BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Family & Children’s Counseling Services plans to break ground this fall on a 9,000-square-foot, two-story addition that will more than double its counseling space. The current building at 257 Main St. is about 7,000 square feet, says CEO Lisa Hoeschele, but only about 4,000 square feet of that is usable as counseling […]
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Family & Children’s Counseling Services plans to break ground this fall on a 9,000-square-foot, two-story addition that will more than double its counseling space.
The current building at 257 Main St. is about 7,000 square feet, says CEO Lisa Hoeschele, but only about 4,000 square feet of that is usable as counseling space.
“It’s a little too small to meet all our program needs,” she says. The nonprofit currently provides counseling services to between 6,000 and 7,000 patients annually, with the need for services on the rise, she adds.
The $5 million expansion project will not only add more space, but also allows the organization to redesign its space to be more client-centered, add parking space, improve accessibility, update HAVC/air filtration systems, and upgrade its IT infrastructure.
The new space also means the organization will no longer need to rent space to house all its services. Hoeschele says they will use money saved on rent to recruit new staff. Family & Children’s Counseling Services currently has a staff vacancy rate of about 40 percent, she says, partly due to lack of space for staff. The new building will allow the agency to fill those vacant positions, with each new clinician able to see between 50 and 60 new patients.
“We’re hoping to add primary care there,” Hoeschele adds.
Once it breaks ground in the fall, she expects the building project to take between 12 and 14 months. The New York State Department of Health provided $4 million in funding for the effort, with an additional $600,000 coming from a grant from the state Assembly combined with American Rescue Plan Act funding from Broome County and the City of Binghamton. There are also funding opportunities available to underwrite for the remaining cost.
“As the need for services continues to grow, Family & Children’s Counseling Services will now be able to expand and accommodate more clients than ever,” Broome County Executive Jason Garnar said in a press release regarding the project. “For 80 years, this agency has helped thousands of families in our community. With the funding we were able to commit, I know the great people at Family & Children’s Counseling Services will serve thousands more for another eight decades and beyond.”
Founded in 1941 by Esther W. Couper as The Family & Children’s Society, Inc., the organization merged with Family Counseling Services of Cortland County in 2020 to become Family & Children’s Counseling Services.
Programs include mental health and addiction services, care coordination, housing placement, vocational assistance, and sexual-abuse treatment. The private, nonprofit organization has an annual budget of about $20 million and serves about 15,000 people between Binghamton and its location at 153 Main St. in Owego.
