ADVOCACY & NAVIGATION PARTNERS

Glori Bine-Callagy has been an advocate and caregiver, both personally and professionally, for the last 20 years. In that time, she has held leadership positions in both human services and healthcare settings, and has a Bachelor's Degree in Human Services from Thomas Edison State University. Glori spent the earlier part of her career in direct services and management positions. Her professional trajectory pivoted when she was charged with starting a quality improvement department at a large non-profit organization in Northern New Jersey. She created programs to measure and improve ‘quality of life’ and ‘quality of services’ and led several client advocacy programs. Glori transitioned into quality improvement roles in both private and public healthcare and social service organizations. In the public sector, she provided oversight of compliance to more than 100 clinics providing primary health care, dental, habilitation and specialty services for under-served populations including homeless, victims of domestic violence, disabilities and at-risk youth. At New York University, she was the first Manager of Quality Assurance and Patient Relations within the University Health Center (UHC). In this role, she was responsible for handling the patient feedback process, and resolving patient concerns and complaints. She utilized trends to implement improvement efforts within the UHC. She spearheaded the organizational initiative to prepare for their first accreditation by The Joint Commission. Glori then moved back into the non-profit sector and began to play a vital role in the field of employment for people with disabilities in New Jersey. She was the Director of Bridges to Employment at Alternatives, Inc., a non-profit organization in Central New Jersey. In this role, Glori and her team matched hundreds of individuals with barriers to employment with more than 150 businesses throughout the state resulting in successful employment. She implemented programs that provided job readiness for youth who were part of the Children’s System of Care, high school students and adults with mental health and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Bridges to Employment was selected to open and operate one of three centers in New Jersey, providing job readiness, training, placement and retention services to individuals who were deaf or hard of hearing. Glori was also responsible for the start-up and oversight of a boutique in downtown Somerville, a social enterprise which provided job training to individuals with disabilities. Glori’s role later expanded to include supervision of a Day Habilitation Program and several residential programs with her team. Glori sought out and applied for/received grants to fund several of the above-mentioned programs. During her time as Director of Bridges to Employment, Glori sat on the Board of Directors as both VP and President for NJAPSE, the New Jersey chapter of The Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE). In this capacity she played an instrumental role, along with her peers, in ensuring that New Jersey became an ‘Employment First’ state -- one in which competitive employment is the first and preferred post-education activity for everyone, including people with disabilities -- and was present in April 2012, at the Governor’s office, when the proclamation was signed. Glori served on the Executive Committee and was the Disability Issues Chair for the Greater Raritan Work Investment Board (WIB) for several years. After overseeing the first and subsequent successful CARF Surveys (formerly the Council on Accreditation for Rehab Facilities) for Alternatives, she was selected to be a National Surveyor for CARF and was later a consultant to agencies undergoing accreditation within New Jersey. In 2018, Glori transitioned into the Admissions and Development Department at Alternatives, where she was responsible for identifying individuals who were a match for group home vacancies and ensuring a smooth transition. She was the first point of contact for families seeking services for their loved ones with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Glori also played a predominant role marketing, educational, communications, grant writing and overall fundraising efforts for the organization. Glori lives in South Brunswick, New Jersey with her family and 2 dogs, Josie and Louie. She enjoys spending time with friends and family, Broadway shows, concerts, creating wood signs, raising African Violets, and has been learning to play Mah Jongg with friends.