- All right, folks.

We have Julienne Cherry, President and CEO of a great organization called United Way.

You know the United Way, but this is the United Way of Greater Union County, New Jersey.

Julienne, great to see you.

- Nice to see you again, Steve.

- And I appreciate the subtle branding behind you that everyone can see, United Way Drive.

While we put up the website, tell everyone what the United Way is and the people you serve every day.

- Sure.

So the United Way, we are a nonprofit located in Elizabeth.

We serve the Greater Union County that are all the cities within Union County and South Plainfield and North Plainfield.

It is our mission to strengthen the families by providing them access to resources.

So we're just not just a funder of 25 plus community partners, but we also provide access to direct services like our New Jersey Youth Corps program and our Family Success Center.

- Julienne, let's talk about...

When I said who you serve, it just struck me 'cause one of our producers just said to me, you know, "Steve, we often underestimate or don't appreciate the importance of not having diapers."

Someone says, "Why are you bringing up diapers?"

Because to a family with young children, with babies, this is a huge issue.

And to assume everyone has access to diapers, particularly given the economy and inflation, it's just not accurate, please.

- Yeah, so, Steve, through our Family Success Center, you know, the services and the people that we provide access to look very, very different.

So it may look like to that baby or that youth providing access to diapers and maxi pads, to that father, providing access to rental assistance.

So what we know is that one in three babies don't have access to a clean diaper, and we know that they don't have those baby essentials.

So through one of our strong partners, Moms Helping Moms, we're able to provide those access, those resources to our communities.

- Julienne, let ask you this.

The food insecurity issue, again, the term gets thrown out there, both someone, a family's food insecure.

Make that real as to what that really... what it means to a family, A, and B, how the United Way helps folks who are dealing with not having enough healthy food, affordable food in their home, please.

- Sure, so what we know is that the poverty rate in 2011 was 4%.

In 2023, the poverty rate right now in Union County is 11%.

So that means one in 11 people, one in 11 neighbors in need don't have access to nutritious foods just for them to make... for them to meet the ends of their families.

So what we do at the United Way is that we do weekly food distributions to provide them access to food.

We also provide gift cards to the local grocery store just so that our neighbors in need have access to those resources.

- You call it a healthy family.

I'm curious about this.

The term, healthy family, is thrown out a lot.

How do you define a healthy family and how is the United Way, quote unquote, reimagine what a healthy family means, please, Julienne?

- Sure, so when a family structure comes to our center, we sit down in front of them and we assess all of their community needs.

And when I look at health, health is not just access to physical health, but it's also the, do you have access to food?

Are you able to pay your rent?

Is your child enrolled in health insurance or do you have access to education?

Because when a parent or a struggling mother has to decide whether providing access to food or paying their rent or going to...

It's a decision that no one should ever have to make.

So we look and we strive to make sure that our family structure is healthy.

- So housing costs are ridiculous.

- Going up.

- Right?

They're just ridiculous.

So when it comes to renting, I mean buying a home, owning a home, that's one thing.

And that's a wonderful thing when people, when families are able to do that, but let's talk rental, rental assistance and then assistance on the utility side to paying your utilities, please.

- So, just to give you some numbers, last year, we served almost 500 families.

This year, we were settled to serve roughly about 500.

We've seen 780 families for rental assistance.

What we know is that the rent is going up.

There is no tap...

There's no rate for them to just, you know, tap out.

But what we do at the United Way of Greater Union County, we provide access to those resources.

So it may be the utility assistance, it may be any type of assistance for our families to be successful.

- It's interesting the term, sustainability, is thrown around in a lot of different settings where you're talking about climate change or the sustainability.

But sustainability as it relates to the work of the United Way.

What does sustainability mean and is that about food insecurity again, or is it something different?

- Everything.

So we no longer are going to look at and providing band-aid solutions for our families.

We're going to follow our families from beginning to end.

So if a parent comes in front of us and says she's struggling to pay her rent, but we also know that she may not have access to employment, but we also know that educational and resources, you know, such as, you know, parenting classes we could provide her, we will provide her access to resume building through our Success Center.

So it's providing her everything for her to be sustainable, that we want that parent, we want that family unit to come back to us so that family can thrive.

- Julienne, I ask every not-for-profit leader about the money end of things because there are a whole range of studies out there, a lot of research that shows, plus anecdotally we know it's true, that nonprofits are struggling for so many reasons, which impacts the people they serve every day.

Question, state government resources funding key to the United Way, A, and B, where else does your money come from?

- Absolutely.

We apply to foundations, county and state.

We cannot do it without our community allies.

You know, when someone asks me, "What can I do to support your organization?"

I usually tell them three things.

It's your time, your talent, and your treasure.

You can easily come and volunteer with us.

You know, we do weekly food distributions.

Provide your talent.

If you're part of a corporation and you could provide some type of training through our Family Success Center, absolutely, we'll take that.

Maybe resume building or interviewing skills for our New Jersey Youth Corps program.

And then your treasure, every dollar that you donate.

comes to us for programming.

You know, in Union County, we have a lot of nonprofits that struggle to meet payroll.

We have a lot of nonprofits that struggle to just keep employees.

So when a person donates to an organization like United Way, we're able to help more people.

- Julienne, last question on my end.

You didn't start out in the not-for-profit world?

- I did.

I've worked 26 years in non-profit.

- Oh, 26 years in not-for-profit.

- 26 years.

26 years.

10 of those years, I've worked at the Community FoodBank of New Jersey as a director of the agency overseeing all the community partners.

And then from there, I've led organizations like Summit Health Cares, CASA of Union County, just providing access to health and wellness and advocacy.

So this is nothing that's new to me.

I know where the pockets of poverty are.

I know the solution.

We just need community allies to jump on board with us.

- Important stuff.

Julienne Cherry, President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Way of Greater Union County.

Julienne, we appreciate you joining us.

Thanks so much.

- Thank you so much, Steve, for having me.

- You got it, stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

The North Ward Center.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

The New Jersey Education Association.

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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

PNC Foundation.

And by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

The North Ward Center continues to expand their services and outreach in Newark, from the childhood years to the golden years, Offering programs like preschool, youth leadership development, Casa Israel Adult Medical Day program our Family Success center, as well as a gymnasium.

And most recently Hope House, a permanent home for adults with autism, supporting and nurturing our autism community with Hope House 2 coming soon.

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