Two years ago, Cherry Hill East alum Karly Forman Cohen founded Raise the Bar, a nonprofit that offers three kinds of community programs to support Camden families and youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
For the Mount Laurel native, creating that kind of organization has been a lifelong dream: Forman Cohen’s younger sister Sydney has significant developmental delays and is also nonverbal.
“I got to see how my parents advocated for her every step of the way,” Forman Cohen recalled, “and how challenging it could be for them. Everything was a fight.”
One of the lasting impacts of the family’s advocacy is that Forman Cohen’s mom in 2012 started the PALS program at the Katz Jewish Community Center, which stands for Peers Using AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) for Language and Socialization. It brings people from 15 to 25 who have multiple special needs together for hands-on activities and socializing.
In high school, Forman Cohen became more involved with organizations that allowed her to volunteer in Camden and meet more families. She began hearing about the different challenges they were facing and realized there were people with disabilities everywhere who are often without many resources or direction.
“That’s what fueled my interest in starting Raise the Bar,” she said, “something that specifically focused on underserved communities and people with disabilities.”
The nonprofit offers three programs: family support, youth and resource navigation.
For the youth program, there is a kid’s club for children from 3 to 11 that meets one Saturday a month, and a social squad for kids 12 and up that meets every other Wednesday evening.
“Basically the goals for those programs are social skills, recreation,” Forman Cohen explained. “We bring in different program partners for the kids, and then a big part of it – especially for the kid’s club – is respite for the parents, to give them a break.”
The family support piece includes a monthly program where parents can experience self-care nights and attend parenting workshops. The two formats rotate and workshops have included issues like financial planning for children with disabilities.
The resource navigation program helps parents and families navigate whatever resources they need, such as getting children turning 18 or 21 ready for the adult system of care. That can include applying for guardianship, helping with IEP (Individualized Education Plan) support in schools and attending meetings if parents need support advocating for their kids.
Each year, Forman Cohen and her staff hold feedback meetings with families they serve to ensure that the program continues to be centered around the needs of the communities. Some of the feedback received this year indicated that people feel Raise the Bar is a safe space for their children, with helpful workshops.
“We feel like there’s a lot of need in Camden for a program like this,” Forman Cohen noted, “and so we’re hoping that we can continue to do what we’ve been doing in a very hands-on, high-touch way and continue to grow slowly but surely, until we’re able to meet the need in the community.”
Raise the Bar will host its second annual fundraiser on Thursday, Sept. 19, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Collingswood Ballroom, 315 White Horse Pike. The event will feature cocktails and a silent auction. Last year’s version raised more than $200,000 and enabled the nonprofit to host 44 events over the past year for 42 enrolled families.
Raise the Bar is accepting volunteers and provides training. More information can be found at https://raisethebarnj.org/rtb-event. To stay up to date with the organization, visit https://www.facebook.com/RaiseTheBarNJ.
