NYN Media Buzz: Feb. 23, 2018 – Rally for Close to Home, CoveCare Center, Arches Transformative Mentoring

Youth advocates rallied outside New York City’s City Hall on Feb. 22, calling on the state to eliminate proposed budget cuts. These include Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to cap and cut the city’s child welfare services funding as well as eliminating all of the state’s $41.4 million of funding for Close to Home, a juvenile justice placement program, at a time when such programs will have to accommodate more juvenile offenders because of the implementation of Raise the Age legislation. Those at the rally included Jim Purcell, CEO of the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies, Jennifer March, executive director of Citizens’ Committee for Children, and Jeremy Kohomban, executive director of The Children’s Village.

Putnam County-based CoveCare Center has a new advisory council, according to a press release. The council will help the Carmel-based nonprofit address mental health needs, substance use and other issues in the Lower Hudson Valley. Members of the council include: Rose Aglieco, executive director, Brewster Chamber of Commerce; Lynne Cabiati, caseworker, Putnam County Office of Senior Resources; Cathy Cavanaugh (chairperson), retired social worker; Vincent D’Ambroso, business development officer, Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union; Debbie Diachenko (secretary), executive assistant, Atlas Air; Keiren Farquhar, retired medical reserve coordinator, Putnam County Department of Health; Laurie Lee Ford (vice chairperson), owner, Kidz Country; Sheila Hanley, Putnam County Sheriff’s Department; Dimmy Lotrecchiano, former CoveCare Center board member; Steve Miccio, CEO, People, Inc.; and Anita M. Minella, former executive director, Putnam Hospital Center Foundation.

An independent study from the Urban Institute found that young people who took part in the New York City Department of Probation’s Arches Transformative Mentoring Program had significantly lower levels of recidivism than their peers, according to a press release from the Office of the Mayor. The report claimed that youth ages 16 to 24 had a 69 percent lower felony re-conviction rate if they took part in the program, which connects them to mentors in their own community.