Fostering self-reliant families and healthy, sustainable communities

March 2018

In this issue: 

 

Throughout my 12 years at Isles, I've come to appreciate the diversity of the many communities in Trenton. I've worked with families of all backgrounds and see they share a common goal: to keep their families and homes safe and healthy.
 
Over the past several years, we've seen the Spanish-speaking population grow steadily here. It's critical that we make our lead and healthy homes services available to these residents - lead dust and asthma triggers don't care what language your child speaks or whether you have a social security card. These health issues devastate families from all cultures and backgrounds in equal measure.
Our job is to adapt ourselves and our services to rise to the challenges we see - and you'll read about how we did so in the highlights below.
 
There are few agencies in the country that provide the range of lead and healthy homes services that Isles does - from home assessment and resident education to free lead hazard control work. While we are very proud of what we are accomplishing, we know there is much more to do as we strive to make every home in Trenton lead safe and healthy for every family. 
 
We hope you will partner with us to Get the Lead Out of homes in Trenton. You can do so by clicking the donate button below or learning more at  isles.org/GLO .
In community,
Peter Rose 
When Esther Fuñez joined Isles as a Community Health Worker, she noticed that a lot of people were signing up for Isles' lead tests but not many were Spanish speakers. So she took  to Facebook, with targeting postings that gained overwhelming responses from the Hispanic community. She translated one of our Healthy Homes presentations into Spanish for 25 families, and 20 people signed up for assessments on the spot. 

"Maybe they didn't go to school in their old country or don't read well. That's why I explain things to them in person and help them fill out their applications," she shared. With strong connections to the community and healthy homes expertise, Community Health Workers like Esther open doors and make our work possible.
We were so happy to receive these words from our grateful customer Sharon:

I would like to express my gratitude for the professional performance that the contractors from Isles has completed.

I'm so grateful that someone informed me of the lead program that Isles was offering to help low-income home owners. I worked many years to try and keep my home up. Due to my disabilities, everything is a struggle. 

Thanks to Isles, my roof is repaired, and my lead issues are taken care of. At least I can relieve myself of these problems.

Thank you again,
Sharon


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