OEO Celebrates 50 Years of Strengthening Families
Camden County Council On Economic Opportunity, Inc., a private, non-profit agency dedicated to serving and uplifting economically disadvantaged individuals and families in Camden County, is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Since 1966, Camden County OEO has provided comprehensive financial, educational and housing services to over a half-million clients and produced more than $500 million in services to the local economy. The agency’s 50th anniversary theme is also its slogan ― “Creating Opportunities and Making a Difference” ― for providing a range of programs and services to helping clients achieve self-sufficiency.
Based in Camden City and with offices in other townships and boroughs in Camden County, Camden County OEO is observing its 50th anniversary with a variety of events. Planned anniversary activities include Camden County OEO Community Day, a Walkathon and a Health Fair in Cooper River Park on August 27, 2016. The agency’s Urban Women’s Center is coordinating a winter coat drive in December. Earlier, Camden County OEO presented a “Clean Comedy Contest” in April at the Collingswood Theater and Ballroom for aspiring local comedians.
The celebration will culminate in a program and dinner at a special meeting of the Camden County OEO Board of Directors on Tuesday, September 27, 2016, at 5:30 p.m., at Nicolosi Catering, 1 Hessian Avenue, in West Deptford, N.J.
To mark the occasion, Camden County OEO is also producing a commemorative booklet: Camden County OEO Retrospective: 1966-2016. The four-color booklet, complete with photographs, will feature the history of the organization and highlight its 50 years of service, achievements and milestones.
“Camden County OEO is very pleased and thankful to be able to observe a half-century of uplifting low-income individuals and families in Camden County and strengthening them to achieve a level of independence,” says Arnold N. Byrd, Camden County OEO’s Executive Director. “Through strategic planning and proactive program procedures Camden County OEO utilizes resources available from federal, state and local sources to make a broad scale attack upon poverty with a view toward eliminating poverty as a destructive force in the lives of our clients as well as in our society.”
Byrd, the recipient of numerous awards for his accomplished leadership role at Camden County OEO, has served as executive director of the award-winning organization since 1984.
Under Byrd’s visionary leadership, Camden County OEO has constructed 66 units of single-family homes in the Cramer Hill section of Camden, and purchased and renovated 130 units at the Sheridan Apartments Complex in the Centerville section of Camden. Also, about a dozen new housing constructions are planned for startup in July 2016
In addition, the agency has renovated several childcare centers throughout Camden County, opened the Urban Women’s Center, and created several other housing facilities and educational and job training centers. The facilities are noted for having made a positive and tremendous impact on the Broadway-Kaighn Avenue corridor, a main residential and business area in Camden City.
