Center for Urban Community Services, Inc.

CUCS aims to help people rise from poverty, exit homelessness, and be healthy. It works to develop affordable housing and provide programs that link housing, health and social services for homeless, formerly homeless, and low-income individuals and families. CUCS provides street outreach, transitional and supportive housing, health and wellness, training, and financial stability services to 50,000 people annually in New York City and nationally.

Three decades of working with homeless, formerly homeless, and low income individuals and families has given CUCS significant insight into the impact homelessness can have on a person's physical and mental health, as well as their ability to participate in a new community. These insights have informed the strategies CUCS uses to address homelessness and its effects in New York City and nationally.

Moving people out of homelessness and into housing is at the core of what CUCS does. CUCS is utilizing a strategic campaign to reduce street homelessness across Manhattan. To address the challenge of street homelessness, CUCS has brought together outreach workers, psychiatrists and medical professionals to engage street homeless individuals, work closely with them, and move them into permanent housing.

Widely credited with being a founder of the supportive housing model, CUCS opened New York City's first supportive housing site in 1983. Its housing programs provide wraparound services, including case management, on-site medical and psychiatric care, supported employment and benefits counseling to ensure that individuals and families who move into housing are well equipped to stay in housing.

CUCS's signature health care program, Janian Medical Care (Janian) has developed a matrix of psychiatric, primary medical, and street medicine services for homeless and formerly homeless individuals and families in New York City.

Janian is the largest provider of psychiatric care to homeless and formerly homeless people in New York, working in more than 50 community sites. The psychiatric care that Janian provides is a significant support for homeless and formerly homeless individuals but access to primary health care services for this population is not as widely available. To address and close this gap, Janian introduced primary medical care services for individuals living in transitional and supportive housing programs. Experienced nurse practitioners and case workers work together with patients to improve health outcomes for individuals who would benefit from integrated care.

Another important strategy is education and replication. In addition to direct services, CUCS's Training Institute and Academy for Justice-Informed Practice provide trainings about successful evidence-based practices to professionals in the behavioral health, human services, and judicial sectors both in New York and nationally. Trainings are presented on a wide range of topics including housing, homelessness, behavioral health, and case management and provide real-world, practical learning opportunities that can be implemented immediately.

The strength of CUCS's leadership and staff, including the administrative, fundraising, financial, and program leaders, is the agency's biggest asset. The capabilities the staff brings to the agency's many programs come from decades of experience in all facets of managing a successful nonprofit.

CUCS's leadership team brings decades of clinical, medical, and administrative experience to the agency. The leadership team meets on a monthly basis to strategize and guide the agency in both programmatic and administrative directions.

CUCS's Board of Directors is comprised of both non-profit and for-profit industry leaders in fields including real estate, housing, education, and healthcare. The Board is actively involved in ensuring the financial health of the agency. The Board's Committees, including the Audit, Executive, Housing, and Personnel Committees, participate in active discussions and the decision making process regarding the strategic direction of the agency.

In addition, CUCS brings together a network of partners, leaders, and professionals, including community boards, city council members, food banks, substance abuse treatment centers, and religious organizations, to address the challenges of homelessness across the city.

CUCS has been providing critical services to New Yorkers since 1983 when the agency opened New York City's first mixed supportive housing program. Since then CUCS has continued to develop affordable housing and provide integrated programs that link housing, health and social services for New York's homeless and most vulnerable people.

In the last few years CUCS has introduced and expanded a number of programs that have made a significant impact on New York City and as a result, 50,000 people are served annually in the agency's street outreach, housing, wellness, financial stability, and training programs.

CUCS's signature health care program, Janian Medical Care (Janian) launched a primary medical care program in 2013 for people with complex health issues, offering appointments in on-site medical suites at transitional and supportive housing sites. CUCS also launched New York City's first street medicine program in 2016. Each day teams of medical professionals and social workers work together to provide compassionate medical care to homeless individuals on park benches, street corners, under bridges, and anywhere necessary.

In the coming year, CUCS will open a new drop-in center and safe haven in Manhattan to provide meals, showers, laundry facilities and housing placement services and transitional housing and begin providing supportive services at new permanent housing sites in the Brooklyn and the Bronx.

Other projects being launched soon include a second mobile medical van to supplement the Street Medicine Team's efforts to provide healthcare to street homeless individuals and expanded transitional and supportive housing sites for individuals and families in Manhattan and the Bronx.