Morris Plains Woman to Head Local United Way

Michelle Roers believes.

She believes that there are people who hurt, live in poverty, are abused; soldiers who need help returning from war, families who struggle to survive everyday, who need decent places to live; parents who are caring for injured children; sons and daughters caring for elderly  parents.

But she also believes that, through organization and planning, funds, volunteers and ideas can be marshaled to provide help for those who need it most.

“Michelle understands what it means to help people,” said Mary Jo Buchanan, director of human services for Morris County.

Roers, 38, of Morris Plains, was named this week as chief professional officer of the Morris office of the United Way of Northern New Jersey, located in Cedar Knolls. She is the top official in the Morris office, one of five chief professional officers in the five-county United Way that was formed in January.

United Way of Northern New Jersey  includes United Ways of Morris, North Essex, Somerset, Sussex, and Warren counties.

“I’ve had to dig right in,” Roers said. “This is a transitional period as we move to a regional entity.”

She is a volunteer member of the Morris County Freeholders Advisory Committee on Women and the Morris County Human Services Advisory Committee. Previously, she also volunteered with the Morris County Sexual Assault Center and served as a coach of the girls’ basketball and volleyball teams for the Roxbury Department of Recreation.

In those activities Roers said she “is involved with women’s issues. We get an understanding of the hard work we have to do.”

The roles of chief  professional officer across the organization are focused primarily on oversight of United Way’s Community Impact programs in the five local communities being served.  They will also oversee the individual local operating boards.

Roers will also continue to lead the organization’s community impact efforts in Morris County, evaluating local needs in education, income and health. 

She will continue to manage, facilitate, and monitor the distribution of more than $3 million annually to community health and human service agencies. 

Roers served as director of community impact for the former United Way of Morris County for four years, after coming to the agency from the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.

Roers replaced John Franklin, the former chief executive officer of the Morris United Way, who was appointed last  month as the chief executive officer of the regional United Way.

“(Roers) has a proven track record in building local coalitions and overseeing our critical work in the areas of education, income, and health,” Franklin said.  “(She) was the obvious choice given her experience and knowledge of Morris County’s needs and her ability to guide successful programs.”  

Under Roers’ leadership, United Way developed deep partnerships with social service agencies and volunteers to address issues facing specific populations in Morris County that were previously overlooked or under-served.

Specifically, she saw the need to expand services to local military and youth.  The results today are dedicated social service supports for local military families through the United Way Front Line Fund and the United Way Youth Empowerment Alliance, which works to address the social and emotional needs of Morris County youth.

“This is excellent for the organization and the county,” Buchanan said. “She is a great collaborator. United Way worked with the county  on the development of a 10-year plan to end homelessness,  and now she’ll be able to do this on a regionwide basis.”

That is the possibility that excites her, Roers said. Programs such as the Caregivers Coalition, the Youth Empowerment Alliance, the Housing Alliance and work based on the 2008 ALICE report, can be “expanded and replicated” in other counties, she said. Another important effort was the drive to education taxpayers about the Earned Income Tax Credit, she said.

The ALICE report examined the financial conditions of the Morris County population earning between $20,000 and $60,000 annually. ALICE stands for  “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed,” These are the working poor and they make up 25 percent of Morris County’s  population.

“We have great activities  going on here,” she said. “We can use Morris as a model for other United Ways.”

Working across county lines is not news for the Morris United Way, she said. Many of United Way’s partner agencies, such as NORWESCAP, based in Warren County, and NewBridge Services, Inc. based in Pequannock, already  work across county lines, Roers said.

The initial goal will be to introduce successful programs across the five United Ways,  while maintaining the local differences, she said. Morris’ Caregivers Coalition is being introduced into  other counties..

But there is also the possibility of taking the Morris programs national, she said. Carol DeGraw, Morris’ health manager of community impact, is in San Francisco outlining the caregiver’s program developed in Morris, Roers said. “We can export this across the country,” she  said.

“The challenge is how to leverage resources,” she said. “We have the capital to do the job and can work with volunteers and other providers. This is another way to step forward and raise the bar.”

For Roers, it starts with her social worker training, the core of her education and experience.

She is a licensed social worker who began her career as a forensic social worker in the Juvenile Rights Division of The Legal Aid Society in New York City.  She later tapped into her social work experience as a victim advocate in Morris County and as coordinator of the Legal Advocacy Program at Jersey Battered Women’s Service, Inc. 

“We didn’t take a single agency approach, she said. “We took a systemic approach. At the United Way, I can take this a step further.”