that the youth needs, but if you're going to focus on kids, why are you zeroed in on the mental health aspect?

Personally, it was based on my upbringing.

I have a mother who gave me permission to say that she suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar I remember being a child and watching her go through her episode.

She had me at 27 years old.

That is the height of her schizophrenia.

And I'm watching her go through these episodes.

I am going with her at the hospitals.

I don't know what's going on.

I don't understand a family doesn't understand only thing culturally to say is your mom is different.

However, the disturbance that her diagnosis created in the home, which was not intentional, had a ripple effect within my life.

And the only thing I can think about with 100 kids excuse me if I get emotional, is having a safe space there having a place to go where someone can't answer questions.

There wasn't no case management from my mom.

There was no DCPP was there, or DCF was there but there wasn't a way to help my mother become the mother she is today.

And you didn't have that safe haven?

I didn't have that safe haven.

I was blessed to grow up with an aunt who did her best to create it for me.

But me and my mom was initially homeless.

We were homeless.

A majority of my life.

It wasn't until my young adulthood that I had a home to call my own.

And during that time, my mother was still dealing with her battle within her mental health.

How do you go, Christine, from being a kid who's witnessing all of this, who's going through a lot of trauma and instability, like you said, to now creating a nonprofit where giving kids stability seems to be your main purpose?

It was not easy.

It is not easy.

Coming into any community and having conversations on mental health is people want it.

But they also fear it in a way they don't understand it.

It is something that cannot be cured overnight.

It requires maintenance.

When I look at my community, both in Jersey City, South Ward, throughout Hudson County, throughout the state.

When I look at my community, I say to myself, What can we bring here that can help people understand and digest their mental health?

And one of the things that I seek to do with the support of my board is destigmatize mental health and help individuals understand that it is not just your diagnosis or your illness.

It's your day to day.

It's taking care of yourself.

If your gut health.

It's your spiritual health.

It's bonding with your child.

It's play.

It's at work, and it's also the systems that make up the environments that we live in to understand these things as to encompass all that is your mental health.

So you're educating and you're empowering.

It's just you, though, I mean, you're a licensed social worker, but you're doing all of this work.

How many kids are you serving and where would you like to see the nonprofit go at this time?

Organization partnering with?

It Takes a village, Alliance health care.

We open strictly to the community at large.

So our end, you come in, you have a child or you come in and you just want to know something.

You're free to come in and you sit down.

When we can afford it, we will serve lunch.

Sometimes even a light breakfast.

So far we just did an event where we service 377 it was Bookbag, it was lunch, and it was also checkups.

But we also partnered with other I can't think of they were getting food.

They were getting full medical care, getting routine screenings, hunger free, hunger free.

UIC, which has been our partner been my partner for ten plus years.

They provided pantry.

We address food insecurities.

That day we addressed health that day we gave them little slight information on 100 kids inc and how to address their mental health.

We took one day in a small space is about the size of this room.

We incorporated all of these factors, and families came in for a book bag, but they also receive food.

They also receive a blood pressure check vaccinations.

We were trying to bring to them something desperately needed in every community a focus on health.

Christine Bell is the founder of 100 Kids Inc.

If you can reach one you can reach 100.

Christine, thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Thank you.