Florence Emery Cohen of Plainsboro, formerly of West Windsor, will receive Project Freedom’s Angel Award on Saturday, November 22, at the Stone Terrace in Hamilton. A member of the board of trustees for more than 19 years, Cohen has used her expertise in financial management to help the organization develop a sound financial structure while continuing its exponential growth. The annual award is presented to an individual whose life demonstrates a commitment to promoting independent living opportunities for disabled individuals.
Project Freedom, a non-profit developer of housing for people with disabilities, provides affordable housing and support services for disabled adults and educational programs that enable tenants to become eligible for employment. The organization has residential units in five central New Jersey communities, and is expected to add more units as part of the Maneely development on Old Bear Brook Road in West Windsor.
For Cohen, however, Project Freedom is important to her entire family. Her son Jason, paralyzed by a virus he contracted as an infant, has been both a client and a volunteer for Project Freedom.
Florence Cohen was appointed to the Project Freedom Inc. board of trustees in 1993. During her tenure, she has seen the organization grow from one complex of 30 units to five communities with 321 rental apartments with an additional 144 units under construction.
Born in Paterson, she was raised in the Philadelphia area. Her mother worked in the public transportation system in Philadelphia and her father was a shipyard painter. “They had no time or inclination to volunteer,” she says.
Florence and her future husband, Harvey, both attended Overbrook High School in Philadelphia but did not meet until after they graduated. They married in 1965 when they both completed college. She graduated from Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in history. He graduated from Drexel with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was an industrial engineer at Inland Steel Company in Indiana, and the couple moved to Chicago.
Harvey earned his MBA from Illinois Institute of Technology while Florence was determined to have it all. While she was head of the acquisition department at University of Chicago Law School, she was also going to school and had young children at home. “I remember holding the baby, stirring a pot, and reading a book at the same time,” she says. Their sons are John and Jason, who developed spastic quadriplegia after contracting a virus as an infant. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a master’s degree in history.
The family moved to the Philadelphia area in 1970 when Harvey joined the International Mill Service, where he worked for the next 22 years. Harvey then became a stockbroker and financial advisor with Dean Witter and retired in 2003. Florence became a company official with Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company.
Florence was then recruited by Prudential to work in the corporate office in Newark. “The children were four and eight, and we needed to check out educational opportunities for Jason,” she says. “We were lucky to find a house in West Windsor, and it all worked out.”
The family moved to West Windsor in 1978. The West Windsor-Plainsboro School District worked with the Cohen family and purchased a mini bus with a lift to accommodate Jason and his wheelchair. He attended a special school on the campus of Mercer Community College through middle school. The child study team checked on him often and realized that Jason was far ahead of his class and wanted to try him at WW-P High School. After getting an A in one class and two A’s when he took two classes, they transferred him in 10th grade with an aide to help him.
Jason, a graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School, Class of 1994, was one of the first wheelchair-bound students in the school (now High School South). He was inducted into the National Honor Society during his high school days.
College was a potential challenge. “There were only six schools in the country that could handle Jason,” says Cohen. One of them was St. Andrew’s Presbyterian College in North Carolina, from which Cohen received his bachelor of arts degree in communications with a minor in religious studies. A volunteer at Project Freedom in Robbinsville prior to his senior year in college, he was able to secure both an apartment and a part-time job there after graduation.
Project Freedom named Jason the recipient of the Stephen Wensley award for his support and continued service to Project Freedom and his community. Since he began living there in 1999, Cohen has taught a computer course for residents, maintained much of the Project Freedom website, as well as mined databases for grant funds. Cohen has been involved in the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Ministries with a focus on getting houses of worship to become accessible for the disabled population. Cohen has completed other programs related to the disabled in New Jersey including Partners in Policymaking.
His brother, John Aaron Cohen, a graduate of West Windsor-Plainsboro High School and Newgrange School in 1988, received a bachelor’s degree from St. Andrew’s in 1992, so the family knew the school well. He is now an employment specialist with Northeast Community Center for Mental Health/Mental Retardation.
“We drove Jason to college six or eight times a year,” says Florence Cohen. “The school was decades ahead of their time. All the buildings were accessible to wheelchairs. Students in a work study program helped him take notes during classes.”
“Project Freedom affects not only tenants but families and provides opportunities for many. People live in the community and contribute to society,” says Cohen. “Jason is happy to work and pay taxes. He has an independent spirit and I feel more at ease.”
Florence Cohen held numerous positions with Prudential before taking advantage of an early retirement package in 1994. After working part time in various capacities, she started Welcoming Services LLC, to assist newcomers with services in the West Windsor area.
She also began to volunteer many hours of community service. “When I took early retirement I decided that I would give back to the community for the rest of my life,” she says. She has been a member of the Princeton Corridor Rotary Club, chairman of West Windsor’s Affordable Housing Committee, member of West Windsor Historical Society and Friends of West Windsor Open Space. She is also a deacon and elder at Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church.
As a Project Freedom board member Cohen has served on the financial committee and as chairman of the personnel committee. In 2001 she received a Prudential Community Champions award for her work with Project Freedom. At the time she devoted an average of 25 hours a month in services, served on several committees, chaired the annual fundraiser, and helped raise community awareness of the organization.
She also earned a top CARES grant award of $5,000 for Project Freedom to aid accessible housing and support services for low-income, physically disabled individuals, and their families. Cohen appeared several times before the town council and planning board of West Windsor in pursuit of approval to build a Project Freedom complex as part of the Toll Brothers project on the Maneely tract on Old Bear Brook Road.
Today Project Freedom’s Robbinsville location is an apartment complex of 30 units designed specifically for people with disabilities. Project Freedom at Hamilton features 40 one-bedroom apartments and eight two-bedroom apartments in eight buildings. Project Freedom at Lawrence features 44 one-bedroom apartments and 10 two-bedroom apartments in nine buildings. Freedom Village in Hopewell and in Woodstown include one, two, and three bedroom rental apartments. Transportation is available through NJ Transit buses and, for those who qualify, New Jersey Transit’s Access Link.
Cohen and her husband moved to Windrows in Plainsboro in 2012. “We looked at many active adult communities before making a decision,” she says. “You can be as active as you want and you can really enjoy your retirement with lectures, concerts, tours, yoga, and water aerobics. We are happily retired and recommend it highly.”
She is now on Windrows’ finance and welcome committees. “Seniors are so valuable to their communities,” says Cohen. “Where else do you get free labor?“
Gala Angel Awards Dinner, Project Freedom, Stone Terrace by John Henry’s, 2275 Kuser Road, Hamilton. Saturday, November 22, 6 p.m. Entertainment by Meg Hansen and Billy Hill. Register $125; $200 for two. 609-278-0075. www.projectfreedom.org.
