Yonkers Times: NYS Senator Shelley Mayer Awards $125,000 in Grants to Support WJCS Group Homes and ParentChild+ Program

Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS) today announced that New York State Senator Shelley B. Mayer has selected WJCS as a recipient of two grants that will provide critically-needed support to its group homes and its ParentChild+ program.

WJCS operates 12 community residences in Westchester County for adults with developmental disabilities. The Local Community Assistance Program (LoCAP) Grant in the amount of $100,000 will be used to renovate the kitchen at WJCS’s Bryant House group home and the bathroom at WJCSs Cannon House group home. Members of WJCS group homes partake in a wide variety of social, recreational, and cultural activities, in addition to attending day programs in the Westchester community, to help them achieve their highest potential.

“We are proud to provide a supportive atmosphere through 24-hour, hands-on care at our group homes, offered by trained quality staff,” said WJCS CEO Seth Diamond. “Our group homes need to be maintained and renovated, just like all homes do. We thank Senator Mayer for this generous funding which is vitally important in the upkeep of our community residences and ensuring that members of our homes are safe and comfortable.”

A grant of $25,000 will fund WJCS’s ParentChild+ Home Visiting Program, a national early childhood, evidence-informed program that provides home visits to parents and their children, ranging in age from 16 months to 4 years old. Over the course of two years, an Early Learning Specialist visits each family twice per week and brings books, in English and in Spanish, and toys as gifts. They engage in reading and fun activities to stimulate parent-child interaction and promote the development of verbal, cognitive, and social-emotional skills critical for children’s long-term success.

 “The program’s goal is to ensure that children in under-resourced families start school prepared to succeed,” said Diamond. “We thank Senator Mayer for her longstanding support for WJCS Parent-Child Programs and grateful for her strong advocacy in Albany for all our county’s children.”  
 
State Senator Shelley B. Mayer said,“I am proud to secure $125,000 in state funding for Westchester Jewish Community Services to assist them with their group homes and ParentChild+ Program. The group homes provide members of the community with developmental disabilities with the critical service and support they need to live to their fullest potential. Their excellent ParentChild+ Program, which I have been fortunate to see first-hand, meets our neighbors in their homes to help children and their families build their skills so they are ready to succeed when they enter school. I thank Seth Diamond, Chief Executive Officer of WJCS, and his team for their ongoing commitment to our community.”

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