ACNJ Executive Director Cecilia Zalkind recently received an award from the Ironbound Community Corporation, recognizing her years of dedicated service to improving the lives of New Jersey children.

Ceil was honored during the organization’s 40^th Anniversary Celebration, held May 21, 2010 in Newark.

Ironbound staff praised Ceil and ACNJ for years of successfully advocating for the creation and expansion of high-quality preschool in New Jersey and for efforts to bolster supports for New Jersey’s low-income, working families.

ACNJ Executive Director Cecilia Zalkind receives an award from the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC) for work on behalf of New Jersey’s children. (From left): Grace Blanco, director of ICC’s Children’s Center, Ceil Zalkind, Susan Stradiotti, president of ICC’s Board of Trustees, and Joseph Della Fave, ICC executive director.

“Ceil has been a driving force behind our ability to provide high-quality preschool to more and more children,” said Grace Blanco, director of the Ironbound Community Corporation’s Children’s Center, which serves 150 children. “These important programs help prepare our children for success in school and in life.”

“Over the years, Ceil and ACNJ have been invaluable partners in the work we do here every day in the Ironbound,” said Joseph Della Fave, executive director of the Ironbound Community Corporation. “It is partners like Ceil that enable us to help so many families to become self-sufficient and so many children to reach their full potential.”

Zalkind said that agencies like the Ironbound Community Corporation make the advocacy work so fulfilling.

“It is through agencies like yours, those working on the frontline with families each and every day, that we see the real-world results of the work that we do,” Zalkind said. “You are changing lives, one child, one family at a time. I’m honored to be part of that work.”

ICC, a multi-service agency in the diverse Newark neighborhood called Ironbound, provides programs and services for nearly 1,000 people daily.  ICC's programs range from early childhood education to family services to meals-on-wheels, as well as initiatives involving affordable housing and parks development.