PFLAG Jersey Shore
Providing support, education, and advocacy....Keeping Families Together
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
LGBTQ communities have historically been marginalized and left out of the supports and services, local, state, and federal policies, and been denied equality in all aspects of their lives. Additionally, family units have been shown to break down without adequate support during the acceptance phase of the LGBTQ person's "coming out". Studies show that families who are accepting of there LGBTQ loved ones can have a direct impact on their future success and positive outcomes in their lives. The LGBTQ youth community also can feel isolated without positive connections to other LGBTQ youth living similar experiences.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Toms River Support Group
We provide a safe, supportive, and confidential environment in which to discuss LGBTQ+ related issues with other people who are struggling with or have gone through similar experiences in the past. Our Toms River Support Meeting is geared towards general support services to the LGBTQ+ community, their families, and allies. While our meetings are open to anyone, we encourage transgender individuals and their families to attend our Transgender Support Meeting, which focuses solely on issues related to gender identity. During the COVID-18 pandemic, the PFLAG Jersey Shore Adult Support Meetings have moved to a virtual space and are held online every week, alternating Mondays and Wednesdays. When in person, our meetings are held at the Ocean Partnership for Children's building located downtown in Toms River.
Transgender/Transfamilies Support Meeting
We provide a safe, supportive, and confidential environment in which to discuss gender-related issues with other people who are struggling with or have gone through similar experiences in the past. Our Transgender/Transfamilies Support Group focuses exclusively on topics related to gender identity and expression. We welcome parents and other family members, friends, allies, and transgender or gender-nonconforming people to attend. While our meetings are open to anyone, we encourage people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and their families and friends to attend our Toms River support meeting. During the COVID-18 pandemic, the PFLAG Jersey Shore Adult Support Meetings have moved to a virtual space and are held online every week, alternating Mondays and Wednesdays. When in person, our meetings are held at Monmouth Cares building located in Long Branch.
Speaker's Bureau
The PFLAG Jersey Shore Speaker's Bureau consists of various LGBTQ individuals and their families. The Speaker's Bureau members tell their personal stories in hopes of changing hearts and changing lives. The Speaker's Bureau has presented at hospitals, colleges/universities, schools, and places of business
PFLAG Jersey Shore's Collaborative Ocean County Youth & Teens Meetings
PFLAG Jersey Shore collaborated with Ocean Partnership for Children (OPC) and the Family Support Organization of Ocean County (FS0) to develop services for LGBTQ children and teens. Out of this collaboration, we now have the YAS, TOO (Your Authentic Self) serving children ages 8-12 and YAS, Teen (Your Authentic Self) serving teens 13-18. The meetings are held on the second Wednesday of every month when meeting in person. During the Covid-19 pandemic, YAS, TOO and YAS, Teen moved to an online space and increased meetings to every Wednesday. When in person, YAS, Too & YAS, Teen meetings are held at the Ocean Partnership for Children building in downtown Toms River
PFLAG Jersey Shore's collaborative Monmouth County Youth Meeting
PFLAG Jersey Shore collaborated with Monmouth Cares to develop services for LGBTQ teens. Out of this collaboration, we now have the YAS, Teen (Your Authentic Self) serving teens 13-18. The meetings are held on the third Monday of every month when meeting in person. During the Covid-19 pandemic, YAS, Teen moved to an online space and increased meetings to every Wednesday. When in person, YAS, Teen - Monmouth meets at the Monmouth Cares building in Long Branch.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
Ocean Partnership for Children 2018
Family Support Organization of Ocean County 2018
Monmouth Cares 2021
External reviews
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
PFLAG Jersey Shore is a local chapter of a national organization serving the LGBTQ community and their families. Our organization provides support, education, and advocacy in hopes of Keeping Families Together. We recognize the need for enhanced social support by building a network of LGBTQ individuals and their families where bonding through shared experiences provides a sense of community and decreases feelings of being alone. New individuals starting their journey are integrated into this network where they can learn by other's past experiences and receive peer-to-peer support. PFLAG Jersey Shore also ensures access to a variety of resources by hosting a robust website, tabling at a variety of community events, and marketing to schools, therapists, and the broader community to ensure people know there are services out there ready to provide for their needs.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We set out to achieve our mission through:
Support - Provide and build a community for LGBTQ youth by providing groups of social support; host adult support meetings to engage parents/families along with LGBTQ individuals to foster acceptance; operate a helpline where people can call and access individualized support and resources; and connect new individuals to members with similar experiences who can provide peer-to-peer support
Education - Contract with local organizations/business to provide speaking engagements and seminars to enhance the provision of equitable services, educate the workforce on best practices when engaging with their communities/customers/stakeholders, and hosts a speaker's bureau where LGBTQ individuals and families of LGBTQ individuals share their personal stories to provide context for expected outcomes
Advocacy - Engage local, state, and federal policy makers to secure supportive laws providing security and equitable access in all areas, and initiate calls-to-action when reaching out in support of/speak against laws that will impact the LGBTQ community.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
PFLAG Jersey Shore collaborates with community partners to enhance and evolve service delivery. Funding is provided through a variety of events, honorariums for speaking engagements, membership drives, and donations. We also have a dedicated board made up of individuals with technical skills and experiences that enhance our services and work to achieve our mission.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Previous goals and their outcomes are:
1) Find a way to support LGBTQ youth - PFLAG Jersey Shore formed a collaboration with Ocean Partnership for Children (OPC) in 2018 to begin offering a monthly social support group for LGBTQ teens ages 13-18 named YAS, Teen - Ocean (Your Authentic Self). Based on the success of this collaboration and those seeking these services, in 2020 we formed YAS, Too - Ocean, a monthly social support group for LGBTQ children ages 8-12. The Family Support Organization of Ocean County (FSO), housed in the same location as OPC, began offering childcare for adults who wanted to attend the adult support meeting but did not have someone to care for their young child(ren).
2) Move our meeting location(s) out of churches - Because some individuals in the LGBTQ community and their families have not had positive experiences with places of worship, they may choose to not attend our support groups because of where they are held. When we formed our collaboration with OPC & FSO, we were able to move our Ocean County meeting location to the OPC/FSO facility in downtown Toms River. Not only did this move us out of a church, it placed us in a more central location and close to public transportation.
3) Duplicate our youth programs in Monmouth County - At the beginning of 2020, PFLAG Jersey Shore President and Vice President approached Monmouth Cares, a Care Management Organization similar to OPC and began the steps to form a YAS, Teen - Monmouth. While the pandemic put a hold on the development of this new service, we successfully formed a new collaborative effort and rolled out YAS, Teen - Monmouth in February, 2021. Once we return to in-person meetings, our Monmouth adult support group will be moving out of it's original meeting location (a church) and begin meeting at the Monmouth Cares location, achieving our goals and removing all of our meetings from places of worship.
4) Develop an online support group - Long before the pandemic moved our society into an online environment, PFLAG Jersey Shore leaders recognized the need to develop an online support group to break down geographical barriers and improve access. When the country shut down in March, 2020, PFLAG Jersey Shore immediately transitioned to the provision of services online through Zoom without missing one meeting. We increased our services from monthly to weekly and are now able to serve individuals where they are, regardless of whether they are in Monmouth or Ocean Counties.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, It is difficult to identify actionable feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
PFLAG Jersey Shore
Board of directorsas of 02/22/2022
Mr William Placek
Mrs. Bobbie McArdle
Seth Rainess
Bobbi McArdle
Steven Von Steenburg
Laura Lento
Richard Stiso
Kimberley Hart
Melinda Mucha
Cameron Mazzeo
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
Equity strategies
Last updated: 09/09/2020GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.