Winter Newsletter

The VOA Children’s Center Celebrates 20 Years at Lake Ave. Campus

Twenty years ago, Sasha Lebron was a student at the VOA Children’s Center and now her 3-year-old daughter attends the Early Pre-Kindergarten (EPK) program there. “The Children’s Center helped me open up and learn to trust people when I was there,” Lebron says. “Now my daughter Zy’eomi goes here. I’m glad that she can go to school here too.”

The 2018-19 school year marks the 20^th anniversary of the Children’s Center at the Lake Avenue Campus. In 1998, Volunteers of America moved its children’s programming to a much larger and newly remodeled Children’s Center at the former Bill Gordon Chevrolet dealership. The new, state-of-the-art Children’s Center allowed VOA to increase the number of children that could be served and expand programming to include Early Head Start and Universal Pre-Kindergarten (UPK). Twenty years later, the VOA Children’s Center is the largest community based pre-school program in the City of Rochester and serves children from 6 weeks through 12 years old with a wide array of programs including childcare, after school programs, summer camp programs,  UPK, EPK, Head Start and Early Head Start programs that help to prepare children for success in school and in life.

“Programs such as Expanded Pre-K and Universal Pre-K provide a tremendous foundation for all children from not only an academic standpoint, but also in developing crucial social emotional skills at a young age,” Children’s Center Director Robert Stedman explains. “When children are able to have access to these programs, they are better positioned for success in future grades.”

Family Services Manager, Stacy Jo Healey, has been with the VOA Children’s Center for fifteen years. She talks about the positive feeling you get when you walk in the door. “I love the vibe and the energy of this building. We have such incredible families and kids. Families sometimes come with difficult circumstances and we’re here for them. We’re here for the families and we’re here for kids to set them up for success. It’s been great to see parents, kids, and staff grow.”

Want to learn more and see how you can make a difference? Join us for a tour and see the impact you make through your philanthropy. Email us at vhoak@voaupny.org or call Valerie Hoak at 585-402-7218 to schedule a visit today.

VOA Partners with Monroe County on New Program

The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services has awarded a five-year, $1 million grant to Volunteers of America Upstate New York to implement a cognitive behavioral intervention (CBI) program at the Monroe County Correctional Facility (MCF).  The program will serve more than 170 men and women each year using two evidence based CBI’s that have proven successful in reducing recidivism by helping people understand and change their criminal thinking patterns.

The program is designed to help people who are incarcerated overcome past experiences, change thought patterns, accept accountability for their actions and break free from a cycle of behaviors that harm self, loved ones and society. Evidence has shown that Cognitive Behavioral Interventions promote thriving communities by reducing recidivism and providing participants with the opportunity to create a healthier, more vibrant future for themselves and their families.

“This is critical work” says Angela Harbin, VOA’s Regional Vice President of Housing Programs, “because the people we are serving will be released into Monroe County and we want them to be positive, contributing members of our neighborhoods.”

Volunteers of America currently offers the Step by Step program to women at MCF and the Albion Correctional Facility. Step by Step provides women in prison with life skills and parenting workshops to aid in their successful transition back into their homes at the completion of their sentence.

These programs have been proven to lower rates of recidivism by nearly two-thirds and will help those we serve to move towards self-reliance and reach their full potential. To learn more about how we help those who have been or are incarcerated visit our website at https://www.voaupny.org/reentry

Government Shutdown Affects Funding

Volunteers of America provides services that are funded, in part, by the federal government.  Our housing, education, and re-entry programs rely on backing from departments such as Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the Department of Education. When the federal government shuts down and furloughs these workers, payments to providers such as VOA also stop temporarily. But we can’t close our housing and re-entry programs and wait for the money to pay the bills. People still need to have food and shelter.

At Volunteers of America Upstate New York, we are fortunate to have so much support from the community to help us keep our doors open. Every donation we receive makes a difference to the people and families we serve. With the effects of the long partial government shutdown and so many uncertainties in our future we are increasingly in need of assistance. If you would like to make a difference for people in crisis and ensure that VOA has the resources needed to keep programs open for impoverished children, at-risk youth, homeless families, veterans and low-income seniors please visit our website at www.voaupny.org/help to make a donation today. Thank you for your support.

The VOA Children's Center is excited to announce that it will be featured in a new promotional video for Pre- Kindergarten programming in the City of Rochester. VOA’s Children’s Center serves more than 270 three and four year old’s through Universal and Expanded Pre-K programs.

As a way to encourage positivity and develop leadership among students, the VOA Children’s Center is implementing The Energy Bus for Schools Leadership Journey (EBSLJ) which is a transformational approach for schools to create and sustain a positive school culture and develop positive school leaders. Staff, students and parents at the Children’s Center are encouraged to “fuel someone else’s ride” by expressing gratitude for someone in the building and recording it on school bus themed notes that are hung in the entry way so everyone can see them.

VOA’s Emergency Shelter Is a Beacon of Hope for Homeless Families in Binghamton

Homelessness can affect those who least expect it. One sudden change can turn your life upside down. Just ask Tom*. Tom is a lifelong Binghamton resident and single father of an 8-year-old daughter. He had a full-time job and was getting by paycheck to paycheck. And then suddenly last spring, Tom took on full custody of his five-year-old autistic nephew when his sister was battling drug addiction. The added costs of looking after a second child with a disability soon took a financial toll.

Once school let out for the summer, Tom didn’t have any child care options for the children so he began taking both of them with him to his job in food delivery. He was missing shifts and soon he couldn’t pay all of his rent. He was considering living out of his car when he turned to Volunteers of America for help.

VOA provided Tom and the children with temporary housing in one of the private apartments in the emergency family shelter. A VOA case manager began working with him to find an affordable home while also arranging subsidized day care for the two children so Tom didn’t have to take them to work every day. VOA also referred Tom’s sister to a treatment center to focus on her recovery.

After three weeks in the family shelter, Tom and the two children moved into an affordable apartment in the city. Through VOA’s rapid rehousing program, VOA provided the security deposit for the apartment and filled the cabinets with food so Tom and the kids would have a good start in their new place. With VOA, Tom was able to live with both children and maintain custody of his nephew while he worked with case managers to find suitable housing.  Now, five months later, Tom has maintained his employment and apartment where they are living together in a safe, stable environment.

“I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for Volunteers of America,” said Tom. “I didn’t know what to do. The staff at VOA were so kind and helpful. They helped me find a great apartment and a safe place for the kids to go so I could go to work.”

Tom is one of the lucky ones. He was able to stay with his kids while he worked through the challenges that led to his homelessness. Volunteers of America operates the only homeless shelter in Broome County that provides emergency housing and support services for entire families, keeping them together during their housing crisis. This ensures that single fathers can stay with their children. Other shelters serve women and children or men so men and women who come in together or single fathers with children cannot stay together. Homelessness is traumatic enough without separating families from each other. The Volunteers of America Emergency Family Shelter in Binghamton has seven private apartments for homeless families in crisis and serves more than 100 homeless families every year.

Volunteers of America also operates an emergency family shelter in Rochester with 13 private rooms for families which serves 200 families a year.

VOA is able to provide temporary, emergency housing and support services to families in crisis because of the generosity of local donors who provide the funding. Last fall, VOA launched a campaign to raise fuds to operate and support the shelters in Binghamton and Rochester. If you would like to make a difference for families like Tom’s please consider a donation at www.voaupny.org/emergencyshelters.

*Name has been changed for privacy.