Tompkins County Programming and Services:
Samaritan Center: The Samaritan Center at Catholic Charities provides a variety of services for low and moderate income Tompkins County residents including a free clothing closet, the distribution of personal needs items and diapers, financial assistance for households who have urgent, short-term financial needs, security deposits, and transportation assistance to help get to work or school.
Our intake process at the Samaritan Center involves an interview that allows our staff to assess both short-term and long-term needs of our clients. Through close collaboration with county-wide agencies, we are able to make appropriate referrals and advocate for assistance and benefits.
Nutrition Outreach and Education Program/Food Stamps Pre-Screening Services: Through our NOEP Program, staff of Catholic Charities can pre-screen clients on their eligibility for SNAP (Food Stamps); help gather necessary documents and complete the application process; effectively and efficiently expedite these applications; and make referrals to other local services for low income people. This service is available in both Tompkins and Tioga counties.
Transitional Housing: “A Place to Stay” provides a safe, welcoming home for single homeless women and the support they need to set and achieve life goals and transition to permanent housing.
Family Empowerment: This program is a collaborative effort to assist parents, families, and individuals through the following three programs:
The Parent Partnership is the parent advocacy component of the Single Point of Accountability (SPOA) Team in Tompkins County. The program forges partnerships with parents/ families who have children with emotional and behavior challenges who are at risk for out of home placement. Staff attended SPOA and other meetings with family members to create a plan to keep children at home; or when placement has to occur, to explore the least restrictive placements.
The Fatherhood Initiative Pilot Program is a case management program that provides individualized and group case management services to fathers who are disengaged from the parenting process due to divorce, custody and child support issues, and/or blended family issues. The goal of the program is to develop attitudes, knowledge and skills in fathers that will lead to effective parenting, and ultimately to avoid costly interventions for children that often result from lack of informed parenting. The hallmark of the program is to support Daddy-hood and assist fathers into transitioning into the role of Dad. Additionally the program is mother friendly and promotes shared parenting, when applicable to safety and permanency for children.
Community Connections is a voluntary and time-limited parent mentoring program offered to families during the investigation being done by Child Protective Services. The goals are to help individuals/families reported to the Child Abuse and Maltreatment Hotline understand and navigate the child welfare system and the investigation process; to help individuals/families understand their rights and responsibilities during the course of their involvement with Child Protective Services; to help individuals/families effectively communicate with and collaborate with Child Protective Services to improve service planning and outcome; to help individuals/families connect with family and community supports and to access informal and formal community-based resources as needed; to help individuals/families identify and build on their strengths, increasing the likelihood of successful resolution in their work with Child Protective Services.
Justice & Peace Ministry: This program works with local congregations and organizations to educate and activate the community on a variety of social concerns, including poverty alleviation, immigrant rights, workplace justice and care for the environment.
Immigrant Services: Since 2007, ISP has been providing comprehensive services for low-income immigrants residing in Tompkins County in order to better facilitate their integration into our community. We conduct a multi-faceted program that focuses on ensuring our clients can access community resources despite language and/or cultural barriers, as well as access affordable legal immigration services. A job developer effectively assists clients who have limited English-proficiency, little or no formal education or no job training. We are also recognized by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) as a non-profit agency that can provide legal advocacy to our clients. The ISP Director has received accreditation from the BIA in order to represent clients in front of the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services. In addition, we provide citizenship and naturalization services directed at the elderly, low-income individuals, and those receiving public assistance. ISP is the only program in our area that offers such a wide variety of services in order to successfully integrate immigrants into our community.
Developmental Disabilities Services and Behavioral Health Services: These individual-based services provide guidance in life and social skills and employment readiness and job-seeking to adults with developmental disabilities or with behavioral health diagnoses (substance abuse or mental illness). These services are provided in both Tompkins and Tioga counties.
Tioga County Programming and Services:
Tioga Outreach Center: This program opened its doors in Waverly in 2004 to offer services for emergency needs for people seeking financial assistance, guidance and referrals. Relocating to Nichols in 2011, the Outreach Center continues to focus on the needs of low-income people who lack sufficient regular financial resources to meet basic needs of food, shelter, and health care. These include people no longer eligible for public assistance, food stamps or Medicaid due to reaching lifetime limits on welfare; the working poor with income over eligibility guidelines for public assistance; and seniors and the people with disabilities, who are often socially isolated and living on fixed incomes.
Tioga Outreach Center serves low-income families by providing a Food Pantry; emergency financial assistance for utilities, gasoline, back rent, and security deposits; and personal care products and diapers. Our long-term outcomes include preventing and addressing homelessness, stabilizing housing for school and employment continuity, and helping to sustain more economically stable families by providing them with information to develop financial management skills.
Nutrition Outreach and Education Program/Food Stamps Pre-Screening Services: Through our NOEP Program, staff of Catholic Charities can pre-screen clients on their eligibility for SNAP (Food Stamps); help gather necessary documents and complete the application process; effectively and efficiently expedite these applications; and make referrals to other local services for low-income people. This service is available in both Tompkins and Tioga counties.
Transitional Housing: “A Place to Call Home” in Tioga County provides two separate safe, welcoming homes for single homeless women and men and the support they need to set and achieve life goals and transition to permanent housing.
YESS: The Youth Empowerment Support Services (YESS) program is an afterschool program that inspires and challenges students by exposing them to new knowledge and experiences that will improve their personal development and work readiness skills. To ensure current and future success, the program offers afterschool workshops, field trips, attendance incentives, and more to high school-aged students in the Newark Valley Central, Spencer Van Etten, and Candor school districts. This program benefits youth, their families, and the community as a whole. The YESS program addresses three key areas: Life Skills, Work Readiness, and Community Service.
Developmental Disabilities Services and Behavioral Health Services: These individual-based services provide guidance in life and social skills and employment readiness and job-seeking to adults with developmental disabilities or with behavioral health diagnoses (substance abuse or mental illness). These services are provided in both Tompkins and Tioga counties.
