Center For Great Expectations CEO Named Somerset Citizen Of Year

BRIDGEWATER, NJ — For 23 years, Peg Wright has worked to ensure that those who have suffered trauma and who now struggle with substance abuse and mental health disorders have the services they need — all in a safe environment in which they can feel cared for while receiving the help they need.

For her efforts serving Somerset County, Wright, who serves as the President and CEO of The Center For Great Expectations, has been named this year’s recipient of the Somerset County Citizen of the Year.

The award is handed out annually by the Somerset County Business Partnership. The Citizen of the Year award, given to the county’s premier civic and business leader, is the county’s most prestigious individual award recognizing a single person for community and professional activities that have contributed to making Somerset County a special place, officials from the organization said in a news release.

Wright will be honored at a dinner at 5 p.m. on September 23 at the Bridgewater Marriott, which is located at 700 Commons Way.

Under Wright’s leadership, The Center For Great Expectations has provided an environment in which clients can find a safe presence, and safe path and choose and maintain physical, psychological, social and spiritual health for themselves, their children and families, the news release announcing the award said.

Wright started the organization in 1998 at a house in Somerset that provided services for 12 expectant mothers each year. A decade later, CGE built two residential facilities in Somerset, one for pregnant or parenting adults and their children needing long-term treatment for substance abuse and mental disorders and the second for pregnant and parenting adolescents with mental health disorders.

The organization now serves close to 600 women, men and children each year with a team of 120 full-time and part-time employees that is also supported by an army of volunteers.

Wright has earned the New Jersey State Governor’s Award for Public Service, named Citizen of the Year by the New Jersey Psychology Association and Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs by New Jersey Monthly, and NJBIZ Top 50 Women in Business.

“The Citizen of the Year recipients demonstrate how one person can make extraordinary contributions to Somerset County,” Chris Edwards, president & CEO of the Business Partnership said in the release. “Under Peg’s leadership the Center for Great Expectations has become a national leader in providing transformational (behavioral health) substance use and mental health treatment to women, children, men and families impacted by trauma, abuse and neglect.”