NORWICH – Catholic Charities of Chenango County is introducing changes to its programming, including its Roots and Wings program, that it says are a step forward in helping the organization become more sustainable in the long-run.
Catholic Charities rolled out three new programs this year, creating a total 24 new jobs within the organization and expanding services for certain demographics including the elderly, the developmentally disabled, and individuals who are Medicaid eligible.
Another program geared toward individuals in need of emergency respite services is slated to start in January, and will add another 10 jobs to Catholic Charities’ roster.
According to Jeff Chesebro, Director of Operations at Catholic Charities, the new programs are designed to strike a balance between long-term viability and meeting community needs. State agencies, namely the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), are shifting funding streams from in-patient to out-patient service programs. Unfortunately, there’s a gap in programming that’s available in Chenango County, said Chesebro.
Catholic Charities is trying to fill that gap.
“This is the direction that our state legislators are moving our human services – to these home and community based types of services,” said Chesebro. “What we’re doing as an agency is analyzing which one of these services will be viable in the future and we’re trying to transition all our services in that direction. So we're constantly reviewing all of our programs to shape and reform them.”
Catholic Charities introduced three new programs this year. Its Health Home Care Coordination services provide comprehensive care management and care coordination services to Medicaid recipients with serious physical health and behavioral health needs. The program helps individuals navigate the healthcare system, and offers care management, care coordination, individual and family support, and level of care transitioning and planning support and referral services.
Catholic Charities’ Community Habilitation Services is taylored for individuals who don’t reside in a residence certified or operated by the OPWDD. The program meets the needs of developmentally disabled people and is delivered at any non-certified location, such as an individual’s home. Supports include adaptive skill development and assistance with daily living.
Intensive Behavioral Services, the last of the three programs started this year, is a short-term service for individuals with behavioral issues that put them at risk of placement in a more restrictive residential setting. The program teaches the individual, family and care givers the steps to take to prevent placement in a hospital or psychiatric center.
A fourth program for emergency free standing respite services will be available in January. This program serves individuals with developmental disabilities who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Catholic Charities will utilize the facility once used for its domestic crime victims services program which closed earlier this year. The new program will be a one-of-a-kind model in New York State, said Chesebro.
“This is the most viable opportunity for us, and it ended up being very unique,” he explained. “In New York State, this will be the only program specific to homeless individuals with developmental disabilities.”
Only two other free-standing respite service centers are located in the Southern Tier, one in Binghamton and the other in Ithaca.
Chesebro said the new program through Catholic Charities will cater to individuals who have relied on the help of family or friends but can no longer provide that same level of care. The program will be largely funded through OPWDD and the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. And there’s no sign of those funding streams drying up any time soon, Chesebro added.
“We do have a very high population of developmentally disabled individuals in Chenango County. Individuals with high intensive behavioral service needs have been waiting years to even locate that type of service,” he said. “I also feel like as our disability population increases in our regional area, our funding for these types of programming will also increase.”
In light of financial difficulties and identifying ways of making programming more viable, Catholic Charities is also implementing changes at Roots and Wings, its emergency services and self-sufficiency program. Roots and Wings provides clothing, food, household goods, and furniture for individuals and families in need.
While no changes are planned for food services at Roots and Wings’ food pantry, there are changes in store for the clothing and home goods service.
Catholic Charities’ Director of Community Outreach Gary Quarella cited tremendous financial burdens fronted by Roots and Wings in recent years. Funding for Roots and Wings has traditionally come by way of the Syracuse Diocese, local foundations, and the Chenango United Way. But while the community’s needs have skyrocketed (6,700 families served through the emergency food pantry, and 14,000 families served through all services combined last year), funds for Roots and Wings have stayed static. In some cases, it’s even lost some local support, despite operating five days a week with only one and half staff.
“It’s been a stretch,” Quarella said. “The numbers that we see for emergency services continues to grow every single year, and the funding streams are dwindling. We're going to need to look at ways to rethink the facility to make it viable.”
To combat the issue, Catholic Charities will be temporarily closing its clothing bank and household goods section in order to investigate the likelihood of reopening it under a thrift store model.
“We're going to take a few months to research thrift store concepts. We will potentially be transitioning the clothing and household goods section of the building to a thrift store concept so it can help generate program revenue and we can continue having staff,” said Quarella.
Plans are to stop collecting clothing and household item donations in November. Roots and Wings will continue all services through January in order to reduce its inventory before closing the clothing bank. It will, however, continue other services including the emergency food pantry, SNAP enrollment, facilitated enrollment for health insurance, emergency prescription insurance.
Hopes are to reopen the clothing and household goods section by spring.
“When we evaluate our programs, we began to notice the issues at Roots and Wings, and we were losing a substantial amount of funding through that program. It's a program that we really don't have funding for,” said Robin Beckwith, Executive Director for Catholic Charities of Chenango County. “We need to generate a limited income to be able to staff this facility, but we also want people to understand that we’re still here. We just need a couple months to clean up and investigate new options. Then we will open up with a new concept.”
“We’re strategically positioning ourselves for these changes to make sure the viability of these programs can continue into the future,” Chesebro said. “That’s something that we have not always been able to do in the past.”