Sixty-six vendors and artists, including several with special needs, will fill the NCFL Achievement Center in Paramus this Sunday for New Concepts for Living’s first-ever artisan market, running from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. with proceeds benefiting programs and services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The market is set for Sunday, November 8, inside the Achievement Center at 765 Route 17, according to TAPinto Paramus. Vendors and artists will sell personal artwork and crafts spanning specialty foods, handmade gifts, pottery and ceramics, woodwork, home decor, candles, bath and body products, jewelry, fine arts and prints, leather goods, and boutique apparel, the outlet reports. Organizers expect hundreds of shoppers to come through, and vendor setup begins at 9 a.m. the same day.
NCFL CEO Steve Setteducati said participants with special needs, alongside local businesses that employ adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, will be selling handmade artwork and products at the market. He encouraged the public to attend, shop, and support the artisans, per the same report.
Indoor Setup Built for Easy Browsing
The event is indoors and climate-controlled, with easy parking and loading for vendors, the report notes. It will take place inside the Achievement Center, which New Concepts for Living unveiled on June 18, 2024, according to NorthJersey.com. The facility occupies the former Barnes & Noble building on Route 17, described in that coverage as 81,423 square feet.
A Mission-Driven Vendor on the Floor
Among the businesses expected to take part is Beloved Bath, described in the TAPinto report as a mission-driven vendor offering products to help the autistic community. The company’s owners met on a playground roughly 20 years before the article’s publication and later learned that both of their sons had been diagnosed with autism, per the outlet.
Beloved Bath’s own website states that it employs and provides vocational training for more than 20 adults with autism, while a 2021 report from NJ.com said the company usually employed eight to 10 people across the spectrum at that time, and NJ.com also reported that the founders launched the business in 2016, though Beloved Bath’s website says it was formed in 2017. A separate CBS News report put the company’s workforce at about 15 people with autism, with a wait list of nearly 40 more hoping to find employment. NJ.com additionally reported that Beloved Bath offers vocational training at local special education institutions.
Why Employment Access Remains a Hurdle
The broader employment landscape for adults with autism helps explain why events like Sunday’s market carry weight beyond a single afternoon of shopping. An A.J. Drexel Autism Institute report cited by NJ.com found that four out of 10 young adults with autism never work for pay between high school graduation and their early 20s. CBS News, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported that about 5.4 million adults in the U.S. have autism and that roughly 80% of them are either underemployed or unemployed.
Against that backdrop, New Concepts for Living’s push to put vendors with special needs directly in front of shoppers this Sunday offers a small but concrete opening. With 66 vendors and artists expected to set up inside the climate-controlled Achievement Center, organizers are betting that hundreds of visitors will turn out to shop handmade goods while supporting services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
