Overview

Community Access Unlimited (CAU) is a multi-faceted, human services agency that provides support services for at–risk youth and people with disabilities. CAU is an IRS designated 501(c)(3) organization. Our mission is 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.

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 $19.5 million and a staff of 450, 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 2006, 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. 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.