HomeFront and PSEG Work Together to Help End Homelessness in Central New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J., April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The PSEG Foundation has awarded a $200,000 grant to HomeFront to support its efforts to end homelessness for Central New Jersey families.  The two-year award will help support HomeFront's programs providing homeless families with a safe haven, a vision for a better future for parents and their children, and the tools and skills they need to achieve that self-sustaining life.

In recognition of the grant, HomeFront is renaming the summer-reading program for the kids residing in the Family Preservation Center, HomeFront's family shelter program. The reading program will now be referred to as the "PSEG Brighter Summer of Reading Program." This title and the gratitude behind it will be shown with a big, bright banner, designed and painted in the studio housing ArtSpace, HomeFront's innovative art therapy program.

"PSEG is committed to brightening the future of its communities with more than just electricity, so we are delighted but not surprised at their generosity," said HomeFront Founder and Executive Director Connie Mercer.

"HomeFront provides such an important service to the community and by supporting them, we are able to do something to help them reach out and help families in need," said Ellen Lambert, President of the PSEG Foundation.

PSEG volunteers visited HomeFront on Thursday, April 7 to tour the new HomeFront Family Campus, where the grant money will be put to work. The 42,000-square-foot campus is a temporary home for 38 homeless families. There, parents work toward high school equivalency diplomas, receive computer training and employment counseling, and take classes in parenting, cooking and nutrition, and other life skills.

In the Educational Excellence Center, kids are tutored and helped with their homework, and a library is open to parents and children. HomeFront has devised these on-campus activities and facilities to further its effort to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness one family at a time.

"Renaming our reading program is just a small gesture," said Mercer. "But it's emblematic of our emphasis on education and literacy, which are vital to our families' future success and independence. And that's what PSEG and HomeFront are working toward together."

PSEG Foundation
The PSEG Foundation (501c3) is the philanthropic arm of Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE: PEG). The Foundation invests in programs that align with our giving focus areas: Sustainable Neighborhoods, STEM Education, Safety and Preparedness and PSEG Employee Engagement/Volunteerism. The PSEG family of companies also provides funding to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve. Through our corporate giving, we support dinners and other events across our service and operating territories, as well as sponsorships for sports, arts and entertainment. PSEG (NYSE: PEG) is a diversified energy company based in Newark NJ. PSEG has three main subsidiaries: PSE&G, NJ's largest and oldest combined gas and electric delivery company, PSEG Power, a merchant power generation company and PSEG Long Island, operator of the Long Island Power Authority's transmission and distribution system.

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HomeFront
HomeFront provides emergency shelter with intensive case management and affordable housing for families; tutoring and enrichment programs for children; and life skills and self-advocacy training for adults. For more information about how you can help, visit www.homefrontnj.org or call 609-989-9417.

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SOURCE PSEG Foundation

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