Back to School Erie County Arc Helps Participants Build More Independence

Nonprofit assists over 2,000 participants

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

It’s only natural to feel like you want to belong to and contribute to your community.

For adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities, Erie County Arc in Williamsville provides services that can help them reach goals of employment and living more independently.

“It’s our mission to support them in any way possible,” said Doug DiGesare, executive director of Erie County Arc in Williamsville.

This can include providing coaching and mentoring to volunteer and work at a paid job.

“We’ll work with someone as far as he wants to go” in obtaining employment, DiGesare said. “You have to have the right structure so they can be successful.

“We have services to wrap around the person with case management and where they’re living. At some point, the family has to make decisions about what the future will look like for them. The sad truth is some folks don’t plan well.”

Unfortunately, some families wait until something unexpected happens and the family member mentoring the person with disabilities is unavailable. Erie County Arc offers programs including traditional employment, day habilitation, residential housing, education from ages 6 to 21 as a private school contracted with the public school and community support.

DiGesare said that the employment program is “a strong focus.”

Erie County Arc’s community pre-vocation program allows participants to volunteer at different places of employment and take programs at colleges to learn what they want to do and gain employable knowledge and skills. Volunteer venues include various senior centers, the SPCA, Meals on Wheels, AMVETS, Feed More and Habitat for Humanity. Once they know where their interests and aptitudes lie, they can participate in Project Search, a 10-month program that helps them gain employment.

Last year, Erie County Arc opened a training center in Buffalo that includes a full commercial kitchen, hospitality suite, and a janitorial training suite to offer participants opportunities to train for potential