Helping Our Special Needs Community
Live a Better Life with a Brighter Future
United Way of Hudson County provides funding and advocacy and serves as advisor and leader to our Special Needs Community in Hudson. Since Hudson County has not yet created an Office of Special Needs Services or an Office for People With Disabilities, many social services providers see United Way of Hudson County as the unofficial Office of Special Needs because of the work we do filling the financial gap when government funds aren’t there for special programs that address the needs of this very special community. When there are no government programs to provide services, when there are no government leaders to speak up on behalf of our most vulnerable population, when there are no monies available for innovative programs and emergency services, United Way of Hudson County is there like a beacon in the storm.
One very special place funded by United Way of Hudson County happens to be at the United Cerebral Headquarters in North Bergen, which serves severely disabled Hudson County residents. A sizeable donation from United Way of Hudson County funded the construction of the Sensory Room, a warm, relaxing atmosphere where children and adults are relieved from the confines of their wheelchairs – which they spend most of their days in – by their care workers who lift them from the chairs and into recliners that vibrate, float hammock chairs, and undulating waterbeds that relieve pressure on their limbs and vertebrae.
Soothing music piped through these specially-made furnishings provide calming relief and help these severely disabled individuals deal with the frustrations of their disabilities. A special lighting system stimulates and entertains with a multi-colored light show that shines through tall, vertical tubes of water where a continuous stream of bubbles floats up inside the tube.
In another part of the “Sensory Room” black lights softly illuminate different colors in the carpet and pictures on the walls as patients sit and recline and feel the soothing sensations of music and the soothing visualizations of light. This wondrous experience providing relief and pleasure to children and adults with severe disabilities is just part of the innovative, forward-thinking programs United Way of Hudson County supports.
Another organization that gives tremendous help to the mentally and emotionally disabled teens and adults is Hudson Community Enterprises, an organization that has served Hudson’s severely emotionally and mentally disabled adults for more than 30years. Hudson Community Enterprises provides several job training and work programs for close to 200 people.
One program trains individuals to work for an in-house paper-shredding company; another program trains individuals to scan documents and download those documents to CDs to keep as permanent records for clients like the Jersey City Public School system and organizations in the corporate sector. Another program trains individuals to pack boxes for companies that need extra help sending out their goods to the public at-large.
The emotionally and mentally disabled individuals attending these job training programs are taught viable trades and have become reliable workers and contributors to our communities. Some even go on to work for the private sector and each and every one of them pays taxes. This is just one more organization that exists through the funding support and advocacy of United Way of Hudson County.
“We are working to make our corporate sector aware that they can utilize the services of our special needs community through job training and job placement programs like Hudson Community Enterprises,” United Way of Hudson County President Dan Altilio says. “We are a clearinghouse for all social services agencies, so that the special needs of every child and adult living in our communities are addressed and satisfied.”
By funding work programs, advocating for health and wellness initiatives, serving on advisory boards, motivating the corporate sector to get involved and raising our voices so that they are heard by our elected officials and policy makers, United Way of Hudson County makes a difference every day in the lives of children and adults living in poverty; children and adults who are physically and mentally disabled; senior citizens with chronic illness and disease; and single parents who face important life issues as they raise their children by themselves.
We know first-hand that children and adults with special needs are our most vulnerable population and they need us to advocate for them. That is why United Way of Hudson County focuses on our special needs community as part of our mission.
By providing funding support, advocacy and networking resources to our special needs community, United Way of Hudson County serves as an intermediary resource. As intermediaries, we help individuals with developmental, emotional and physical disabilities by providing funding support for health care services, daycare programs and work and job training programs.
We support programs for parents with children who have special needs and single parents who are trying to raise their children without dependency on welfare.
United Way of Hudson County advocates for improved government legislation that oversees funding for the disabled and low income communities and we believe it is our responsibility to serve as a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.
And sometimes it’s not about giving money. United Way of Hudson County reaches out and forms partnerships with other social service agencies. We serve as a liaison to the corporate sector, so they may adopt a social services agency and help them with their cause. for a common cause.
By uniting agencies and corporations, United Way of Hudson County can create a strong community impact that brings funding, resources and knowledgeable and compassionate people together to provide programs that help those in need live a better life with a brighter future.
