Community Access was founded in 1974 as a response to the mass release of patients from New York’s psychiatric hospitals. The founders pooled their energies, monies and efforts to assist residents in obtaining housing, reconnecting with the community, finding work and rebuilding social ties. These early efforts became the prototype for one of the nation’s first supportive housing programs.
Community Access provides a range of housing, job skills, employment placement and professional support services to help break the cycle of homelessness, institutionalization and/or incarceration that often complicates the lives of people who have a history of mental illness.
Population of focus: Homeless individuals, HIV/AIDS patients, veterans, individuals struggling with substance abuse, formerly incarcerated individuals, youth aging out of foster care
Link to resource: http://www.communityaccess.org/index.php
Organization: Community Access
Date: 1974