Center For Family Services
Title: Community, Connection, and Care at Center For Family Services
Student Interns:
Allyson Fu
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
Amritha Pillai
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
Academic Preceptor:
Mara Gordon, MD
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
Anthony Rostain, MD, MA
Cooper Medical School of Rowan University
Community Preceptor:
Veronica Ramos-Cruz, MS, MSW
Center For Family Services
Community Site:
Center For Family Services (CFS) is a community hub located at The Wiggins Center in Camden, New Jersey. CFS provides a continuum of care, empowering individuals, families, and communities by connecting them with resources in education, employment, safety, behavioral health, and overall well-being. Programs offered through CFS include Re-Engagement, the Community Crisis Response Team, Workforce Development, Multisystemic Therapy, and many others.
Team’s Experience:
The Bridging the Gaps interns engaged with multiple CFS programs, gaining firsthand insight into community-based social work and distinct support services available to the city of Camden. In the Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) program, they attended supervision and consultation sessions with MST counselors, as well as sentencing hearings in family court, to understand systemic factors affecting youth at risk of out-of-home placement and/or justice involvement. The interns also worked with the Re-Engagement Center to learn how staff provides multidisciplinary, intensive case management to out-of-school adolescents to help them earn their high school diploma or pursue alternative education. They developed an outreach campaign to increase program enrollment through themed posters, video shorts, templates for future media, and material incentives to encourage youth to engage with the office. Finally, they partnered with the Financial Opportunity Center by supporting weekly financial literacy workshops for community members, and they created an accessible job directory based on the Eligible Training Provider List to better connect job-seeking individuals with pathways to sustainable employment.
Reflections
Center For Family Services graciously welcomed my co-intern and me this summer and introduced us to an incredible staff and client population that I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with. One of the most meaningful parts of my experience with CFS was integrating into the daily rhythm of the organization and learning about Camden from the dedicated people who support it. The lunchroom was a blast. Whether we talked about the history of certain programs and how each staff found their role, or we were laughing over our past weekend plans, there was always a conversation going on that made me feel like part of the team. Aside from our larger projects, we supported a variety of behind-the-scenes tasks—organizing closets, shredding outdated records, researching targeted resources for clients—that gave me greater appreciation for the essential infrastructure that allows CFS to effectively serve its population. I especially enjoyed directly connecting with Camden residents during open gym, credit-building workshops, outreach events (including one carnival!), and conversations when just passing by. These encounters informed my experiential knowledge of community as it pertains to social determinants of health that will shape my future practice as I strive to provide compassionate, equitable care.
Allyson Fu
Spending the summer with Bridging the Gaps at the Center for Family Services has changed the way I approach community health. Working alongside staff members who are deeply passionate about their programs and committed to connecting the community with necessary resources and support has inspired me in many ways. This experience has reminded me that every person has a personal story behind the challenges they may be facing and that, sometimes, one of the most meaningful things we can do is simply listen.
Throughout the summer, we had the opportunity to shadow and contribute to several programs, allowing us to truly feel like we were part of the team. Programs like Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST) and Re-Engagement exposed us to spaces we would have never encountered otherwise. Through MST, we attended family court and witnessed the stress that the adjudication process can place on an entire family unit. Through the Re-Engagement program, we visited an alternative high school and learned about the nontraditional pathways students can take toward earning their high school diplomas.
Although these were only two of the many experiences we had, my greatest takeaway has been the importance of listening with the intention to understand. By actively engaging with members of the Camden community, I gained a deeper understanding of both the personal challenges individuals face and the systemic barriers that can make those challenges more difficult to overcome. This experience has better equipped me to meet people where they are, and it is a lesson I hope to carry with me throughout my career as a physician.
Amritha Pillai
