Rutgers Breaks Ground On Center For Adults With Autism

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Patch has written about the increasing need for housing and employment for adults with autism. It's a growing issue not just in New Jersey, but across the nation. New Jersey has the highest rates of autism ever recorded in the United States, according to a study just released in winter of 2019.

It's as simply put as: "Children with autism grow up," said Mai Cleary, a New Jersey woman who runs this working farm for autistic adults in Monmouth County (her son also has autism).

To that end, Rutgers University broke ground Monday on a new state-of-the-art facility that will house the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services(RCAAS), which provides employment, vocational training and other services to adults with autism.

The center, located on the Douglass Campus of Rutgers University-New Brunswick, is the first of its kind at a higher education institution in the United States. The new building, expected to open in 2020, will allow the center to more than double its capacity from 12 to 30 participants.

The center was established in 2016, and it serves adults with autism by providing meaningful, paid employment and integration into the Rutgers community. The new facility will include vocational and life skills teaching areas, high-tech meeting rooms and amenities intended to provide a welcoming environment for program participants and other members of the surrounding community, including Rutgers students, faculty and staff.

Related: Tour Oasis, A Working Farm For Adults With Autism In Middletown

The project, estimated to cost $9.5 million, is financed by philanthropic funds.

Mel Karmazin, the former CEO of Sirius XM Radio, was a key leader in fundraising for the project along with his daughter Dina Karmazin Elkins, executive director of the Mel Karmazin Foundation. Dina Karmazin’s son, Hunter, was diagnosed with autism at age 2, and the Karmazin Foundation has been active in autism causes.

Karmazin, his wife, Sharon, and daughter were there Monday at the groundbreaking:

From left to right: Rutgers Dean Francine Conway, Zach Sanborn, Rutgers University President Robert L. Barchi, Mel Karmazin (former CEO of Sirius XM Radio), his daughter Dina Elkins, Christopher Manente, Sharon Karmazin, New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill and Rutgers Chancellor Christopher Molloy.

“What would be a better place to house a center that would create jobs for adults on the spectrum than a college campus?” Mel Karmazin said at the groundbreaking.

“At Rutgers, there are so many benefits for these participants, including transportation and food services. Graduate students in psychiatry can benefit in having the adults on campus, and the adults benefit from the graduate students available for their needs,” Karmazin said.

“While we wish that there were other places like this, we are hopeful that we will be able to demonstrate how beneficial this program is so that it can serve as a model. There are far too many adults out there that are on the spectrum for us not to do everything we can do to create more jobs and opportunities for them,” Karmazin added.