Celebrating Success

Celebrating Success

In 2018, Bob decided to take a leap of faith with his long time supportive Care Coordinator, Heather Johnson of Person Centered Services and tried self-directed services. Bob trusted Heather and began working with his Broker, Megan DeRum to determine the supports he needed to continue living alone.
Bob had been content with his life and accepting of traditional services for many years but felt empowered to trudge through uncertain waters of self-directed services. Bob quickly gained skills to become a great boss and advocate of his services. Bob’s employees have been consistent and supportive since he started self-direction. He’s had little turn over and dedicated employees who empower him to increase his independence daily.


Bob feels supported by his team, encouraged and motivated to strive for his goals. He started small by gaining financial stability with the support of his life coach. Bob sacrificed internet and cable at times to obtain his goal. Bob became comfortable with his finances and identified another goal for himself, a newer accessible van. Again, being determined, Bob purchased a newer accessible van for himself and began accessing his community more.


On May 28, 2021, a dream came true for Bob he only ever imagined even during a pandemic! He moved into a brand new mobile home. Bob was able to work with his long time landlord to make arrangements to order an accessible home for himself when his old home became unsafe for him. Bob’s Life Coach, Sarah Raiser was a huge support to Bob with planning, coordinating and ensuring Bob had everything he needed to make his transition to a new home. Self-Directed services has given endless opportunities to Bob with his supportive team, increased self-confidence and ability to access his community.


Congratulations Bob!

Autism Acceptance Month

Autism Acceptance Month

Com. Hab. supports Tyrnell Marks. He is very artistic. Tyrnell’s passion is art. He finds pleasure with working with his hands to demonstrate his
gift. Tyrnell can create sculptures made entirely of rubber bands. Tyrnell has a box of different types of sculptures he made. One day, in the
future, he would like to be able to sell them. He creates comic books with both animations and story lines. Tyrnell writes stories through his art and will put on display to express his art. Tyrnell has a Facebook page that showcases his art in hopes of linking with other local artists.

James Marino began attending the Abbott Day Hab back in July of 2019, shortly after moving into his own home at the Jennings IRA. With many fears of
transition and struggles with change in routine, to our surprise James fit in perfectly with the Abbott team. James is a young man that displays many gifts and talents, but his artistic abilities top them all! James enjoys drawing characters, creating chalk masterpieces and has been gracious enough to design CSE1’s holiday card. James was one of our inspirations of applying for the Foundation Mini-Grant to create “the Abbott Art Studio.” The team was awarded the grant and with the help of James and his friends they created a beautiful abstract wall to emphasize the art studio. James is an extraordinary young man, and we are lucky to be a part of his growth and development.

Colin Brawdy has been a part of CSE1 for many years and has explored many programs in hopes to find one that was a good fit for his personality. When Colin began attending the Abbott day hab, he knew it was the right fit for him. Although he experienced some growing pains, he has become much more independent and is developing some strong meaningful relationships with others. Colin is showing a greater interest in exploring new things and has been extremely fond of volunteering in his community through the Meals on Wheels program. He is learning the benefits of how his hard work is supporting others in his local community. Colin has recently joined cooking class and participates in weekly social group to share each other’s thoughts and ideas. Colin continues to be a great addition to the Abbott Day Hab and we look forward to supporting him with exploring new things.

Believe to Achieve Collects Tabs

Believe to Achieve Collects Tabs

We are celebrating the hard work of our Believe to Achieve day habilitation program! They recently started an initiative to collect pop can tabs for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Western New York, which is a home-away-from-home for families and their sick or injured children.


The group placed collection boxes at several of our Community Services administrative locations and will regularly check them. RMH recycles the pull-tabs and the money purchases household items for the Ronald McDonald House and the Ronald McDonald Family Room.


If you want to donate your tabs, bring them to one of these locations:
180 Oak Street
452 Delaware
1377 Abbott
1485 Jefferson
175 Humphrey
2180 Genesee

Community Services for Every1 receives two awards for Apartments at the Lyceum

Community Services for Every1 receives two awards for Apartments at the Lyceum

Community Services for Every1 is excited to share that we received two recent awards from New York State to further our work developing affordable housing opportunities in our community.  The vacant, former Catholic school known as St. John Kanty will become Apartments at the Lyceum:  a 42 unit apartment building, including 12 units specifically designated for survivors of domestic violence ready to move into permanent housing. This project will address significant unmet needs for affordable and accessible housing in City of Buffalo, specifically in the Fillmore district.

Apartments at the Lyceum was awarded $2.5 Million in capital funding from the Homeless Housing Assistance Program (HHAP) and a conditional award from the Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative (ESSHI) to support tenants and provide on-site services at this location.

In Governor Hochul’s HHAP award announcement, Mindy Cervoni, our President and CEO said, “This award will address significant unmet needs for affordable and accessible housing in the City of Buffalo. Apartments at the historic St. John Kanty Lyceum will create Erie County’s first permanent supportive housing program explicitly developed for survivors of domestic violence, and will allow Community Services to assist them with any factors that contribute to their housing instability.

This need is especially prevalent for survivors of domestic violence as incidence rates have drastically risen since the onset of the pandemic. Governor Hochul’s continued support for these projects is addressing the issues of homelessness and domestic violence, while affecting positive and meaningful change in our communities.”

Kelly Kinderman, our Vice President of Program Support and Development said, “We are excited to bring this project to fruition with our talented development team.  Community Services for Every1 is extremely grateful for the funding from the State of New York. Community Services has a successful and long-standing commitment to increase the availability of safe, decent and affordable housing.  With Governor Hochul’s continued support we are able to continue our efforts in some of our most underserved neighborhoods.”

Adventure Awaits

Adventure Awaits

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Adventure Awaits

Each year, the Community Services Support Foundation funds mini-grants to enhance experiences and opportunities of those we support.

This year, they funded a request called the Adventurer’s Club.

One of the first activities was a trip to Hidden Valley Animal Adventure. Those that attended toured the park and saw all sorts of animals including Zebras, Bison and Ostriches. After lunch they enjoyed the petting zoo.

A group also welcomed autumn and visited the Great Pumpkin Farm in Clarence.

Recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Recognizing Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and it is a time for all of us to speak up about domestic violence, raise awareness, and support survivors of this devastating but all too common issue. Domestic violence can happen to anyone and is present in every community regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion or nationality.

1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have experienced severe physical violence by their intimate partner. With these staggering statistics, it is inevitable that we all know someone who has been a victim of domestic violence, whether you realize it or not.

These staggering statistics are even more devastating for victims with disabilities. Women with disabilities have a 40% greater chance of experiencing intimate partner violence than women without disabilities. Victims with disabilities face additional forms of abuse and encounter additional barriers when they attempt to leave and seek help. For many victims, when they finally take that very brave, but dangerous step to leave, they are unable to access outside services because of severe isolation, lack of transportation, lack of communication devices and interpretation services, lack of privacy and because of societal attitudes about disabilities.

It is because of these additional barriers facing survivors with disabilities that Community Services for Every1 (CSE1) partnered with the Family Justice Center of Erie County (FJC) to create the HOPE of WNY. The mission of this collaboration is to improve access to domestic violence services and prevention education for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and to ensure that victims with disabilities are identified and linked to the services and supports that will help lead them on their journey toward safety and healing. To fulfill that mission, HOPE of WNY not only provides monthly training to CSE1 and FJC staff to increase the awareness, skills and comfort level of staff to support victims with I/DD, but CSE1 staffs a Casework Empowerment Liaison who provides intensive case management and support to victims with I/DD to ensure they are able to overcome any barriers to safety.

Domestic violence thrives when we remain silent. It’s important that we take a stand and work together to bring an end to the violence. This month especially, raise awareness, connect someone you are concerned about to resources, and spread the word that there is help available for everyone of every ability.

For more information on HOPE of WNY and the Victim Assistance Program or to reach the Casework Empowerment Liaison call 716-949-6678.

Easy Eats Halloween Spooktacular

Easy Eats Halloween Spooktacular

Easy Eats Halloween Spooktacular

Community Services for Every1 hosted our first Easy Eats Afterschool Program session. Halloween Spooktacular was a hit among the teens who attended! Both morning and afternoon sessions were full. Sessions are held at the Jefferson Career Exploration Center.

The two groups made homemade Coffin Pop Tarts and Lattice Baked Apples with Chef Stephanie.

Easy Eats is an in-person afterschool program for teens ages 13 to 19. The weekly program is funded through the generosity of Lakeshore Connections with support from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation. If you have any questions, or would like more information about the Easy Eats Afterschool Program, contact Chef Stephanie at sdicarlo@csevery1.com or 716-566-4701 ext. 760.

Visit the Easy Eats for Every1 YouTube channel.

Sharing a passion for gardening

Sharing a passion for gardening

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Sharing a passion for gardening

Gardening is a passion and skill for both Calvin and Deb, two of our
Pre-Vocational DSPs, that they have shared with everyone in the program.

Calvin and Deb have spent months working with people we support in Community Pre-Voc to plan out an indoor garden wall. The purpose of this indoor garden wall is to not only help teach people about horticulture and gardening practices, but also for it to be used for The Statler Foundation Culinary Arts Suite by planting, and eventually utilizing, various types of herbs.

In preparation for this, they both worked on teaching horticulture and gardening within their programs. Each Pre-Voc program has started their own personal indoor gardens to help teach people about the various ways to care for plants, flowers and herbs, the type of surroundings each needs, and various “foods” they may require. This is especially helpful when assisting people we support in deciding their areas of interest in the workforce but it is also teaching skills that everyone can do in their everyday lives at home and with family and friends.

We couldn’t be more thankful to Calvin and Deb for turning a very unusual time in our world into a fun, new and functional learning experience at Jefferson. Their creativity and passion has really shined through while creating this project!

DSP Deb stands in front of the indoor garden wall at our Jefferson Career Center.
One of our Community Pre-Voc groups shows off the new garden bed they planted outside
Calvin poses with one of the plants he helped introduce to Community Pre-Voc.

Graduation Day!

Graduation Day!

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Graduation Day!

Samer, a resident at one our Northtowns sites, recently achieved a huge milestone. Samer graduated from Autism Services Inc. (ASI) in late June, a goal he has been working for a long time.

To celebrate this moment, ASI hosted a drive-up graduation ceremony for each graduate. Teachers and staff from ASI were there with signs to welcome Samer and his staff when they arrived. Samer wore his cap and gown and was presented with his diploma. He was able to pose for graduation pictures in a specially decorated tent. Our staff also made congratulatory signs and decorated their van to celebrate Samer on his special day.

We are so proud of Samer’s hard work and all that he has achieved. Congratulations, Samer!

Samer received his diploma during his graduation ceremony.
Samer poses with his teachers and Community Services staff as they hold up signs of support and congratulations.
Samer receives a photo collage as part of his graduation ceremony.

Celebrating Disability Pride

Celebrating Disability Pride

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Celebrating Disability Pride

July is Disability Pride Month!

Community Services LOVES celebrating every1 for who they are and where they are at all months of the year, but July is special to us! We welcome any chance to celebrate our wonderfully diverse disability community.

So in July, we celebrate people of ALL abilities! And we bring attention to the progress made for equality and accessibility and the work that still needs to be done. While we celebrate the 31st anniversary of the passage of the ADA this year, we also remember that we have work to do to make the world accessible to all.

Happy Disability Pride Month!

Disability Pride Month graphic