Who We Are
Some of the students from Glenfield Middle School in Montclair, New Jersey who participated in the Kids Embracing Kids pilot project in 2017.
Our History
Kids Embracing Kids originated in 1999, as Kids Helping Kids, and was created by Dr. Janice Cohn, a Montclair, New Jersey psychotherapist, and Terry Trigg-Scales, who was principal of Montclair’s Northeast School. The goal was to aid the International Rescue Committee’s work with the children of Kosovo.
In the fall of 2015, Janice Cohn and Rachel Lee, a Montclair mom, resurrected the project, now renamed Kids Embracing Kids, in response to the current Syrian refugee crisis. Rachel was active with the project through the winter of 2016, when other responsibilities took precedence. It was—and is—the hope of both Janice and Rachel that Kids Embracing Kids will raise young people’s awareness of the challenges facing refugee children, while at the same time giving kids a chance to make a difference in a troubled world.
The project was piloted during the 2016-2017 school year in Glenfield Middle School, under the direction of Daniel Gill. It raised over $3,500 for Syrian children.
Our Team
Janice Cohn is a psychotherapist and author. She’s been continually inspired by the power of goodness and courage displayed by bystanders in many of the true stories she recounts in her books. It's Janice’s belief that young people can—and should—be a force for good in this world and she has high hopes for what Kids Embracing Kids can ultimately accomplish. For more information on her professional background, please visit www.drjanicecohn.com.
Austin Bartola is a sophomore at American University in Washington, D.C., where he is studying political science and history. Austin is passionate about helping to facilitate positive social change on local, national, and international levels, and hopes to use his experience working for legislative offices and local nonprofits to help those suffering from the effects of the Syrian Civil War. He understands the impact that small, community-based groups can have on large-scale issues, and believes that Kids Embracing Kids is a perfect way to inspire younger generations to seek improvements to both their local and global communities.
