UTICA, N.Y. — In September, the Auburn–based Cayuga Centers celebrated both its 170th year in service and a new, larger location in Utica. The nonprofit held an open house on Sept. 29 at its new Utica office to not only show off the new space, but also to honor its 170 years of providing services […]
UTICA, N.Y. — In September, the Auburn–based Cayuga Centers celebrated both its 170th year in service and a new, larger location in Utica.
The nonprofit held an open house on Sept. 29 at its new Utica office to not only show off the new space, but also to honor its 170 years of providing services aimed at keeping families together.
Serving Oneida and Madison counties, the Utica office was previously located in 3,650 square feet on the Brodock building at 502 Court St., but had really outgrown the space, Ashley Simons, Cayuga Centers’ assistant VP for the Mohawk Valley region, says.
The new office, just across the street at 430 Court St., occupies 16,391 square feet on the second floor of the AAA building. Cayuga Centers leases the space from AAA and did not need to renovate the space.
“Cayuga Centers probably spent about six months trying to find the perfect facility for our staff and the community,” Simons says. While Cayuga Centers provides many of the services in the client’s home, it provides its growing Treatment Family Foster Care program services on site. “We needed a safe place where our foster families can come in and get services.”
Other services offered in Utica include multisystemic therapy, which looks at all the different systems the child is involved in from the school system to probation; functional family therapy; SafeCare, which provides parent education and home safety training; the Family Support Program to help families with youth at risk of or returning from out-of-home-care placement. Cayuga Centers also offers care-management services to link youth in need to various services and supports; preventive case-planning services in partnership with Oneida County to help families stay together; and community-based treatment services to provide interventions to reduce crises in the community.
The foster-care services are among the fastest growing at the agency, Simons says. “We have a high amount of foster children in need,” she says. The program provides the high level of treatment those children need as well as a constant resource for foster parents. “These foster parents are not going it alone,” she notes.
Over time, Cayuga Centers hopes to carve out a few more offices from its new space in Utica to add additional therapy space as well as visiting rooms, Simons says.
Founded in Auburn in 1852, Cayuga Centers’ mission is to help children, families, and individuals grow as independent, healthy, and productive citizens. To do that, the organization provides counseling, out-of-home care, and support services in partnership with government agencies and other service providers. Those services include children’s and family services, intellectual and developmental disability support, and migrant foster care.
The agency has locations in Albany, Liverpool, Rochester, Canandaigua, and Utica in New York. Other locations include Fort Lauderdale and Port St. Lucie, Florida; Arlington, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Los Angeles, California; and Chicago, Illinois.