Newsletters

Issue 2• Fall 2000
• NJ KidCare To Become NJ FamilyCare
• FamilyCare Director Message
• Kids Corner
• SpotLight on Community Partners
• Thanks to All
• Corporate Partners
• NJ KidCare Takes a Stand
• School Outreach

Issue 1 • March 2000
• Spotlight on Community
• Enrollment Growth
• Directors Message
• NJ Nets Partnership
• Legislative Support
• Kid's perspective
• Corporate Partners
• New Plan for Parents
• Happy Birthday NJ FamilyCare

Issue 1 • March 2000

At Beltra Gomez's agency in Clifton, local resident Martin Yap inquires about NJ FamilyCare for his niece Alexandra Ximena Salas from Ms. Gomez. The agency offers assistance for a variety of services, making it an ideal NJ FamilyCare outreach partner.

Spotlight on Community Partners

The feelings of trust and comfort generated by New Jersey's community-based organizations make them NJ FamilyCare's most valuable link to the thousands of people whose children need health insurance.

NJ FamilyCare continues to strengthen these links and every day forms new partnerships to ensure that all New Jersey children have a healthy and happy childhood. Since the summer of 1999 alone, NJ FamilyCare has provided grants to over 30 community organizations that go the extra mile to spread the word and increase enrollment every day.

Many of these organizations are ideal partners because they provide assistance for a variety of needs. One example is Beltra Gomez in Clifton, who runs a neighborhood agency that, in addition to offering travel, immigration, income tax, home-buying, and translation services to a large Hispanic and Polish-speaking population, also acts as an enrollment center for NJ FamilyCare. Since 1998, Beltra has helped an average of 15 families per month successfully get affordable health coverage for their children.“People in the neighborhood feel comfortable coming here for help with the enrollment process because we can answer all their questions, overcome a potential language barrier as well as help them get so many other services they need,” explained Gomez.

The CMI Community Center in Elizabeth, also offers an array of social services, including immigration, employment skill workshops, daycare and after-school services to the Haitian community in Union County. Staff regularly distribute and produce NJ FamilyCare literature and speak about the program in both French and Creole, which contributes to their great success in the NJ FamilyCare enrollment effort.Other outreach efforts include the “Covering Kids” program with the Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Five community organizations throughout the state were incorporated into the program and are giving NJ FamilyCare detailed feedback on ways to make the enrollment process even easier. So far, outreach workers have completed extensive training, the application process has been re-assessed with suggestions for simplification, and even more children are now enrolled.

The results of our outreach/enrollment efforts are further testament to the fact that a safe, friendly, and familiar environment is often the best place to reach new families and bring them into the NJ FamilyCare family.

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