Ricardo, Home at Last - Center for Urban Community Services

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Lenniger Residences - continued city, while meeting the community’s need for housing for its low income and homeless residents.” Located at 2007 and 2013 Hughes Avenue (at 179th Street) in the East Tremont section of the Bronx, the Lenniger Residences will promote community revitalization by making use of properties that have remained vacant and under-utilized for several decades. The Lenniger Residences will serve as an anchor on the block and help the immediate neighborhood in its ongoing beautification and safety efforts. The Lenniger Residences in Construction project will also include a community advisory board, meeting spaces, and enhance the area’s economic development. The Lenniger residences will also contain a number of green elements. With a generous $500,000 capital grant from Bronx City Council Member Joel Rivera, CUCS expects to achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certification on the project. The building will also meet the Enterprise Green Communities criteria, the first national green building program dedicated solely to affordable housing and exceed the standards of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Energy Star Program. To meet the requirements for LEED Silver certification, the Lenniger Residences will contain a number of green elements, including: • green roofs • EnergyStar appliances • Energy Star light fixtures in apartments • low flow water fixtures • green screens and plantings • energy efficient heating and cooling systems • 24-hour lighting controls for stairwells and corridors By going green, CUCS will decrease utility costs while promoting sustainability and joining the movement against global climate change. CUCS’ Executive Director, Tony Hannigan, sums up: “Working closely with Bronx Community Board 6 and the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, we are building a housing initiative that advances our mission of ending homelessness and providing housing and opportunities for low income New Yorkers.” Giving CUCS Clients Something Many of Us Take For Granted – A Choice - Continued got to know her really well, and was sad when she left. I chose my new counselor because her bio was a lot like Ilana’s, which made me want to work with her. I like that I can chose my counselor here at the Schermerhorn. Before I came to the Schermerhorn, I never had a choice. Most of the time it worked out okay, but it’s nice to be able to have a say in what counselor I work with.” IN SERVICE | Spring 2011 4
Project for Psychiatric Outreach to the Homeless Wins APA Award On October 14, 2010 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) honored four outstanding mental health programs at an award presentation at the opening session of the Institute on Psychiatric Services in Boston. CUCS’ Project for Psychiatric Outreach to the Homeless (PPOH) received the APA’s Silver Achievement Award for 2010 in recognition of our efforts and innovative approach to bring psychiatric services to homeless and formerly homeless adults. PPOH is the only program in the United States that is exclusively dedicated to recruiting, employing, and training community psychiatrists to work with homeless and formerly homeless adults in nontraditional settings. As Van Yu, M.D., CUCS’ Medical Director and Program Director of PPOH, explains, “Psychiatry is fundamental to treating people who have a chronic mental illness and PPOH brings its services to many settings where psychiatrists would otherwise not be available.” PPOH serves about 3,000 New Yorkers every year. PPOH’s Dr. Van Yu CUCS Re-entry Program Receives National Award CUCS’ Reentry Coordination System (RCS) was honored with a national leadership and collaboration award at the close of 2010. RCS is a unique, model program that monitors and manages access to housing for individuals at risk of homelessness with a serious mental illness who are being released from New York State prisons to New York City. RCS combines CUCS’ expertise in the housing arena and data management systems with our experience as a collaborator among the various service systems working with mentally ill inmates. In the past 14 months, the project received 254 applications and has already placed 134 inmates into permanent housing. The Reentry Coordination System is funded by the federal government’s Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH). CUCS manages the project for the New York State Office of Mental Health and was awarded the 2010 PATH Exemplary Practice Award for Leadership and Collaboration. Richard P. Miraglia, LCSW, Associate Commissioner, Division of Forensic Services for the New York State Office of Mental Health explains that CUCS’, “Re-entry Coordinating System has been in operation for less than 2 years. In that brief time it has become recognized as a national model for successful re-entry for exoffenders with serious mental illness and is an exemplary partnership between a state correctional Staff of CUCS’ RCS Program with their Award system and a private not for profit organization. Both the quality of life for those ex-offenders served through RCS and the safety of the communities and neighborhoods in New York City to which they return have been enhanced. IN SERVICE | Spring 2011 5
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