PPA is the leading environmental constituency-building and advocacy organization for the protection and enjoyment of the New Jersey Pinelands, an ecologically unique region of 1.1 million acres in Southern New Jersey. In addition to support from the State’s Division of Disability Services, we are privileged to be working with a growing circle of terrific partners, including:
Disability Rights New Jersey (DRNJ) protects, advocates for and advances the rights of persons with disabilities in pursuit of a society in which persons with disabilities exercise self-determination and choice and are treated with dignity and respect.
Hopeworks is a social enterprise that uses technology, healing, and entrepreneurship to transform lives. Its unique trauma-informed approach, combined with high-demand, high-wage technical training and paid work experience helps young people get jobs and keep them.
Kingsway Learning Center and Services provides an alternative educational environment designed specifically for the academic, therapeutic, social, and emotional development of students with multiple disabilities. Kingsway brings its clients to PPA’s Rancocas Creek Farm for volunteer workdays and will lead training sessions on serving people with disabilities as a partner in this project.
MOCEANS Center for Independent Living is a non-residential, consumer-controlled, community-based charitable organization that provides information, instruction and support for people living with disability, their families, friends and allies in the community. It is their mission to promote public awareness and barrier-free access in the community while supporting individual choice, advancing the independent living philosophy, promoting the civil rights and inclusion of all people living with disabilities.
Pemberton Township in Burlington County owns and has management responsibility for the Pemberton Lake preserve. PPA is working with Pemberton Township to maintain and improve the trail along the Lake Shore as a demonstration project in making existing sand trails more accessible. As part of the implementation of the Pinelands Is for Everyone initiative, Pemberton Township is dedicated to assisting with the new wheelchair-accessible trail construction, monitoring its use, and advertising its availability.
Rowan Integrated Special Needs (RISN) Center at Rowan University’s School of Osteopathic Medicine, provides family-centered, continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally-competent health care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and behavioral health issues. RISN will be an important participant in the Access Nature Forum and advisors on program and material development as a part of this project.