Dr. Melvin Gertner

This has been a difficult year for AHRC New York City. After a serious illness, AHRC’s President, Arlene Pedone passed away in the last year of her three-year term of office. Arlene was a force to reckon with and will be greatly missed. Other individuals who were significant in our history also left us this year. Additionally, the political and fiscal arena in which we find ourselves today has never been as challenging.

In spite of these losses and difficulties, AHRC New York City has continued to find new and innovative ways to provide the services it is our mission to provide to individuals with developmental disabilities. The various uses of technology described on the pages of this report are such innovations.

Many of us – to one extent or another – are currently taking advantage of what is available to us through the use of technological devices that didn’t exist a few short years ago. We are using this technology to access information, to communicate and to make our lives easier in general. AHRC staff has been creative in finding ways to use technology to support the individuals served in our programs and they are benefitting just like everyone else.

As I prepare to embark on my first year as President of AHRC New York City, I am aware that the challenges we must surmount, challenges that are the result of the economic crisis we currently find ourselves in, are tremendous. But I am hopeful that we will persevere and continue to find ways to continue building a better life for individuals with developmental disabilities, as we have done for 62 years.

Michael Goldfarb

As I prepare to retire in the coming months, it is hard for me to believe that this will be the last annual report message that I will write as AHRC’s Executive Director. For more than thirty-five years, I have been writing annual messages to AHRC members and friends, informing them of the year’s accomplishments. As in the past, there is a great deal to report this year.

In spite of continued threats and actual cuts to funding, AHRC New York City has nevertheless grown enormously. Services for children and adolescents have grown with our schools expanding the number of children served and the development of collaborative ventures with universities and other city agencies. Supports and services for adults have evolved with the philosophy of Person Centered Planning taking center-stage in all development. Services for individuals of all ages have developed considerably. And the formation of a cross functional team to address the needs of individuals on the Autism Spectrum will help AHRC meet the intensive needs of the newest generation of individuals with developmental disabilities in the years to come.

As regards building the infrastructure for the future, this year has brought with it tremendous development in the areas of corporate compliance, quality of care and information technology. Internal audit functions have been enhanced, a new multi-year comprehensive electronic health record management system has been initiated, and new safeguards to ensure the safety of all individuals served have been put into place.

It is with pride and nostalgia that I prepare to retire. I know that what we have done together will be the wonderful basis upon which this organization will further evolve. I also know that AHRC’s Board of Directors and wonderful staff will make sure that this evolution moves in the right direction.

AHRC serves a total of approximately 1,000 children in its preschools, elementary school and middle/high school. Its education programs have provided services to increasing numbers of children on the
autism spectrum for well over fifteen years. Additionally, AHRC provides hundreds of school-age children with camping and recreational opportunities, as well as educational advocacy, and
supports sisters and brothers of the children served in our programs and services who are interested
in meeting other siblings of individuals with disabilities. Highlights of the years include:

• The second group of graduates from AHRC’s Middle/High School will complete their studies this June. Most of the graduates have secured placements in AHRC adult programs with help from the Departments of Day Service and Employment and Business Services. Two graduates will attend AHRC’s Melissa Riggio Higher Education Programs at Kingsborough Community College and the College of Staten Island.

• A collaborative venture with Pace University has provided eight AHRC Middle/High School students the opportunity to attend classes at Pace University. Working with Pace interns, our students have expanded their computer skills enormously.

• AHRC’s Department of Educational Services was awarded a prestigious grant from the Walmart Foundation to fund a school to community transition project entitled Building Futures. Matching funds were awarded by the Joseph LeRoy and Ann C. Warner Fund, Inc.

• The Department of Educational Services began a joint venture with The Jewish Guild for the Blind to better serve visually impaired preschoolers in our preschool programs.

• Preschool expansions: AHRC’s Esther Ashkenas Central Park Early Learning Center expanded with 4 new classrooms serving 24 additional youngsters between the ages of 3–5. At the request of NYSED, the Francis of Paola Early Learning Center added one class for 8 students and AHRC has received approval to add one class of 6 students to the Howard Haber Early Learning Center in July 2011.

• AHRC’s Bronx Early Childhood Direction Center (ECDC) assisted over 500 families with Early Intervention and CPSE processes. The Bronx ECDC provided more than 24 workshops to parents and professionals on a variety of topics. Additionally, the Bronx ECDC was a work site for Summer Youth with Special Needs.

• Bridges to Health (B2H), a program which serves children in the Foster Care System has expanded greatly and now has 40 children enrolled in AHRC’s Department of Day Services with 20 more children waiting to be served. AHRC’s Home Care Department has also provided skills building and planned respite services to 6 children in the Bridges to Health (B2H) program through contracts with Health Care Integration Agencies.

• AHRC’s Department of Educational Advocacy served over 150 individual families in the last year. Twenty-five training sessions for more than 500 parents and professionals were held on a variety of topics relevant to the education of children with disabilities and their rights under the law. AHRC’s Advocate offered training to parents at Bronx A.N.G.E.L.S. Public School 304, SKIP of New York, and provided training to the NYC Department of Education, Office of School Health where over 100 public health assistants, Public School Nurses, and Supervisors received training on Autism.

• AHRC’s Sibling Service offered sib-shops for children, a support group for teens and a support group for adult siblings. The program is now serving more siblings than ever before and held its third annual networking event, “The Future is Ours” to promote sibling services.

AHRC provides services to approximately 1,400 adults in its Adult Day Centers and programs,
1,300 individuals through its division of Employment and Business Services, and 550 adults through the opportunities provided in its Residential Services. The philosophy of Person Center Planning
has been incorporated to a greater and greater extent in all our programs, services and supports for
adults. Highlights of the year include:

• The numbers of individuals attending the AHRC Melissa Riggio Higher Education Programs at Kingsborough Community College and Community College of Staten Island have been expanded and other college options may be offered to additional people in the near future.

• AHRC’s Department of Adult Day Service Enhanced Supported Employment placed a total of 19 people in paid jobs. Each person placed was previously enrolled in our Day Hab/Prevocational Waiver program. AHRC’s Department of Employment and Business Services was awarded an additional 72 opportunities from the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities, to provide Enhanced Supportive Employment to individuals with significant barriers to employment who may benefit from job customization and longer-term support on the job.

• Two of the four new AHRC Day Centers expected to open in Brooklyn have opened, one in Sheepshead Bay and the second in Bushwick. The new Centers serve individuals using community resources and everyone spends the majority of their day engaged in community activities. The last two sites will be located on Kings Highway in Flatbush and Rockaway Parkway in Canarsie. The anticipated dates for the opening of Kings Highway and Canarsie are later in 2011. The four Brooklyn Programs replace the Dean O’Hare Day Program and the Siegel Center that both lost their leases – an opportunity that allowed for smaller, more community based programs to replace them.

• Day Habilitation without Walls is a service that begins and ends in a person’s home, with individuals spending the bulk of the day in the community engaged in individualized activities based on their preferences and choices. Some of the activities chosen by individuals are volunteering in places such as Material for the Arts, Dress for Success, as well as engaging in cooking, pottery and photography classes.

• Technology supports such as those listed in this report have been purchased and are now used by many people to support a variety of functions. Examples of apps purchased include Dragon Dictation which changes speech to text, Speak4it, a mobile local search app using the internet to search for restaurants, museums, stores etc, Tap to Talk, an application that offers icons of phrases, emotions and actions, Lose It, a weight loss application recording exercise regiment and food intake, and Relax with Andrew Johnson, for relaxation with soothing music with voice guide leading to calmness. Each of the applications is either free or costs 99 cents, making the devices fluid and mobile for a small cost after the purchase of the equipment.

• This year, AHRC has successfully trained 149 people to travel independently, using a curriculum plus GPS systems. AHRC New York City in collaboration with District 75, held a successful travel training celebration, 50 Years of Travel Training. Thousands of individuals have been trained over five decades at AHRC and the Department of Education programs that had their beginnings at AHRC in the 1970s.

• AHRC’s Department of Employment and Business Services was awarded three, three-year Out of School Youth contracts from the New York City DYCD (Department of Youth and Community Development). Brooklyn was awarded a janitorial and a food service training contract and Queens was awarded a contract in janitorial training. These contracts serve a blend of disabled and nondisabled youth, 18 through 21. After basic skills and work readiness, students do a hands-on internship in their field of training.

• Internship placements for janitorial services include: Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn Hospital, and New York Queens Hospital. Internship placements in the area food service take place at: Pace University, the NY Stock Exchange, and NY Mercantile Exchange.

• In 2010, AHRC New York City opened ShredAbility, an affirmative enterprise that provides secure document destruction and recycling services to businesses. ShredAbility employees 10 individual with developmental disabilities and plans to expand its workforce to over 60 employees. ShredAbility is a member in good standing of National Association for Information Destruction, which is the highest standard in the shredding industry.

• AHRC’s Department of Employment and Business Services has entered into a corporate partnership with American Maintenance to provide maintenance services at Westchester Community College. This new business gives us the opportunity to provide quality services in a fast pace environment and offers rewarding employment to over 20 people with developmental disabilities.

• AHRC’s Department of Employment and Business Services worked with over 200 employers to assist in the employment of more than 496 people with disabilities in 2010.

• New residential opportunities developed in the last year are AHRC’s Dickson-Goodman Apartments, on 126th Street in Harlem, Manhattan, the College Point IRA in the College Point area of Queens, and a one person supervised IRA on West 157th Street in Washington Heights.

• The Dickson-Goodman Apartments, modeled after the successful Bloomberg Apartments in Jamaica, are residential options for individuals with developmental disabilities needing 24/7 nursing care. The complex is comprised of four unique apartments that are each home to six individuals who might not otherwise have the opportunity to live in the community because of their special medical needs. Located in upper Manhattan, the Dickson-Goodman Apartments provide the people who live there with the cultural and social activities that NYC has to offer.

• The College Point IRA, formerly the Striar IRA, is now a newly re-modeled home to six young men who need intensive support and oversight.

• AHRC’s ADEPT Program, continues to evaluate individuals with developmental disabilities showing signs of cognitive/functional decline in order to rule out Dementia and other age-related disorders as possible etiologies. The ADEPT team includes two psychologists, a physician, a social worker, a rehabilitation administrator, and other specialists as needed. Each evaluation is tailored to the specific needs of the individual, and includes recommendations and continuing follow-up care. In 2011, the team has been actively involved in outreach, education, and participation in a National Task Group on Dementia Screening Practices.

AHRC offers home care services, a variety of clinical services including testing and evaluation, service
coordination and information on entitlements, camping and recreation, as well as family education to several thousand individuals annually. Highlights of the year include:

• AHRC has formed a cross functional team (CFT) to address the needs of individuals on the Autism Spectrum currently enrolled in all of our services and supports. The goal of the CFT is to identify “evidence based best practices in treatment” to develop a curriculum for staff training and to implement these best practices in all aspects of our support system. The subcommittee of the Board – AD HOC Behavioral Health and Program Supports – has partnered with the CFT on this initiative.

• The Home Care Department continued to provide Community Hab to hundreds of individuals. There was an increase in the numbers of individuals living in non-certified housing with supports from our Home Care Department. And, the Home Care Department maintained its ability to accept new participants into the Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver throughout 2009–10.

• AHRC continued to provide Medicaid Service Coordination (MSC) to individuals and their families in all five boroughs. This program continues to grow and AHRC is currently serving over 1800 individuals. New York State OPWDD implemented significant changes to MSC this past year. AHRC New York City implemented these changes while continuing to focus on providing a quality service to the individuals and families supported.

• Camp Anne had 150 staff from 30 countries last summer. There was also an increase in staff from the United States. Staff training was enhanced and eight staff completed a six credit college course, A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Developmental Disabilities, while they were employed at Camp. Camp Anne combined teens and children in two sessions, serving an additional 20 teens. Seventeen foster children in the Bridges to Health (B2H) program were also successfully served. The camp facility was upgraded this year. Several cabins were insulated; new windows, floors, lighting and details were installed; a new adaptive swing was purchased and pathways around the kitchen and main office were repaired and landscaped.

• Katy Isaacson and Elaine Gordon Lodge, formerly called Harriman Lodge, was dedicated in memory of Katy Isaacson, wife of former Board Member Len Isaacson, and her friend, AHRC supporter Elaine Gordon. The Lodge served 340 guests in 5 separate sessions. Guests enjoyed swimming, arts, sports and boating with a new boat dock at the far end of the lake, which allowed them to take the boat across the lake to a second dock.

• Recreational activities at AHRC continued this last year and were expanded. The Recreation Department opened its 10th after school program in 2010 in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn working with direct support staff and supportive administrative staff at this Department of Education, District 75 site. The Recreation Department now works closely with Pace University’s Service Learning Program, as do other AHRC departments. AHRC’s Computer Club meets at Pace’s well equipped computer lab on Saturdays. Additionally, thanks to a grant from NYSARC, Inc., AHRC is providing a sports clinic over four weekends for 18 students from AHRC’s elementary and middle high school. The Recreation Department partnered with Super Soccer Stars, a non profit that serves individuals on the autism spectrum.

• AHRC’s Article 16 Clinic provided service to over 800 individuals on an ongoing basis. Services were provided at Maiden Lane, at 2488 Grand Concourse, and in various day programs and residences throughout the city.

• In the last year, the Clinic’s Crisis/In Home Behavior Management Team, comprised of two very experienced psychologists, provided services to more than a hundred Bronx families.

• The AHRC Guardianship Program, which serves as standby and primary guardian for more than 80 individuals, received assistance from several New York City major law firms who provided pro bono lawyers and paralegals to assist families in filling out the petitions to the court that must be filed in order to obtain legal guardianship for a loved one with a developmental disability.

• The AHRC Entitlements Unit has assisted hundreds of individuals and families in the past year in resolving their Medicaid and/or Social Security Benefit problems. Unit staff has also presented at many family education venues including AHRC’s Family Education Series.

• AHRC’s Family Education Series has reached over fifteen hundred new families this past year. Two sessions monthly, one at 83 Maiden Lane and another in an outer-borough AHRC facility, have been held on topics of interest to families of young children, as well as adults. A consumer driven series, new topics are introduced each year as participating families inform AHRC of what might be of interest to them.

Many administrative departments support AHRC’s core business, that of providing services to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. These administrative services are essential to the running of the organization and include corporate compliance, IT or information technology, human resources, employee training and development and many other areas.

• Corporate Compliance refers to the Agency’s ability to operate in an ethical and legal way, to follow the laws, regulations and policies established by governmental entities, insurance programs and payers. As AHRC has expanded its mission, compliance with federal, state and city rules is an increasing challenge. Day-to-day compliance with Medicaid requirements is a major focus of Compliance staff. Departmental compliance audit staff routinely monitor billing documentation, program safety issues, and other compliance areas. The internal audit function monitors fiscal compliance and conducts special audits at the direction of the AHRC Board of Directors’ audit committee.

• With the budget challenges currently faced by AHRC, the Compliance team has ensured that, for every claim to Medicaid, the organization has the required documentation to back up the claim. Budget pressures can also impact safety in our programs and compliance staff work in partnership with the program departments to ensure that safety is not compromised in any way.

• AHRC’s commitment to the quality of care is a cornerstone in all of the programs, services and supports that are provided to individuals through out the organization. In the last year, AHRC has furthered this commitment by thoroughly examining and redefining our incident review process and advocacy efforts to ensure that individuals are protected from harm.

• AHRC’s IT Department, working with key staff in all program areas throughout the organization has identified and begun the implementation of a new comprehensive consumer electronic health records management system. This new system will be the repository of all information on all the individuals served by the organization. This will allow for the sharing of necessary information and will help to provide a better experience to families who will no longer have to provide the same information time and again to obtain services. This is a multi-year project that will include all AHRC staff in every strata of the organization and will lead to new ways of doing business.

• Over the past year, the Department of Organizational and Employee Development continued employee outreach and other initiatives. In the area of staff training, new E-learning training tools and sessions have been instituted and new training courses have been introduced.

• AHRC continues to be an approved internship site for the APA, the American Psychological Association, providing clinical supervision and didactic training in the area of research on training techniques. Other internship opportunities within the organization have been expanded with over one hundred interns working throughout the organization in the last year. It is our hope that by introducing students to and training them in the area of developmental disabilities, they will wish to pursue their careers with our population upon completing their degrees.

• Superior Direct Care, AHRC’s affiliate, continues to work collaboratively with AHRC New York City programs and services to support the needs of the departments as well as those of other similar organizations in the city. Superior provides a strong pool of candidates to fill full time positions within AHRC, in fact fifty-four Direct Support Professionals were hired by the Department of Residential Services from the Superior staffing pool last year alone.

In 2009, AHRC celebrated its 61st anniversary with New York State Senator Thomas Morahan and New York State Senator Roy McDonald receiving AHRC Humanitarian Awards. Additionally, AHRC kept its members constantly abreast of the shifting and difficult political landscape that greatly affects the work that we do and was particularly tumultuous in the last year.

Program Services

The complete financial statements, including the related notes and auditor’s report, are available upon request.