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P.O. Box 6121, West Orange, NJ 07052 Telephone: (973) 508-9023

About Us

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE EMPOWERMENT ZONE

The Empowerment Zone is an innovative program that was founded by CEO Deiredra Oliver to assist primarily foster children from the ages of 16-21 transition to independence and break the cycle of poverty. The Empowerment Zone’s program consists of exciting workshops, classes and a supportive team to help you on your journey to success.

Our Objectives
»To provide foster care youth with the skill set needed to manage a household.
»To create an action plan for the youth that includes vocational, financial, educational and social goals
»To provide mental heath screenings and services to assure that the youth are healthy and can effectively participate in their action plan.
The Empowerment Zone's outreach department also provides these services onsite at group homes and other residential facilities throughout Essex and surrounding counties.

Some Background Information
There are approximately 11,000 children in Foster Care in New Jersey. 25% of this number age out annually and are totally unprepared for independence. The Empowerment Zone was established to provide assistance to this population.

About Our Founder

Deiredra Oliver, Founder/CEO emerged from the foster care system in 1989 with a $250 furniture voucher and no familial support or a permanent place to live. Twenty one years later teens who exit foster care face the same challenges. The Empowerment Zone was birthed to assist this very fragile population.

Prior to forming the Empowerment Zone Deiredra worked with various advocacy groups that assisted the foster care youth. Additionally, Deiredra has held workshops where she shares her personal experiences to help inspire teens who are aging out of care.

The Empowerment Zone is in its infancy stage and needs your support to be able to provide workshops, training, counseling and housing.

Celebrities who inspire waiting children and adoptees

Eddie Murphy and his older brother lived in foster care for one year when their single mom became ill. In interviews, the actor and comedian says that his time in foster care was influential in developing his sense of humor. By using his comedic talents, Murphy was one of Hollywood’s highest paid male actors in 2008 according to Forbes magazine.

Dan O’Brien, an Olympic athlete, spent his early years in foster care. He was born to an African American father and a Caucasian mother in 1966 and because of his biracial heritage, it was difficult to find a family willing to adopt him. Despite this, he was adopted as the youngest of nine children and lived in a multicultural family. In 1993 he founded the Dan O’Brien Youth Foundation which focuses on education and community responsibility.

Monroe was born in 1926 to a single mom. Due to the social implications of a single woman raising a child, Monroe spent the first years of her life with a foster family. When she was fifteen years old, she was given the choice to live at the orphanage or become married and she chose to marry. She is known by many as being perhaps the most famous Hollywood actress to date.

Born in 1960, Victoria Rowell was sent to live in a foster home when she was sixteen days old. Born to an African father and white mother, Rowell and her two sisters lived in various foster homes for eighteen years due to their mother’s mental health. Encouraged in her love of dance by one of her foster mothers, Rowell became a talented ballet dancer and later an actress in soap operas and prime time dramas. With her life experience and success, she formed Rowell Foster Children Positive Plan which “is dedicated to helping foster youth thrive through fine arts, sports and job opportunities.”