The following is a republished press release from the Family and Children’s Service of Ithaca and NOT written by The Ithaca Voice. To submit community announcements directly to The Voice, email tips@ithacavoice.com.
Family & Children’s Service (F&CS) is pleased to announce that the Dormitory Authority of New York State (DASNY) has awarded the agency with a grant for $402,832.81 from its Nonprofit Infrastructure Capital Investment Program.
The goals of the renovation project are to expand the footprint of the F&CS mental health facility to serve 300 new individuals each year; increase the number of weekly children’s afternoon and evening appointments by over 20%; and serve 200 new individuals annually through therapy groups, support groups, and psychoeducational workshops. This will allow the agency to focus our fundraising efforts on vital outreach programs in the community.
In the fall of 2015, several friends of F&CS saw the critical need to upgrade our mental health facility to expand and enhance services. These donors provided almost $100,000 in start-up support to begin renovations on the 2nd and 3rd floor of the mental health clinic. These funds were effectively leveraged to secure funding from DASNY which will fund the rest of the renovation project.
The DASNY grant funds will enhance key components of F&CS’s mental health clinic through facility renovations to improve the overall client experience and outcomes of care. Essential support in the funding request to DASNY were pro bono architectural services from Claudia Brenner Design and project development assistance from Doug Boles of D-Squared Construction.
“Our clients will greatly benefit from this substantial award,” said David Shapiro, President & CEO of Family & Children’s Service. “The Dormitory Authority’s significant contribution to our renovation project will allow us to enhance the environment in which our ever-increasing clientele receive care. It is, however, important to note that a number of local donors provided support to get this critical project off the ground, and we are very thankful to them as well.”
Family & Children’s Service supports, promotes and strengthens the well-being of individuals and families by providing high-quality, accessible mental health care and related social services, with a particular sensitivity towards the needs of children. We provide mental health counseling and related social services within Ithaca and surrounding rural communities. While the majority of our clients reside in Tompkins County, we also serve clients in all adjacent counties.
The agency serves 2,000 individuals and 600 children each year with mental health services that include counseling and psychiatry services for children, teens, college students, adults, seniors, couples, and families.
Our programs include early intervention services for children under the age of five; children’s crisis counseling; caregiver and geriatric mental health services; and workplace crisis support and training.
Our related supportive services include case management and mentoring for at-risk youth, runaway and homeless youth services, support services for kinship caregivers, community outreach programming, and continuing and community education
If you or someone you know is in need of counseling or other support services, please call us at 607-273-7494 or email info@fcsith.org.