St. Paul's CDC has its roots in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, which has served Paterson, New Jersey for almost 200 years.

St. Paul's was home to the city's first Head Start classroom in 1966, it created the Food Pantry in 1970, and the Emergency Men's Shelter in 1984. In the fall of 1990, we created St. Paul's Community Development Corporation (CDC) as a separate, not-for-profit, 501(C)(3) tax-exempt corporation to consolidate and enhance St. Paul's outreach efforts.

The CDC's initial objective was to improve service delivery, expand funding possibilities, and increase volunteer leadership beyond the Vestry of St. Paul's Church. Today, St. Paul's CDC provides various human service programs to more than 6,000 families and individuals annually, including adult basic education, workforce literacy, welfare-to-work programs, HIV/AIDS harm reduction services, affordable housing, and others. Over 300 volunteers support our full-time staff of 25. The ethnic and socioeconomic mix of our board of directors and staff reflects the diversity of the community we serve.

Our Mission

The mission of St. Paul's Community Development Corporation is to serve as an agent of hope, partnering with others to provide needs driven services that improve the quality of life and encourage greater self-sufficiency.

St. Paul's CDC collaborates with others to provide these programs and services, which are driven by community needs. Partnership is an essential part of the agency's strategy in accomplishing its mission, evidenced by strong alliances with other community, religious and public/private sector organizations. Developing a broad base of funding support and program revenue is foundational to the CDC's structure, as it seeks to provide a continuum of care that focuses on guiding individuals toward greater self-sufficiency. St. Paul's human services programs also include outreach services for persons infected or at risk of HIV/AIDS, our AmeriCorps Program, and the 5th Ward Neighborhood Redevelopment Project.

St. Paul's CDC programs respond to the needs of the community by providing comprehensive, supportive, social services that can break the cycle of homelessness and move an individual from shelter to transitional housing, to employment and a permanent home. These human services are staff-driven and are administered on and off-site. Case managers, mentors, teachers, health care providers, social workers, and substance abuse counselors work with participants to improve the quality of life for families and individuals through stability and education. Participants are assisted in identifying and prioritizing their needs, in strengthening their ability to constructively resolve their problems and develop a plan to prevent the re-occurrence of the problems.

The agency is supported by a dedicated full-time staff of 24 persons, including a leadership team comprised of the Interim Executive Director, Deputy Director of Finance and Administration, Deputy Director of Development and Programs and the Deputy Director of Marketing and Communications. In addition, there are 9 part-time employees and over 300 volunteers. The ethnic and socioeconomic mix of the CDC board, staff, and volunteers, reflects the diversity of the community it serves. St. Paul's has had a long-term commitment to the Greater Paterson community, providing our varied human services programs to more than 6,000 families and individuals annually.