People news: Unity House promotes Coccimiglio to lead employment program

AUBURN, N.Y. — Unity House of Cayuga County, Inc. announced it has recently promoted Shannon Engle Coccimiglio from day services manager to director of Unity Employment Services (UES).

Coccimiglio has been with the agency since 2018 and began her new duties in April.

In her new role, Coccimiglio is responsible for overseeing 15 staff and operating three employment offices in Syracuse, Auburn, and Geneva. The UES unit of Unity House prepares and trains individuals with disabilities for “competitive, productive work in the community.” Her team will pair these individuals with willing employers and will match applicants’ skills and qualifications to the job needs. UES also provides pre-vocational assessment and on-the-job training and coaching.

“Shannon brings great enthusiasm with solid experience in employment and day programming to her new position as director of employment services,” Darlene Podolak, Unity House’s chief operating officer, said in a release. “The UES team and I are looking forward to having a director who is focused on employment to build our community relationships and in turn assist more people with disabilities to find, get and keep competitive jobs that utilize their skills and interests.”

Coccimiglio holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Keuka College, and a master’s degree in social work from the University at Buffalo.

Before her promotion, she was the program manager for Unity House’s Without Walls day program in Ithaca. There, she was responsible for all programming for about 50 clients and supervised 26 employees. The program provides one-on-one social interaction and group sessions with trained staff to try to build individuals’ self-worth, independence, and life skills, and immerse them in their local community.

Unity House of Cayuga County provides transitional and permanent housing, respite, rehabilitative, and employment services for individuals with mental illness, developmental disabilities, and/or chemical dependencies from which they are recovering. The nonprofit agency serves more than 1,000 adults a day in seven central New York counties.