Community Access Unlimited

Basic Information

Address: 80 West Grand Street Elizabeth, New Jersey 07202

Phone Number: 908-354-3040

Fax Number: 308-354-2665

Email: info@caunj.org

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Additional Information

Executive Director: Sidney Blanchard

Service Description: Support Services for Adults with Developmental Disabilities & At-Risk Youth

Mission Statement:

To provide community access through effective and comprehensive support services for people with disabilities, at-risk youth and people with affordable housing needs, giving them the opportunity to live independently and to lead normal and productive lives as citizens integrated into the community.

Area Served: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, & Union Counties

Hours of Operation/Schedule: 8:00 am to 6:00 pm

Services Offered:
Independent Living Skills Training; Vocational/Employment Services; Money Management Training; Recreation Programs; Housing; Respite; Self-Advocacy; Supervised Apartment Program; Supportive Living

Events:

A variety of activities are offered on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis to individuals including supervised weekend getaways and vacations. Please visit our website for more information!

Fundraisers: Three main fundraisers are held each year. A Golf Outing, held in early May, is a time of fun on the links while raising funds. A Walk-a-Thon, held in late September, involves community members, those we support, staff, and families. Lastly, our annual Gala Dinner Dance, held in late October, is a semi-annual event including a live band, dancing, and awards.

History:

CAU was founded in 1979 in Union County, New Jersey with a $90,000 grant to move 20 adults with developmental disabilities from state institutions and place them successfully in the community. Community Access was first operated out of the Executive Director’s, Sid Blanchard, Volkswagen Beetle. The agency soon moved into a small office and continued to grow.

In 1984, CAU added supports for youth in New Jersey’s child welfare system and parents with disabilities through the provision of supportive transitional living programs and educational training. In 1987, CAU secured its first housing units. In 1992, CAU moved to its current location at 80 West Grand Street in Elizabeth. Today, in addition to 55,000 square feet of commercial space, CAU owns more than 200 units of housing throughout Union County. CAU was one of the first nonprofits in the nation to pursue the federal low-income housing tax credit to acquire property.

CAU was founded as a social service movement to capture resources to build community support systems for all people living in need that live in the community. We see issues facing people with disabilities as community issues: safe and affordable housing, employment, social activities, political involvement and advocacy. To make an impact on these issues takes more than one person or agency; it requires community relationships to be built and sustained.

Detailed Organization Information:

CAU provides support and gives a voice to adults and youth who traditionally have had little support and no voice in society. We help people with housing, life skills training, vocational skills, employment, health maintenance, money management, socialization, education, crisis intervention, civic activities and community support. CAU also supports opportunities for advocacy through training in assertiveness, decision-making and civil rights.

We are one of the few agencies in New Jersey that provides a broad array of support services for people with developmental disabilities and at-risk youth. We are the only agency in Union County that provides a complete and comprehensive continuum of care for people with developmental disabilities and youth in New Jersey’s child welfare system. We provide more all-encompassing residential and support services than any other organization of our kind.

Currently, with a total operating budget of $30 million and a staff of more than 500, we serve over 3,500 individuals each year. CAU was founded in 1979 with a $90,000 grant to move twenty individuals with disabilities out of state institutions and place them successfully in the community. In 1984, The Division of Youth and Family Services funded CAU to support youth and parents with disabilities through the provision of supportive transitional living programs and educational training. In 1987, CAU secured its first housing units. Today, CAU owns more than 200 units of housing throughout Union County, New Jersey.

In 2004, CAU was chosen to receive the Community Inclusion Award by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. This national, annual award is given to a culturally responsive organization that has succeeded in fully including people with disabilities in community life.

In 2007, CAU was honored to receive the NJ Community Development Association award for Excellence in Affordable Housing. CAU, in a first-in-the-country financing structure, helped four people with disabilities making 30% or less of the area median income, purchase their own homes. CAU is proud to help people with special needs live real lives in the community.

In 2006 and 2009, CARF, an independent, not-for-profit accrediting body, awarded selected programs at Community Access a three-year accreditation, the highest accreditation possible. Further, Community Access was commended in its quest for quality programs and services.

Slogan: Supporting People with Special Needs in Achieving Real Lives