Grant Awards
Community Program Grants are United Way’s largest investment in our community. In 2024, we awarded over $2.2 million to 73 programs across 34 local agencies. The 2024 Community Program Grants take a strategic approach to community change by funding programs across the eight outcome areas outlined above.
Community Program Grants are one of the tools the United Way of Central New York utilizes to make a meaningful and tangible impact in our local community.
Grants are awarded to programs embedded within local health and human service agencies. Each of the programs we fund connects to at least one of the following Impact Areas:
Thriving Families
Third Grade Readiness
Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Seniors
Basic Needs
Self-Sufficiency
Youth Development
Workforce Development
The Impact Areas were created alongside the Community Impact Roadmap with extensive input from local community members and human service professionals with a broad set of experience and knowledge about the human service ecosystem in our local community, as well as the most pressing needs being faced by community members.
Learn more about each Impact Area and explore the Community Impact Roadmap here.
United Way built the Community Program Grant process on three core principles:
1. Know the needs of the local community
2. Invest in programs that utilize proven interventions that address these needs
3. Support agencies to achieve measurable results.
Through this strategy, your gift addresses critical issues and supports effective programs.
The value proposition we provide to individuals who decide to give:
1. Your gift is invested in the local programs that utilize proven interventions to help people improve their lives.
2. Your gift supports a diverse and expansive collection of services, organizations, and programs. Together, this tapestry of programs provides a comprehensive support system for community members.
3. Your gift supports a professional staff that continuously monitors the state of human needs in our community to effectively allocate your gift to the areas of greatest need.
Community Program Fund - RECIPIENTS
Central Village Youth and Refugee Program
The Central Village Boys & Girls Club serves members, ages 5-12, through educational and enrichment after-school and summer programming. Club members receive daily programs led by dedicated staff and volunteers through fun, high yield activities in five core areas that include: character & leadership development; education & career development; health & life skills; sports, fitness & recreation; and the arts. Our programs include Power Hour, Daily 5 Reading & Writing Literacy Program, STEM, Healthy Habits, Triple Play: Mind, Body & Soul, SMART Girls, Passport to Manhood and Torch Club. Our current programming has a focus on the refugee population in the community surrounding Central Village. By assisting youth with reading & writing and other educational programs, we help to enrich their lives by developing strong health and life skills and character and leadership skills.
Youth Development Program
Contact Community Services proposes to offer afterschool and summer-learning programs and social-emotional development activities to students from predominantly working-poor families who attend Grant Middle School in the Syracuse City School District. This program will provide the students from this school with free and appropriate educational and enrichment opportunities that will improve the academic abilities and social-emotional learning of the students attending the school and provide them with the stability of a caring community of peers and adults.
Partnership for Youth and Family Intervention
The Partnership for Youth and Family Intervention provides a comprehensive and integrated network of youth development programming and family strengthening services to promote increased educational stability and asset development for children accessing Partnership program locations (East Fayette Street Boys and Girls Club, Shonnard Street Boys and Girls Club, and Catholic Charities Vincent House). Program activities for high-risk youth, ages 6-19, will emphasize educational advancement, employment/career readiness, and preparation for adulthood. The Salvation Army as lead agency, in partnership with Catholic Charities and the Boys & Girls Club, will provide targeted outreach to new and underserved residents of the City’s near Westside and Eastside neighborhoods, encouraging youth to become involved in the pro-social activities and the enhanced case management and family support services offered by the Partnership.
Kids’ Club Afterschool Program
Kids’ Club programming provides a safe space for at-risk youth in the Syracuse community by offering a program to attend following school hours. Program staff generates and implement activities that promote academic enrichment and success, show the benefits of physical health and positive nutritional habits, and encourage personal development through self-awareness and critical citizenship for all students enrolled in the program.
Transition Program for Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Children/Youth
The Partnership for Youth and Family Intervention provides a comprehensive and integrated network of youth development programming and family strengthening services to promote increased educational stability and asset development for children accessing Partnership program locations (East Fayette Street Boys and Girls Club, Shonnard Street Boys and Girls Club, and Catholic Charities Vincent House). Program activities for high-risk youth, ages 6-19, will emphasize educational advancement, employment/career readiness, and preparation for adulthood. The Salvation Army as lead agency, in partnership with Catholic Charities and the Boys & Girls Club, will provide targeted outreach to new and underserved residents of the City’s near Westside and Eastside neighborhoods, encouraging youth to become involved in the pro-social activities and the enhanced case management and family support services offered by the Partnership.
Girls Inc. at the YWCA (5-12 Age Group Program)
Girls Inc. at the YWCA equips girls ages 5-12 to navigate gender, economic, and social barriers, and to grow into healthy, educated, and independent adults. We provide after school and summer programming and weekend workshops for girls ages 5-12 in our community. We provide a safe environment that enhances social skills and healthy choices, and promotes learning. Our holistic programming, driven by research-based curricula, has three main components: academic support (SMART), life skills instruction (BOLD), and activities focused on healthy living (STRONG). The continuity of service that Girls Inc. programs allow for will deepen their impact in our community.
Girls Inc. at the YWCA (Teen Program
Girls Inc. at the YWCA equips girls ages 13-18 to navigate gender, economic, and social barriers, and to grow into healthy, educated and independent adults. We request funds for our after school, summer programming and weekend workshops for girls age 13-18 in our community. We provide a safe environment that enhances social skills and healthy choices, and promotes learning. Our holistic programming is driven by research-based curricula and has three main components: academic support (SMART), life skills instruction (BOLD), and activities focused on healthy living (STRONG). The continuity of service that these programs allow for, will deepen the impact of Girls Inc. at the YWCA programs in our community.
Adult English Language Instruction
LiteracyCNY will enroll 30 adult refugees and/or immigrants in three small group English classes each year, targeting those with the most limited English. Instruction will be provided in small group classes held at the SEOC and supplemented with one-to-one tutoring and oral English practice in conversation groups led by trained volunteers. Students will be placed into classes depending on their English proficiency as measured by the BestPlus assessment test. Students will make learning gains on the BestPlus and/or achieve self-identified goals, e.g. participating in their children’s education, obtaining employment, improving family health, achieving U.S. Citizenship, and participating in community life.
Day Care Services
The Salvation Army Day Care Services Programs provide quality childcare for low-income families at three licensed day care centers located in the downtown area of Syracuse. The programs offer families access to quality childcare for their children, ages 6 weeks to 12 years and promote the development of children in a safe and nurturing environment. The program provides opportunities for enhanced on-site programming, including Early Head Start, Head Start, and Expanded Pre -K, Universal Pre-K, homework help and an integrated learning environment for children with special needs. Our services help prepare children for school success and pro-social interactions.
Community Child Care Scholarship Program
Reliable child care is a necessity for parents who must work outside the home to support their family. Children’s physical, emotional and cognitive development is impacted by the quality of the care they receive, but high quality child care is expensive and often unaffordable for moderate-income families. Since 2005, Child Care Solutions has provided financial assistance through the Community Child Care Scholarship Program to help moderate-income working parents in Onondaga County enroll their children in NY State regulated child care centers for quality care and early learning.
Vocational and Employment Services Program
AURORA’s Vocational and Employment Services Program equips youth and adults with vision or hearing loss or both with the skills to secure and maintain educational and vocational success. This program provides specialized job readiness and vocational skill building through pre-vocational (soft-skills) and assistive technology training, pre-college preparation and career exploration and work readiness workshops and training, in an experiential, community-based context that specifically addresses the unique needs of workers with vision or hearing loss.
EPIC (Education, Preparation, Involvement, and Community)
EPIC is an employment program within the structure of our Residential Treatment Program that provides a variety of employment education and services to youth 14 years and older. EPIC stands for Education, Preparation, Involvement and Community. During each stage, youth will be provided with education, skill development and experiences toward work readiness, life skills and eventually employment. Our goal is for each youth to take the skills and experiences they have gained at Elmcrest and begin to apply them when returning to their home communities and continue on the path of success to graduate high school, gain employment and foster strong connections within their communities.
Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection
Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection, an evidence informed model, works with middle and high school students in the Syracuse City School District who are at-risk for dropping out of high school. Students are paired with a professional, full-time Youth Advocate who serves as their mentor and works with them to ensure their graduation from high school. Additionally, students who qualify academically are trained and placed in after-school/summer jobs. Other critical services provided include: academic tutoring, Regents preparation, social, life skill, and leadership development, and college and career preparation and support. On average, 97 percent of HW-SC seniors graduate on-time every year.
College Access & Success
On Point for College’s College Access & Success Program informs older youth/young adults that college is possible; and then advises them how to enroll in, persist at and complete college. Services include outreach at 12 community centers, advisement about college and financial aid applications, campus tours, transportation, last dollar grants for housing deposits, textbooks, and basic needs, college orientations and follow-up advisement such as visits at college campuses. For 17 years, On Point has established caring relationships with our students, providing a support network, like no other organization in its breadth of outreach, advocacy, advisement and resolution concerning academic, financial, and personal challenges.
Primary Project
Primary Project is a school-based prevention and early intervention program for students enrolled in grades kindergarten through three who have been identified as at risk for school maladjustment and/or failure. Contact Community Services, Inc. partners with the Syracuse City School District, the East Syracuse-Minoa Central School District, Southside Academy Charter School and Liverpool Central School District to provide Primary Project services to help identified students become more emotionally resilient, develop better social skills, and improve school adjustment and learning. Outcomes for participating students include increased task orientation, behavior control, assertiveness, and peer social skills.
Education Advocacy
ARISE’s Education Advocacy provides services to parents who have children with disabilities enrolled in the Syracuse City School District. Our Education Advocate provides parents with the information, resources, skills, and support needed for them to more fully engage with and participate in their child’s education. This leads to collaborative relationships between parents and school staff that ensure children with disabilities receive an appropriate education, which gives them the ability to succeed in school, and to live independent and self-directed lives as adults.
Transition Coach Program
CCA’s Transition Coach Program provides transitional support services to students grades K-12 returning to Syracuse City School District mainstream schools after a long-term out-of-school suspension, placement in a juvenile residential facility, juvenile detention or adult incarceration. The objective is to ensure students returning to mainstream schools make a successful academic and behavioral transition in accordance with the District’s Code of Conduct, Character and Support, and are positive citizens in their communities. The two United Way proposed positions would service TCP eligible 15-20 year olds, separated by gender, whom are returning from a juvenile residential facility, juvenile detention, or adult incarceration.
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) is a partnership with the community to mentor youth. Community members are the heart of the program – school personnel, human services agencies, churches, businesses, high school student volunteer mentors, college student volunteer mentors and adult volunteer mentors. PEACE, Inc. has two BBBS mentoring programs – each based in community and school. Children ages six through 12 are recruited through outreach efforts and referrals from partner agencies. The community-based program recruits mentors from the local community, while the School-Based program mentors are high school and college students.
Family Support Network
Family Support Network is a year round parent education program for parents and caregivers of all learning abilities. The program strives to offer a wide variety of learning opportunities and group experiences with an emphasis on hands on learning. The goal is to improve the overall functioning of families by helping parents and caregivers increase knowledge and awareness, gain/ retain essential skills, insights and abilities to care for their children and themselves, and raise awareness of additional community supports and services.
Exploring Your World Inclusive Preschool
Exploring Your World is an inclusive preschool that provides early education to children with disabilities and their typically developing peers. The school serves children starting at eighteen months and until they leave for kindergarten. The inclusive nature of the school results in a high student to staff ratio as the school has dedicated speech, occupational and physical therapists who work alongside classroom teachers. Approximately 50 percent of students are diagnosed with a developmental disability. The school’s location on the Northside of Syracuse attracts a diverse population.
Preschool Program
The Preschool Program provides accessible year-round early childhood education at no cost. The program enhances cognitive, emotional, social, physical, and linguistic development so children are developmentally on track when entering kindergarten. The target population is comprised of vulnerable families with children three to five year olds living in high-need neighborhoods of the city of Syracuse. Participants represent the city’s growing ethnic and linguistic diversity with many children being English Language Learners (ELLs). The program provides transportation and educational opportunities to support and engage parents. Operating since 1972, the program now provides Universal and Expanded Pre-K (UPK and EPK) and is adding Three-Year-Old Pre-K (3PK), all in partnership with the Syracuse City School District (SCSD).
Preschool Program
The Preschool Program engages children from eighteen months to five years old in an exciting, high quality educational program, designed to meet their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical needs. It is a low cost program specifically designed to equalize and maintain educational resources for those children who are socially, economically, or developmentally disadvantaged. Special events, field trips, and literacy activities are prearranged to encourage parental involvement and family interaction.
Community Wide Dialogue to End Racism – Starting Small Program
Established in 2000, Starting Small operates through Seeds of Peace, which are weekly dialogue and action clubs in each Syracuse high school where native and non-native born Syracuse high school students work together on peace-building projects in schools and communities; and the School Exchange, which brings together diverse youth from elementary, middle, and high schools in Syracuse and in Onondaga, Madison, and Oswego Counties. The Program creates a safe space for dialogue about structural racism; learning conflict resolution skills; building alliances; and breaking down stereotypes.
Refugee Youth and Family Support Program
The Refugee Youth and Family Support Program (RYFS) is a comprehensive youth development program serving refugee children and teens. The program offers orientation to the American school system, academic enrichment, leadership development, and support services. Each year, approximately 450 refugee children from around the world begin new lives in the city of Syracuse. The objectives of this program are to prepare refugee youth for academic success, to assist their integration into the community, and to facilitate progress of refugee youth toward a high school degree. The RYFS Program has provided services for 25 years.
Refugee Resettlement Program
The Refugee Resettlement Program welcomes men, women, and children to the United States when they are forced to flee their own countries because of war, oppression, or persecution. In 2016, the largest resettlement populations were from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, and Somalia. Despite the hardships inherent in the forced migration experience, refugees are extremely motivated people who want to be self-supporting. The Refugee Resettlement Program strives to provide newly arriving refugees with a safe place to start a new life and with the skills and supports necessary to achieve economic self-sufficiency through employment.
Youth Development Program
HFC’s Youth Development Program offers safe, structured, year round programming for youth ages 5 to 19. The Youth Program focuses on social competencies, educational support, physical activity, and positive values in an environment where youth can form healthy relationships with peers and staff. Activities and enrichment experiences are developed to enhance cognitive, social, and physical development. Services provided include afterschool programs for youth and teens, full-day summer program, case management and mentoring for youth at high risk for school failure, juvenile delinquency, or involvement in the criminal justice system. All services are provided free of charge to youth and families.
Community Program Fund - RECIPIENTS
EITC: You’ve Earned It
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the several tax credits that individuals can access that may increase their available financial resources. EITC: You’ve Earned IT!, PEACE, Inc. free tax preparation program for lower income Onondaga County residents, ensures people receive the highest possible state and federal income tax refunds, and saves them from losing funds to high interest rates from predatory lenders and/or tax preparation fees. The program also offers financial education to help people manage their money and plan for the future.
Disaster Service & Preparedness Training/Ready CNY
Disasters strip innocent people of their essential needs, including food, clothing, shelter, and comfort. In order to better prepare our community, the American Red Cross’s Disaster Services and Preparedness Training will address all aspects of the disaster cycle by: 1) educating citizens and organizations on preemptive measures that can be taken to alleviate the effects of disaster; 2) creating new preparedness programs; 3) continuing to provide immediate, direct assistance for victims of disaster; and 4) engaging government, community response personnel, and non-profit agencies to ensure an coordinated effort to respond to a disaster.
Rapid Rehousing for LGBT Youth
The Rapid Rehousing for LGBTQ Youth program targets LGBTQ youth ages 18-24 experiencing chronic homelessness, as defined by HUD. The program provides rental subsidies for up to 24 months, security deposits, emergency financial assistance, moving assistance and supportive case management. The Housing Case Manager helps youth identify housing based on their unique needs, preferences, and financial resources; deal with issues that may inhibit access to housing (credit, debt, legal issues); and negotiate manageable and appropriate lease agreements with landlords. Youth have access to Independent Living Skills workshops focused on budgeting, employment, education, nutrition, landlord relations and healthcare.
Coordinated Services for Homeless Women & Families
Homelessness is a serious issue in the Syracuse community, especially among individuals with disabilities and mental health diagnoses. As a result of the Coordinated Services for Homeless Women and Families program, individuals and families have a safe place to sleep at night as well as access to the services and supports that can assist them in obtaining a place to call home. The program serves approximately 475 people each year who struggle with poverty, substance abuse issues, inadequate daily living skills, and domestic violence.
Coordinated Services for Homeless Men
Homelessness remains a serious issue in the Syracuse community, especially among individuals with disabilities and mental health diagnoses. As a result of the Coordinated Services for Homeless Men program, individuals have a safe place to sleep at night as well as access to the services and supports that can assist them in obtaining a place to call home. The program serves approximately 900 people each year who struggle with poverty, substance abuse issues, inadequate daily living skills, and even domestic violence. CCOC has provided homeless shelter services for 36 years.
Barnabas Residential
Barnabas Residential provides emergency shelter, transitional housing and rental assistance for runaway and homeless youth and young adults, ages 16-24 years old. Services for youth are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition to these unique housing components, Barnabas Residential offers case management, independent living skills, employment readiness activities, leadership preparation, community/volunteer service and recreation. Barnabas Residential is certified by the NYS Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS). Barnabas Residential has three distinctly different types of housing programs for transitional age youth, capable of meeting the “readiness” level of any youth accessing services: Emergency Shelter, Transitional Apartments, and Rapid Rehousing Rental Assistance.
Booth House
Booth House is an emergency shelter and respite program for runaway, homeless and high-risk youth, ages 12-17 years old. The program provides more than 200 youth each year with immediate housing 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition to emergency housing, Booth House offers a variety of crisis services including an alternative to juvenile justice detention, planned respite, family mediation, case management, homebound schooling, living skills and recreation activities. Booth House is certified by the NYS Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS). Located in the City of Syracuse on Midland Avenue, Booth House is a large, comfortable 15-bed home situated in a residential neighborhood.
Emergency Family Shelter
The Salvation Army Emergency Family Shelter provides temporary emergency housing to homeless families of any configuration including extended families, caregiver-lead families, single men with children, families with adolescent male children and single pregnant women. Crisis counseling, comprehensive social work services to families in shelter as well as families temporarily housed in a hotel and linkages to mainstream and community resources are provided to help families secure and maintain permanent housing.
Women’s Shelter
The Salvation Army Women’s Shelter is a fifteen bed shelter for homeless, single women with at least one serious and persistent mental health diagnosis, often with co-occurring substance use disorders. Currently there is a two bedroom transitional apartment which functions as a semi-independent setting for clients waiting for permanent housing. The shelter meets all basic needs, provides intensive case management services and conducts various assessments including mental health and housing vulnerability (needs) assessments to assist in making referrals to appropriate independent or supportive housing. In addition to housing, referrals and linkages are provided for needed services such as inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment, aftercare coordination, and financial resources. In January of 2018, the Women’s Shelter will relocate to a new facility. This is being developed in partnership with Housing Visions and will be a fully accessible shelter with 15 beds and an additional 16 Permanent Supportive Apartments on the upper 3 floors. The addition of the apartments will allow women who need a supported living environment to experience the benefit of 24 hour staff support and case management as they transition from homelessness to permanent housing.
Women’s Residence Program
The Women’s Residence Program is a residential program that provides supportive housing and case management to underserved single and parenting women. Many of our clients come from various backgrounds that include domestic violence, mental health, homelessness, substance abuse, poverty, low educational levels, and have suffered various traumas. We provide safe, stable, and affordable housing within a structured and supportive environment. The program assists women in developing independent living skills, allowing them to overcome challenges, function at their highest degree of independence, and better their quality of life within a safe space.
Emergency Assistance Services
CCOC’s Emergency Assistance Services (CCEAS) responds to a variety of crisis situations faced by individuals and families every day in the community. At its Downtown Syracuse office, program staff are available to clients on a walk-in basis or through referrals from many other public and private agencies. The needs presented range from one-time help with eviction prevention to assisting a family struggling with chronic food insecurity, to helping someone transition from a homeless shelter to a stable, independent living situation. The program seeks to alleviate the immediate crisis and assist clients in obtaining the skills and resources to prevent its recurrence.
Retail Partnership Program
In 2010 the Retail Partnership Program (RPP) was created to acquire fresh produce, meat, and dairy products from local retail stores that would typically go to waste. By doing this we have been able to provide fresh and healthy foods to our partner agencies throughout our eleven county service area on a daily basis who, in turn, directly serve their clients. Within Onondaga County, our collaborations with 25 retail partners have enabled us to distribute 988,615 pounds of food directly to 43 emergency food programs in the county.
Emergency Services
Huntington Family Centers, Inc. offers Emergency Services to individuals and families in need of food and clothing while helping them find the resources to reduce future crisis and promote the highest degree of independence. To accomplish this, Huntington Family Centers operates a client choice Food Pantry and a clothing exchange room (The Trading Post) where individuals and families can obtain free clothing and household goods. HFC also serves as a Food Sense site.
Food Service Center
The Rescue Mission Food Service Center in Syracuse serves a fully prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner every day of the year to men, women and children who might otherwise go hungry. The center serves men and women experiencing homelessness as well as individuals and families who have housing but are food insecure.
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Emergency & Practical Assistance Services (E/PAS)
The Emergency and Practical Assistance Services (E/PAS) program helps economically disadvantaged individuals and families in crisis by meeting basic needs such as obtaining food, housing, clothing and the essentials of daily living. Crisis intervention, individualized advocacy and support, and linkages to mainstream and community resources are provided in order to stabilize housing and income. E/PAS provides housing location, housing subsidies, practical assistance, transportation, household management and other life-skill training for those who are homeless, unemployed, under-employed, mentally ill and/or prior members of the armed forces.
Hot Meals Program
Samaritan Center serves hot, nutritious meals 365 days a year to anyone in need without questions, judgment or preconditions. The Hot Meals Program is specifically designed to combat hunger, alleviate social isolation and provide a platform for case management, education and information/referral services while offering opportunities for a broad base of community volunteers. A hot breakfast meal is offered five days per week, serving on average 150 meals per day. Our dinner meal is offered seven days a week, serving on average 215 meals per day. The Samaritan Center has seen a steady growth in the number of guests and the number of meals served each day with over 119,000 meals served in the fiscal year 2015-2016.
Basic Needs Program
SNCC’s Basic Needs program stabilizes the home economic foundations of our clients against the destructive effects of generational poverty and acute crisis. It does so through the logic model of providing immediate food and basic assistance strengthened by comprehensive referral and case management services tailored to prevent crises from reoccurring. Clients come to our pantry because they are facing dire material insecurities. They also come when they have urgent household problems they cannot solve alone. Therefore, we pair food outputs with access to agency and community resources to create a one-stop shop for resolving immediate needs and enhancing future-oriented stability.
Employment Services
ARISE’s Employment Services assist people with disabilities in obtaining and retaining competitive employment through vocational assessment; comprehensive work readiness education and skill building activities; job search skill building and assistance; and job placement and retention services, including ongoing Job Coaching when needed. In addition, ARISE’s Employment Services focus on increasing disability awareness; building and maintaining relationships with local employers; assisting employers in taking advantage of wage and on-the-job training subsidies, tax credits, and other work incentives; and designing “win-win” situations for the employer and the person hired.
Culinary Arts for Self-Sufficiency (CASS)
Through the Culinary Arts for Self-Sufficiency (CASS) program, unemployed individuals lacking job skills will be trained, certified to work in a commercial kitchen, and assisted in finding employment. CASS is a five-week vocational training program focusing on the essential skills of the food service industry combined with soft skill classes and access to employment specialists who provide job coaching, placement assistance, and support services during and after the program. The program, which once focused on the refugee population, has expanded to include native-born individuals facing high barriers to employment. The objective is to decrease the number of unemployed individuals by helping them acquire job skills that are in demand in the local community.
Career Pathways
Career Pathways workforce development service assists clients with learning difficulties who do not qualify for other employment support services. They are often living in poverty due to lack of consistent employment. Career Pathways will assist in obtaining and maintaining employment. Most clients will obtain jobs within the city of Syracuse, often in their neighborhood. Many of these clients will work and live in close proximity to each other, creating neighborhoods with less poverty. Program services include technical as well as soft skills. Having both of these skill sets makes someone better able to succeed in the workplace. After obtaining and maintaining employment, clients will be better able to financially stabilize themselves and their families.
Civil Legal Assistance Program
The Civil Legal Assistance Program helps low-income individuals prevent and manage crises and increase independence, safety and security for their families by providing free legal assistance in a wide range of legal matters. Services, including complete representation, advice, brief service and referral, are provided in family law, housing and unemployment matters. Specialized projects provide representation to special populations including victims of domestic violence, non-custodial parents, cancer patients, immigrants and refugees and people facing homelessness due to eviction and foreclosure. Services are provided primarily to Onondaga County residents. The cancer, immigration and foreclosure projects serve multi-county regions in central New York.
Services to the Armed Forces
The American Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) provides programs for our military, veterans and their families that begin at enlistment, continue through active service, and through life after the military, providing emergency communication services, family service and hospital support. Though this continuum of caring, the Red Cross maintains its over 135 year commitment to help our service men and women at their time of need.
Onondaga Self-Development
The Onondaga Self-Development (OSD) program (formerly called Self-Development Reentry) provides workforce development-related services to two populations: (1) young men and women ages 18-30 returning to the community after a period of incarceration at the Onondaga County Correctional Facility (OCCF), so that their community reintegration can be successful and safe; (2) men and women with a criminal history, including those formerly incarcerated, who drop in at CCA’s office looking for employment services. The program objectives are to provide employment readiness assistance, facilitate job placement and job retention, and help participants overcome the formal and informal barriers to successful reentry.
Refugee Resettlement Program
The Refugee Resettlement Program welcomes men, women, and children to the United States when they are forced to flee their own countries because of war, oppression, or persecution. In 2016, the largest resettlement populations were from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, and Somalia. Despite the hardships inherent in the forced migration experience, refugees are extremely motivated people who want to be self-supporting. The Refugee Resettlement Program strives to provide newly arriving refugees with a safe place to start a new life and with the skills and supports necessary to achieve economic self-sufficiency through employment.
Community Integration Program
For over 35 years, the Center for New Americans has provided resettlement and post-resettlement services for refugees. In 2016, we received over 650 refugees from all parts of the world. Many have never lived in urban environments, speak little English and have limited education. These barriers make it hard to navigate social service, educational or medical systems. In the initial resettlement period (90-180 days), clients receive intensive case management services that include: applying for public assistance and Social Security cards; obtaining referrals for medical services; facilitating school enrollment for school-age children; referrals to English as a Second Language classes; and job training and placements for adults. The Community Integration (CI) Program provides access to personalized assistance and crisis intervention services for up to five years after arrival.
Provisions
Provisions Bakery and Restaurant is a transitional employment placement which provides supported employment to adults who have been labeled with a mental health diagnosis. People learn transferable work skills in a valued community setting while earning minimum wage. Trainees work in an attractive, competitive business setting where they gain experience as cooks, bakers, dishwashers, janitors, waiters and counter people. Their experience enables them to develop the work skills and interpersonal skills they need in order to obtain and maintain competitive employment in the community. Equally, if not more important, work at Provisions becomes part of each trainee’s recovery process, helping each individual to recognize their abilities and potential for growth, and thereby restoring hope despite any diagnosis they may have.
Crisis Management & Prevention Service (CMPS)
ARISE’s Crisis Management & Prevention Service assist people with low income who are of any age with any type of disabilities in resolving an immediate crisis, and provides one-on-one support to strengthen skills, obtain resources, and develop a plan to maximize independence and prevent future crises. The program focuses on creating understanding of the various benefits available, teaching self-advocacy skills, assistance with applying for and securing benefits and income supports, and helping maintain those benefits and supports that allow people to live independently in our community.
Services Coordination
Welch Terrace as a supportive housing program provides the wrap-around care of a Services Coordinator on-site for the residents of a 23 unit single-bedroom apartment building. To qualify as a tenant, persons are low-income and have one or more HIV-related disabilities. While the program is independent living, Welch Terrace fosters a community of caring among residents who are empowered to address education deficits, chronic mental health needs, substance abuse as well as complex medical concerns. High quality standards are met for the physical property and program to offer a comfortable and secure environment for personal safety and stability.
Community Program Fund - RECIPIENTS
Crisis Intervention Services
Crisis Interventions Services (CIS) provides a 24-hour suicide and crisis counseling line, crisis chat and telecare, a reassurance line to support the personal safety and well-being of homebound individuals. The 24-hour counseling support and crisis intervention assists individuals in crisis and/or in need of emotional support to develop a personal plan to manage and/or prevent future crisis. CIS also provides 24-hour 211 information and referral for human services, basic needs and mental health and after-hours telephone support for thirteen mental health clinics and human services agencies in our community.
Adolescent Health Initiative
The Adolescent Health Initiative is a comprehensive pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention program targeting youth between the ages of 13-21. The purpose of the program is to reduce the incidence of adolescent pregnancy and STDs through proven, high impact prevention strategies and innovative interventions targeting youth at risk for unplanned pregnancy and STDs. The program provides comprehensive, evidence-based sexual health education for teens, parent/caregiver education, and accurate information about sexual and reproductive health care and local family planning services available to young people. There are no associated costs for services provided through the Adolescent Health Initiative.
Youth Development Program
The Youth Development program provides youth ages 6 to 18 living in two disadvantaged Syracuse neighborhoods with safe, supervised places to go after school, during school holidays, and in the summer. CCOC has provided this neighborhood-based youth development approach since the first neighborhood center was founded in 1944. The program offers children and teens opportunities to use their free time constructively by engaging in homework assistance, recreational and socialization activities, pro-social skill development, and interaction with positive role models. The objectives are to reduce youth exposure to violence and support youth to build developmental assets and reduce risky behaviors so that they will successfully transition into adulthood.
Family Preservation Initiative
Hillside Children’s Center’s Family Preservation Initiative (FPI) is a short-term, intensive clinical service designed to help build strength, resources and supports for families in crisis. Our program aims to stabilize families, to keep youth from being placed in foster care, and to promote family reunification by helping youth return home from foster care. FPI partners with families to identify and create supportive permanent connections, knowing that families and youth who feel connected to others have a greater chance of achieving sustainable success. We also connect families with other community services that help the family to maintain safety and stability.
HOPE (Huntington Observation & Parent Education)
The HOPE (Huntington Observation and Parent Education) Program is a family reunification program providing supervised visitation with pre/post counseling for parents with children in foster care. HOPE offers structured feedback, curriculum based instruction, and ongoing support to achieve permanency. Services are provided to expedite reunification whenever possible and can include short term aftercare services following the child’s discharge from foster care. HOPE is a component of the Integrated Visitation Services Partnership (Family Place) which includes the Department of Children and Family Services, Salvation Army, Huntington Family Centers, and Catholic Charities.
Family Place
Family Place provides a continuum of services to birth parents and their children who are in foster care. Program components include comprehensive clinical assessment, supervised visitation, transportation of children to and from visits, parent coaching, and pre- and post-visit clinical counseling. Services are also designed to assist parents in making significant changes that will enable family reunification so children can return home safely from foster care. Additionally, parent education and coaching is focused on helping parents assist their children in meeting developmental milestones. Family Place serves complex families who struggle with chronic poverty, persistent mental health issues, cognitive delays, substance abuse, domestic/family violence and sexual abuse.
Community Living Skills for People with Vision/Hearing Loss
Aurora’s Community Living Skills Program for People with Vision/Hearing Loss assists individuals of all ages who are blind, visually impaired, deaf or hard of hearing to remain independent, safe and productive in their homes and the community by providing support, resources and specialized training. Program participants learn skills for coping, adjustment to sensory loss, safe travel, household management and activities of daily living to achieve their goals of independence and overall personal health and well-being.
Family Respite Services
Family Respite Services provide reliable, quality care for individuals with a developmental disability and their siblings, giving their caregivers a much needed break (respite) from the challenges and stress of caring for a family member with special needs. Respite helps keep families together by supporting the caregiver and giving them an opportunity to pause from the daily challenges which arise when caring for a person with a disability, while also providing fun and meaningful activities for their children. Family respite services is unique to Onondaga County in that it provides care to all of the children in the home, not just the child with a disability at no cost to the family. Medicaid services do not allow care for all the children and many of the families may not be enrolled in Medicaid services yet.
Q Center
The Q Center provides services, activities and supports for LGBTQ youth, parents/caregivers and families of LGBTQ children, and children of LGBTQ parents. We offer weekly and semi-monthly support groups for LGBTQ youth/young adults and parents of LGBTQ youth; an afterschool program offering GED assistance, experienced tutors, a state-of-the-art cyber center, an LGBTQ inclusive library, and semi-annual scholarships; nutrition education and assistance; alcohol and substance free social activities; a rapid rehousing program including rental assistance, security deposits and emergency financial assistance; testing for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV, and Hepatitis C; mental health assessments, counseling and referrals; LGBTQ-centered case management; school-based Gay-Straight Alliance support; LGBTQ Cultural Competency workshops for providers; and leadership and advocacy training for LGBTQ young people.
Psychotherapy Program
The Psychotherapy Program provides accessible, community-based mental health services for individuals with mental health challenges resulting in chaotic lives, unproductive behaviors, and an inability to manage life stresses. For 41 years, service has been devoted to individuals and families within Onondaga County who can’t afford mental health treatment. Special attention has been devoted to trauma survivors, refugees, and the homeless. Many are unemployed or underemployed, without health insurance, or have high deductibles that prohibit the use of insurance for service. Professional, evidence-based therapeutic interventions are offered to individuals and families seeking improved functioning and new skills to enhance daily life.
Suicide-Safer Community Project
Building a suicide-safer community requires the engagement, awareness and vigilance of schools, public and private organizations and individuals. The Suicide-safer Community Project provides evidence-based suicide prevention workshops that teach participants how to recognize warning signs, ask appropriate questions and make referrals; intervention training that teaches how to assist in a suicidal crisis; and postvention training that teaches how to promote healing and reduce risk. Contact will also be the lead for the Onondaga County Suicide Prevention Coalition (OCSPC) to bring agencies and community members together around suicide. The program increases public awareness of suicide, its warning signs and local resources through media messages and educational materials.
Mental Health Support Program
InterFaith Works’ (IFW) Mental Health Support Program (MHS) provides vulnerable refugee individuals and families with culturally appropriate mental and emotional health support. Services include assessment, individual and family counseling, home visits, and guided psychiatric referrals. Trained mental health interpreters and peer helpers are present throughout the treatment process for refugee clients with limited English language proficiency.
Preventive Services Program
The Preventive Services Program provides intensive in-home support services to families whose children are at-risk of foster care placement because of an indicated child abuse or neglect report, or are at imminent risk of abuse or neglect. Clients are often economically disadvantaged and impacted by issues such as domestic violence, homelessness, mental health, and substance abuse. The primary objective is to prevent foster care placement by providing supportive services to families which enable their children to remain safely at home. This is done through supportive case management, parent education, and ongoing assessment of safety and risk. The prevention of abuse, neglect and foster care placement also targets community and social health issues for children such as school achievement and social and emotional development.
Specialized Counseling Services
Specialized Counseling Services is a unique blend of therapeutic interventions that will meet the needs of a targeted population of families and individuals not served elsewhere in the community. Counselors work in diverse community settings designed to provide a variety of counseling, rehabilitation, and support services. Scope of practice included work with children, adolescents, adults, or families that have multiple issues, such as mental health disorders and addiction, disability and employment needs, school problems or career counseling needs, and trauma. Treatment modalities include Functional Family Therapy (FFT), for families with adolescents who are struggling with emotional and behavioral problems and Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM) for domestic violence counseling. Clients have the option of receiving services in their home or a clinic office setting.
Better Beginnings
The Better Beginnings program is a specialized parent/child therapy program serving parents diagnosed with chronic mental health problems who are experiencing difficulties parenting their children five years old and under. Home-based services aim at engaging chaotic and traumatized parents who previously have not successfully participated in mental health treatment. Since 1987, this program has provided evidence-based individual and family therapy in conjunction with child development and parent education. Program goals include fostering improved day-to-day parent functioning and more consistent and positive parenting (bonding, decreasing the likelihood of child trauma and mental illness, and preventing foster care and adult hospitalization).
Health Teens/Healthy Babies
The objective of the Healthy Teens/Healthy Babies program is to ensure young women enroll in pre-natal care, get mental health support if needed, and raise their infant in a safe, healthy, and nurturing environment. The program provides a continuum of evidence-based services that are wrapped around the 32-year-old Lullaby League course. Pregnant adolescents and young women living in the city of Syracuse participate in the Lullaby League four-week birthing and infant care education course, as well as pregnancy case management before and after birth. A support group and parenting course are also available to new mothers and their babies.
Parent Education
The Parent Education program provides a continuum of home-visiting services (i.e., Parent Aide) and curriculum-based instruction to parents whose children are at risk of or have been placed in foster care due to abuse and neglect. Using evidence-based curriculum in both the home and classroom, program staff teaches parenting and living skills. Parents learn about child development, age-appropriate expectations, appropriate disciplinary practices, and how to maintain a safe environment. They are also linked to natural community resources to reduce isolation. The objective is to increase the parents’ mastery so they can create an environment where children are safe, nurtured, and achieve physical and emotional well-being.
Transitional Apartments & Parenting Center (TAPC)
The TAPC is a 24-unit apartment and parenting center, providing long-term transitional housing and non-residential services for pregnant and parenting young women, ages 16-21 (including their dependent infants and toddlers). For a quarter of a century, TAPC youth have benefited from supportive housing, case management, parenting and living skills classes, pregnancy preventive, employment readiness and assistance with maintaining school enrollment. The TAPC offers a caring home-like environment where young women receive 24-hour supervision, crisis intervention, advocacy and counseling, assistance with medical appointments, recreation, socialization and licensed daycare services. The combination of these daily supports and critical interventions create a comprehensive approach that breaks the cycle of poverty and homelessness for these young families.
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Elderly Services
Through Catholic Charities of Onondaga County (CCOC) Elderly Services programs, senior citizens will receive the skills and services necessary to remain living independently. Since 1977, the Elderly Services programs have assisted Onondaga County residents, 60 years and older, by providing a continuum of interventions beginning with information and referral and progressing to case management, transportation, home repairs, and volunteer opportunities. Staff meets with seniors to assess their needs and provide services. Socialization, nutrition, and exercise programs are provided at the agency’s senior center encouraging seniors to improve their quality of life and take advantage of the opportunity to meet with staff for individualized needs.
Senior Services Program
Our Senior Services Program trains volunteers to serve vulnerable older adults in Onondaga County. For 30 years, our Senior Companion Program has recruited low-income seniors to be volunteer companions for vulnerable older adults, providing them crucial support to maintain their independence. The program is the only free service of its kind in our area; companions receive a stipend for their service. Our One-to-One program places volunteers to serve as friendly visitors to isolated elders in nursing homes – these residents have no family, faith community, or friendship circle nearby. There are no requirements to be a One-to-One volunteer.
AgeWise Care
AgeWise Care is an accessible, comprehensive system integrating the complex forms of assistance many older adults need to age safely and with maximum independence and wellbeing. Based on a holistic approach combining care management, and emotional, cognitive, behavioral and social support and education, AgeWise Care avoids barriers of stigma, mobility and cost to help older adults and their families enter the program in the way that feels comfortable and relevant to them: screening and assessment; care planning and coordination; information and referral; personal affairs assistance; benefits and service coordination; family liaison and support; transportation; home-delivered meals; an early memory loss program, and therapeutic counseling and psychoeducational programming.
Senior Services – Social Day
The Salvation Army Senior Services provides a continuum of community-based non-residential services to help eligible adults and seniors maintain a high degree of independence, reduce isolation, with the main focus on keeping individuals in the community. The Salvation Army Senior Services department is comprised of several different programs, including the senior day center, community outreach, and within the last two years the addition of the Pathways to Independence program which supports individuals transitioning from nursing homes to community settings. The senior center serves well and frail seniors as well as older adults with developmental disabilities. The outreach programs serve individuals age 60 and over. The Pathways to Independence program serves older adults as well as adults with disabilities. The programs refer to each other allowing The Salvation Army to provide a continuum of services for individuals by offering case management, support and advocacy services, housing assistance which are all designed to provide adults with developmental disabilities, adults with disabilities, and older adults and their caregivers with linkages to mainstream and community-based resources. All of the programs are designed with the goal of maximizing levels of physical and emotional health and well-being.
Senior Support
SNCC proudly promotes healthy and independent lifestyles while caring for older adults through our accessible Senior Program. SNCC has assisted seniors in maintaining autonomous control over their lives by providing direct services and social experiences in and outside of our neighborhood-based Community Center. Senior Support, one of SNCC’s core organizational values, helps older adults stay active and live independently by providing nutritious meals, group exercise, outdoor recreation and community field trips. This program also provides free point-to-point transportation to the grocery store, to medical appointments, or to other errand locations, case management services, and other various programming opportunities.
Westcott Senior Services
Westcott Community Center offers comprehensive programming to support the health and well-being of senior citizens in order for them to stay active and healthy, connect with others, and maintain their independence. Through a variety of activities—such as daily nutritious lunches, exercise classes, health and wellness information, socialization activities, transportation for appointments and shopping, and referrals—the Westcott CC offers a multitude of opportunities that promote and support healthy aging.
Family Transitions Program
The Family Transitions Program provides community based treatment to children and families in Onondaga County who have been affected by sexual abuse. Given the cyclic nature of sexual abuse, our work with children and families is unique in that, in addition to treating the child who displayed sexually harmful behavior, we are in tandem examining the family system, and identifying/targeting interventions to address environmental or external factors that have the potential to perpetuate patterns abuse. Subsequently, treatment may include the involvement of parents, caregivers, natural supports, siblings, relatives, and victims. It is through this process that we have had the ability to be proactive in our efforts, and identify and intervene with other children whose behaviors are sexually problematic, before they become abusive or experience victimization. This program has the capacity to serve 72 children/families.
Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking, like other global issues, is a crime that impacts all communities. This Human Trafficking proposal provides services targeting sexually exploited youth ages 12-17. The program will offer intensive case management and advocacy services, which includes assessment, planning, and referrals; coordination of a multi-disciplinary team and; promotion of community awareness about sexual exploitation of children, including identification and referral. The integrated continuum of service will respond to youth through crisis counseling, street outreach, case-management provision of safe shelter, transitional living services, life skills training, discharge planning, and aftercare.
Onondaga Overdose Prevention
Onondaga Overdose Prevention is a certified opioid overdose prevention service through NYS Department of Health. The program teaches community members how to recognize the signs of an opiate overdose and how to respond using a naloxone (Narcan) rescue kit. During the education session, participants learn about the trends of drug use and overdose in our community and the many resources we have available for treatment and support. They are also offered direct referrals to other services such as insurance enrollment; healthcare; and case management. The education session combined with the distribution of naloxone results directly in lives saved.
Safety First Health Outreach Project (SFHOP)
The Safety First Health Outreach Project (SFHOP) conducts street and web-based outreach to high risk populations and engages those individuals in services based on the needs they personally identify. SFHOP is a mobile program, meeting the community and consumers where they are at, and offers a spectrum of prevention services, including: individual risk reduction assessment and counseling; rapid testing for HIV, viral hepatitis C (HCV), and syphilis; STD screening for gonorrhea and chlamydia; and syringe exchange services.
Barnabas Center
Barnabas Center provides runaway, homeless and high-risk youth and young adults (ages 12-24) with a variety of non-residential services including case management, gang intervention, street outreach, pregnancy prevention, independent living skills, youth leadership activities, educational assistance, employment training and recreation. Barnabas Center is a safe supportive environment where high-risk youth receive the type of support that provides the knowledge, skills and motivation necessary to successfully transition disconnected youth from childhood to young adulthood. Youth are encouraged to continually build and refine their strength-based assets, gaining the poise and perspective to achieve their personal life goals.
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