Nonprofit Profile: Cornerstone Family Programs, building better lives

Origin

Founded in 1813 by women of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown to help women and children left behind during the War of 1812 as the Morristown Female Charitable Society. Later known as Family Service of Morris County, and finally Cornerstone Family Programs starting in 2013, the organization has a rich history of serving Morristown and the Morris County community.

Morristown Neighborhood House was founded in 1898 as a settlement house to help youth of immigrant populations embrace the changing cultural climate in Morristown. It has remained a pillar of diversity and cross-cultural positivity in the Morristown area.

In 2013, Cornerstone Family Programs and Morristown Neighborhood House joined forces with this shared mission of serving the community. Together, the two organizations have impacted the lives of 10,000 residents each year.

Mission

Strengthening communities by helping people build better lives.

We concentrate on prevention, early intervention and support to make an impact in our community. Cornerstone Family Programs promotes educational success for children, economic opportunity for adults and teens, and social support for veterans, seniors and caregivers.

Goals

We are aiming to keep improving the afterschool and preschool programs to give our students educational opportunities equal to others. We will focus on STEM throughout — even for our preschoolers and in our summer camp. We will work to expand both educational and workforce opportunities for our teens. Our veterans — especially our female veterans — programs are growing and expanding. We are looking for creative ways to expand programming to meet the ever-growing needs in our community for senior services — especially adult day care.

Programs

  • Children: Our programs provide curriculums that focus on early childhood education, improved school performance and social and emotional well-being.
  • Teens: Our Pathways to Brighter Futures is a three-tiered program geared toward preparing teens for education after school, the workforce, and beyond.
  • Adults and families: These groups are aided through programs that help create economic opportunities.
  • Military: We salute our military families with programs that provide a safe space with mentoring, educational, counseling and peer support that promote meaningful emotional healing.
  • Seniors: Cornerstone Family Program’s Adult Day Center at Morris View helps preserve seniors’ independence and allows them to continue to live in their homes and with their caregivers. Our Caregiver Initiative and Caregiver Outreach in the Workplace programs helps caregivers balance and maintain healthy lives.

Support

We strive to let our supporters know that dedication to philanthropy and service can begin at any age, and does not exclude people based on socioeconomic status. Many of our donors and volunteers grew up in our community, and give back to an organization familiar and impactful to them. We also are proud to be recognized by major community philanthropists, and have relationships with them that go back decades, even centuries.

Our corporate sponsors represent a wide range of industries, and we are proud to have a Corporate Leadership Council, an advisory board, in addition to our Board of Directors that is directly involved with planning and participating actively at Cornerstone Family Programs. Members of this council, which meets quarterly, engage their colleagues and extended networks about our mission and goals, and we, in turn, receive overwhelming support for which we are grateful each day.

Fundraising

We have a three-pronged strategy to raising money: general giving, events and grants. Many of our programs have piqued the interest of many companies and foundations willing to fund us with grants that keep these programs thriving. Our events are familiar to our existing donors, and welcoming opportunities for new members of our community to learn about Cornerstone Family Programs. General giving is an inclusive means of keeping Cornerstone a part of the community. Every contribution counts, and we are thankful for all our supporters who have donated to our organization for over 200 years.

Where: Morristown
Serving: Morris County community
Key leaders:
Patrice Picard, CEO
Hector Mislavsky, chairman
Gwenn DellaPelle, director of development

Conversation Starter
For more information, please contact Gwenn DellaPelle at gdellapelle@cfp-mnh.org or 973.538.5260 x316.