Cazenovia — Cazenovia College recently received a $5,000 donation from Berkshire Bank which, added to a recently received Common Grounds challenge grant, will allow for the expansion of the college’s inclusive daytime programming for adults with intellectual disabilities at no cost to participants.
“People are very excited,” said Human Services Professor Mary Handley, who also serves as director of the college human services program. “It changed who can come and how they can come.”
According to Cazenovia College program information, adults with intellectual disabilities complete public school at age 18 or 21, and most have some type of public-school inclusion experience. Once they turn 21 and graduate, they no longer have mandatory inclusion. Many of these adults participate in some type of day-habilitation program with other adults who also have intellectual disabilities. Though the goal for all participants is to be included in the community, the opportunity to do so in Onondaga, Oneida and Madison counties is very limited.
Cazenovia College’s decade-old inclusion program, housed in the heart of the Cazenovia College campus, which has been quietly serving this adult population, at no cost to the region. It allows participants to interact with and become part of the college community by participating in on-campus activities and opportunities in a one-on-one setting with current college student volunteers.
“The goal is to use and be on campus as much as possible and do what they are interested in,” such as playing basketball in the gym, learning about computers or sitting in on a particular class, Hanley said. “We arrange it all for them.”
The $5,000 donation from Berkshire Bank to the inclusion program has allowed the college to hire recent Cazenovia College graduate Kim Vrigian as the program coordinator. During the past few weeks, Vrigian and Ashley Isabella, program intern and current Cazenovia College student, have been redesigning a classroom in Hubbard Hall for the program.
continued — “I’m so excited to be a part of this,” Vrigian said. “The program will include [participants] in all aspects of campus. My goal is to bring in students of different majors to work with them.”
The Cazenovia College inclusion program is now offering programming five days a week, typically for eight to 10 people per day, Hanley said. She said there are about 10 full-time Cazenovia students who work with the program as interns, work-study projects or as volunteers.
Berkshire Bank community engagement officer Gary R. Levante said the bank is especially excited about contributing to the college’s program, which is growing rapidly, because “It is not often that one of our grants can be a catalyst.”
“Our commitment as a business is a lot more than just a check — we get involved in our communities,” Levante said.
“No other college in the Central New York region is doing this inclusion program,” said Matthew Clark, Cazenovia College executive director for external relations. “Cazenovia College is leading the way in that regard.”