PRESS RELEASE
Contact Person: Leslie Koppel, Executive Director, LKoppel@rise-community-services.org
Telephone: 609-443-4464
Date: March 3, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Rise, a Community Service Partnership receives $25,000 Grant from the
Princeton Area Community Foundation’s Fund for Women and Girls
Hightstown, NJ ---- Rise, a Community Service Partnership is excited to offer programs to girls living in Hightstown
and East Windsor region with a $25,000 grant from the Princeton Area Community Foundation’s Fund for Women
and Girls.
Rise, founded in 1967, strives to be the hub of social support services in the Hightstown/East Windsor area,
building a productive, cohesive environment where families thrive and feel valued, safe, and optimistic about their
future. Rise is located about 10 miles from Trenton, our state capital, which is rich in resources. However, because
of a lack of affordable public transportation, many members of our community are isolated from these services.
Through community partnerships and direct services, Rise assists local families in recovering from crises and
achieving their full potential.
Rise addresses the multi-pronged focus of the Fund for Women and Girls in the areas of sexual education, domestic
violence, childcare, and leadership. The grant of $25,000 will be used to better the lives of adolescent girls in the
Hightstown and East Windsor area through afterschool and summer programming, including courses taught by a
licensed clinical social worker. In addition, the funding will provide the only local opportunity for bilingual domestic
violence counselors and violence reducing parenting workshops. Finally, a portion of the grant will furnish local
space for domestic violence counselors from Womanspace to see clients one-on-one in a private setting.
The Research Report Shaping the Future: Women and Girls in Central New Jersey published in June 2012 touched
upon many of the needs in Mercer County for women and girls, particularly for those in the Hightstown/East
Windsor area. The study illuminates the scarcity of afterschool and summer programs, specifically mentioning that
there are few options located in Hightstown and East Windsor. The research also names East Windsor as having a
higher percentage of reported and substantiated child abuse and neglect cases as reported by the New Jersey
Department of Children and Families.
The grant is made possible by the collective generosity of hundreds of donors to the Fund for Women and Girls
who care about the well-being of girls and the women who raise them in this region.
Leslie Koppel, Executive Director of Rise