Programs & Services

Food Pantry / Neighborhood Services

 

Since the early 1970’s, CCA has made a food pantry available to families with children, senior citizens and people with disabilities in the Hill section of New Haven, Connecticut. Over the years we have served more than 40,000 people. Starting in the spring of 2001, we have offered a "Client Choice" Program. Food pantry participants are given the opportunity to "shop" for their food items rather than receiving a pre-made bag. CCA maintains membership with the Connecticut Food Bank

 

For more information about this program, contact Juan Marquez at (203)777-7848 or jmarquez@ccahelping.org

 

As part of providing services to the Hill neighborhood, CCA also serves as an application site for Connecticut Energy Assistance Program and the Community Fuel Bank.  We also provide assistance by helping people tap the resources available to them, making referrals to other agencies, intervening between individuals and bureaucracies and helping people through crisis, such as fires, evictions and utility shut offs. We also provide notarizing services as well.

 

For more information about this program, contact Maria Maldonado at (203)777-7173 or lmarquez@ccahelping.org

 

 

Hillside Family Shelter

CCA's Hillside Family Shelter provides temporary housing for families who are homeless. Working from two sites, the Hillside Family Shelter has ten furnished apartments at our Sylvan site and seven at our Davenport site. Apartments range in size from 1 room efficiencies to three bedrooms, accommodating a range of family sizes.  CCA is committed to empowering families to move toward self-sufficiency. Within the 60-90 day period families live at Hillside, goals for tenants include increasing family stability, decreasing family stress and searching for permanent housing and employment.   The philosophy at Hillside Family Shelter is that families that are homeless deserve to be treated with dignity, which is an essential first step toward breaking the cycle of homelessness. In addition, we believe that reducing stress in families’ lives by providing adequate living space will increase their chances of making the initial steps towards self-sufficiency. It is because of these two beliefs that we provide a furnished apartment for 60-90 days through a program that is not overburdened with rules and regulations. This keeps living conditions roughly comparable to living conditions families’ would have if not homeless, while giving them a time limit and guidance for locating permanent housing. 

 

The name "Hillside" was chosen for this program, both because we are located on the "hill side of New Haven," and also because the dictionary defines "hillside" as "the point between the bottom and top of a hill." We thought it was an appropriate name, given that the goal of the program is to help the families we serve move up from homelessness and to reach the "top of the hill" and achieve self-sufficiency.

For more information about this program, contact Lillian Marquez at (203) 777-7173 or lmarquez@ccahelping.org.