Center for Community Arts (CCA) was founded in 1995 by 12 women artists and community activists. These women, 6 African American and 6 white, parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens, met around a kitchen table over a six-month period.

The group was motivated by the desire to 1) address racially charged discussions in the community, 2) provide positive activities for local youth and 3) offer a vehicle for local artists to be supportive of and supported by their community. CCA's mission statement was honed in these discussions and is one to which the organization's board, staff, members, and volunteers remain strongly committed: to foster creativity, community building and appreciation for the rich diversity of our world through arts and humanities programs that reach out to underserved populations.

Two of the organization's current major programs were launched in CCA's first year. The Youth Arts Program (YAP) began in January 1996 as a weekly three-hour program on Saturday nights, run by the founders and other volunteers in a free space provided by a local church.

The Community History Program was the outgrowth of the group's efforts to save the Franklin Street School, a formerly segregated African American elementary school and one of the few buildings in Cape May that still stands as testament to the contributions African Americans made to Cape May's development. At the time of CCA's founding, the building stood vacant and deteriorating, while the city turned down numerous requests from leaders in the African American community to put it to use.

Today, through CCA's efforts, the School is designated a New Jersey African American Historic Site, CCA has a 25-year, $1.00/year lease of the school from the City of Cape May and is rehabilitating it as a community cultural center.

CCA operated for its first 7 years as an all-volunteer organization. In early 2003, with a first-round Southern New Jersey Staffing Assistance Initiative grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, it hired its first paid Executive Director. By 2006 its budget tripled. Its youth arts programs are now offered in three towns in lower Cape May County, and it offers a growing array of art programs for adults as well.

In 2007, CCA started broadcasting from WCFA-FM, Cape May's community radio station.

Center for Community Arts
712 Lafayette St.
Cape May, NJ 08204
(609) 884-7525
Email: info@CenterforCommunityArts.org