EDGE NJ will expand services to LGBTQ communities with $25,000 grant from State Farm
DENVILLE - Having outgrown its original space and mission, a Morris County nonprofit is expanding its health and support services for AIDS patients and the LGBTQ communities from its new facility, a former automobile dealership on Route 53.
Some of those services will roll out with help from a $25,000 State Farm Neighborhood Assist grant awarded this week to the partnership of EDGE NJ and CAN Community Health, which took occupancy of the two-story, 20,000-square-foot building in May.
"This grant will be life-changing for our LGBT services and behavioral-health counseling because right now, we have three clinicians whose caseloads are completely full and we have at least 60 people asking for services we've been unable to get to," said EDGE NJ chief operating officer Joann McEniry.
Formerly known as New Jersey AIDS Services, the organization is best known for operating the Eric Johnson House, a transitional housing service that operated for 25 years from the former rectory at the Church of the Redeemer in Morristown.
When it opened in 1994, AIDS was the leading cause of death in the United States among people ages 25 to 44. "Most of the early residents passed," said McEniry, who worked at Eric Johnson House for more than 20 years before it was closed in 2019.
By then, "the residents were moving out," McEniry said. "It was a difficult decision, but when we opened that house, the face of HIV/AIDS was different. People were dying. We opened a home where people could end their life with dignity. But then they started leaving and we didn't really need a transitional housing facility anymore as we made advances in medicine. We realized we needed to focus on creating a future and supporting people as they live with HIV, not die."
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They took the money used to operate the Eric Johnson House and poured it into their permanent housing program, expanding it "so we now have just under 100 housing vouchers where we house individuals in the community with private landlords," McEniry said. "So we're helping private landlords and people with low incomes."
That same year, they partnered with the national CAN Community Health organization to lease the new facility, with a fully-equipped medical clinic on the second floor and meeting rooms, a computer room, a gallery and administrative offices.
"With our expansion, we were working with both the HIV and LGBTQ communities," McEniry said. "We built this building with the vision of bringing the two communities together. Both have unique medical needs that often intersect."
Federal and county funding also helps to support programs including GED and literacy studies, computer workshops, resume writing and behavioral-health counseling that serves about 100 patients on a weekly basis.
“We’re delighted to learn that a State Farm Neighborhood Assist grant has gone to EDGE NJ, which is part of the network of nonprofits helping people in our community," said Morris County Commissioner Kathryn DeFillippo, the board’s liaison to human services organizations. For nearly 30 years, this organization has been providing supportive services to the HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ community,”
State Farm selected the EDGE NJ from a pool of 400 finalists out of more than 4,000 applications in 2022. Public online voting chose the 100 recipients.
"The EDGE Pride Center provides a safe space in the community for LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as their allies, to gather and receive services, such as resources for health care and housing assistance, and educational seminars," State Farm wrote in its award announcement.
McEniry said the organization's new name reflects its evolved mission.
"EDGE stands for end discrimination, gain equality," she explained. "HIV stigma has always been a problem, and it still is today."
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: EDGE NJ expands services to LGBTQ communities with State Farm grant
