Our Mission Statement:
The Association of Community Employment Programs (ACE) works alongside New Yorkers who have histories of homelessness, incarceration, and addiction to provide job training, work experience, and a lifetime support network that helps participants achieve their goals and establish economic independence.
Our History:
On a summer morning in 1992, Henry Buhl was leaving his loft on Greene Street in SoHo when a man experiencing homelessness asked him for $20. Figuring, “if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime,” Henry offered the man $20 in exchange for sweeping the sidewalk in front of his building, and then rallied the stores in his neighborhood to follow suit. Within months, word had spread about the new initiative. Others were eager to get accepted on the sweeping crew and start working toward their employment goals. Henry began to accept referrals from shelters and other charities, and soon founded the SoHo Partnership, which was followed by the TriBeCa and NoHo/Bowery Partnerships. In 1997, the Association of Community Employment Programs (ACE) was created as an umbrella organization to unify the New York City initiatives.
Today, ACE has grown to serve more than 650 people each year with workforce development, therapeutic counseling, adult basic education, and job readiness/life skills training in our vocational rehabilitation program, Project Comeback. We also offer life long support services in our aftercare and employment retention program, Project Stay. Since 1992, we have helped over 3,600 New Yorkers overcome homelessness, incarceration and addiction to find full-time jobs and start new lives.