The Center for Urban Community Services (CUCS) was founded in 1979. At its inception, CUCS, then known as Columbia University Community Services, had the simple purpose of involving Columbia University students in addressing the needs of the neighborhood’s disenfranchised individuals. But with the increase of homelessness in the 1980’s, CUCS expanded its mission, and officially incorporated as an independent non-profit in 1994.
Today, CUCS is a comprehensive human services agency and the nation’s largest provider of supportive housing social services. We are leading the way – implementing new practices, sharing knowledge and assisting in shaping local, state and national strategies so that persons who are homeless, low-income, living with mental illness or have other special needs can live successfully in the community.
CUCS Timeline
1979
Establishes on-site support services in dilapidated commercial SRO hotels on Manhattan's West Side, reaching out to shut-ins, the mentally ill and other disenfranchised individuals.
1981
Opens one of upper Manhattan's first drop-in centers for homeless people.
1983
Opens the first on-site program for chronically mentally ill women in a city shelter.
1984
Begins providing staff training to municipal and private shelter operators. Publishes Working with Homeless People.
1985
Partners with Broadway Housing Communities (BHC) to open the Heights, the first supportive housing initiative integrating mentally ill, homeless and low-income individuals.
1987
Develops a citywide program with the NYC Department of Mental Health to track and report housing vacancies for homeless individuals and provide housing placement assistance.
1988
Opens the 350 Lafayette Street Transitional Living Community (TLC), the first ever dedicated to helping homeless NYC women suffering from mental illness to obtain permanent housing.
1990
Partners with BHC to open the Rio, the first supportive housing residence in the nation that includes apartments for families.
1991
Partners with Common Ground Community (CGC) to open the Times Square, the largest supportive housing residence in the nation.
1994
Becomes the Center for Urban Community Services, an independent non-profit organization.
1995
Introduces a supportive housing consulting service in nine cities around the nation. (In 2006, CUCS provided TA [w2] and consultation services in 36 communities in 18 states.)
1996
Begins providing housing placement assistance to individuals with traumatic brain injuries.
1997
60 Minutes airs Miracle on 43rd Street , profiling the work of CGC and CUCS at The Times Square.
Opens the Kelly, the first Transitional Living Community for long-term homeless individuals.
1998
Establishes the Career Network, providing job training and placement opportunities to people with multiple barriers to employment.
1999
Partners with CGC to open the Prince George, 416-units of permanent supportive housing.
2001
Receives the U.S. Center for Mental Health Services Exemplary Program Award.
Launches the Single Point of Access (SPOA) Housing program to help adults who have a serious and persistent mental illness and are not New York/New York eligible to access housing in one of the five boroughs.
Begins working with CityWell to create a supportive housing initiative in London, England.
2002
Receives New York City Metro Award of Distinction from the National Rehabilitation Association.
Launches the SPOA Case Management project to assist consumers and their referring workers to access case management and Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) services.
2003
Partners with BHC to open the Dorothy Day Apartments, a unique supportive housing initiative for families and single individuals.
Partners with CGC to open the Chelsea, 167-units of permanent supportive housing.
Selected by the NYS Office of Mental Health to lead the way in applying ACT services paired with lease-based housing to the problem of chronic homelessness.
Publishes Developing the ‘Support' in Supportive Housing, a guide to providing services in housing.
2004
Purchases vacant lot in the Bronx to develop a new 60-unit CR/SRO. Construction commenced in late 2007 and the project will open in 2009.
Introduces the inaugural recipient of the George Brager Memorial Scholarship Fund at Silver Anniversary Gala.
SPOA goes city-wide.
2005
Launches two new community service programs in West Harlem and Washington Heights as part the of Robin Hood Foundation's Single Stop Initiative.
Partners with CGC to develop a new 264-unit supportive housing residence in Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Pitt Street Residence will open in 2009.
Receives the National Exemplary Program Award from the Center for Mental Health Services, a program of the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for its work bringing evidence-based practices to the 350 Lafayette Transitional Living Community.
2006
Begins a new initiative, ReSHAPE (Recovery in Supportive Housing: Advancing Practice Effectiveness) to move the supportive housing field to a recovery model, where, in addition to housing stability, success is measured by improved functioning, employment and the ability to move into more independent housing.
Creates a Research and Project Evaluation Department with the establishment of an Institutional Review Board (IRB).
Selected by the City of Philadelphia to assist in the implementation of their 10 Year Plan. CUCS' Housing Resource Center (HRC) becomes engaged in similar systems change work in a number of communities across the US.
2007
Opens a Single Stop Program on Rikers Island in an effort to reduce recidivism and homelessness among former inmates.
Moves administrative offices and several programs to East Harlem.
Receives the New York Times Non Profit Excellence Award for Sustained Impact.
Begins Street to Home, a homeless street outreach and housing placement program.
2008
Career Network is awarded the 2008 Science and Service Award from the United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for implementing the evidence-based practice Supported Employment.
2009
Opens the Crotona Park East Residence in the
Begins piloting the use of the evidence based practice Wellness Self Management (WSM) to help mentally ill inmates in the New York State Correctional System.
2010
Begins serving as lead agency for Home to Stay, a pilot program for families with repeat incidents of homelessness, funded by the Robin Hood Foundation.
