Center for Great Expectations

The Center for Great Expectations provides a trauma-informed Continuum of Care for homeless, pregnant and/or parenting adolescents and adult women, and their children. Our Programs integrate expertise in both trauma-informed care and parent infant mental health to "BREAK THE CYCLE" of homelessness, abuse, trauma and addiction. Our clients' histories include extensive childhood traumas, chronic housing instability, multiple child welfare placements, and absent or unhealthy parenting, that currently manifest in mental health and substance abuse disorders. CGE's Continuum of Care includes Residential Treatment, onsite Child Development Center (Katy's Place), Permanent Supportive Housing (AvalonSomerset and other scattered sites) and Outpatient Treatment Services, serving successful CGE clients and others in the greater New Brunswick area. In 2015, the CGE completed an expansion of its residential Adolescent building in response to a contract awarded by the NJ Department of Children and Families to provide a higher intensity of service to adolescent clients. We have now expanded this program by 50%, providing residential treatment for an additional 4 mothers, 4 toddlers, 4 infants, as well as expanded common living space, and an expansion of Katy's Place, increasing child care capacity by 100%. In 2015 Peg Wright, CGE's founder/CEO-President, was selected by NJBIZ as one of the top 50 Women in Business for 2015, and the NJ Heroes Foundation awarded Great Expectations a $7500 grant when they named Peg as the April 2015 NJ Hero. Both awards recognized Peg and CGE’s commitment to providing a continuum of care for NJ's marginalized and disadvantaged young families. Last year Great Expectations was the only NJ nonprofit to be awarded a $500K annual 3 year federal grant to provide specialized outpatient services, and was also awarded a NJ state grant to provide 12 additional units of Supportive housing for homeless families.