Dear Staff,
We recently held a Town Hall, the first of our quarterly meetings, to give employees an opportunity to hear updates about the agency and to ask questions of our Executive Director, Rob Ciatto. Key among the things discussed is the desire for this new administration to slow things down, go back to basics, and focus on the people ACLD supports. We are focusing on two key areas for staff: staff recruitment and staff educational opportunities.
We have often said that we are battling twin crises in our field – the pandemic and the staffing crisis. Over the past several years, our field has been facing staffing issues for many reasons. ACLD has been working on ways to attract talented people who want to grow their careers with us. Recently the referral bonus was boosted to increase to $1,500 for up to 3 or more referrals. You can read more about this new program here. We continue to look for more ways to incentivize people to work at ACLD. We are currently working with Stonybrook University to explore federal funding grants to provide transportation stipends for people to work in our Suffolk County residences.
Recently, ACLD received a workforce development grant to partner with Stonybrook University to provide training and mentorships for DSPs. This new program, coupled with the newly created Direct Care Learning Academy, ACLD is offering further opportunities for our staff to develop career growth and learning.
As the New York State budget continues to be a variable, with the final cuts yet to be determined, ACLD waits to see what that means for us. The budget for this year was based on last year’s cuts, not just the ones expected this year. With delays in some of the cuts, and federal funding from the recent stimulus money for NYS, our hope is that some of these cuts will be restored. This administration’s commitment is to restore some of the things that had been restructured to alleviate the budget.
We want to continue to build a culture here at ACLD where people want to be; not a place they have to be. We want you to love coming to work, enjoying the camaraderie of your co-workers and supervisors. At one of our Town Halls last month, an employee asked us about releasing a statement with the recent acts of violence against our Asian-American neighbors. You can read our statement here.
We encourage you to join future Town Halls where you can have an opportunity to join in the conversation and ask questions. We may not have all the answers, but together, we will continue to build a bright future for our staff and the people supported.
Sincerely,
Rob, Gerard, Anne Marie and Kim
Robert Ciatto, Executive Director
Gerard DiMuro, Assistant Executive Director
Anne Marie Sime, Assistant Executive Director
Kim Leonard, Chief Financial Officer
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Meet Tonya Seaton, Administrator of Residential Services and this month's ACLD Employee Spotlight.
This past February, Tonya celebrated her third anniversary at ACLD and currently oversees the management of the Wildwood, Chichester, Dix Hills and Brighton community residences. In her time here, she has also had the Magnolia and Phelps community residences under her management. Tonya is a long time Human Services professional with over 20 years of experience, many of which were as a Senior Case Manager caring for homeless families and veterans.
As a leader in the agency, she serves on the Residential Council and the Self Advocacy Committee, and last February graduated the CrestCom Leadership Training program along with other supervisors and directors.
Tonya works hard to build a rapport with the men and women we support and their families, and learns as much about each person as she can, so she and her team can deliver the best person-centered care possible. She expresses that one of her favorite parts of the job is celebrating milestones with the people we support and seeing their growth overtime. In her own words "we are doing life together".
Last year, two of her homes were hit with COVID-19, and she recalls witnessing her staff coming together and staying strong as a family to care for and protect all people supported. Tonya praises her direct support staff's dedication and work ethic in the pandemic, and says that she is optimistic about the year to come. Tonya stresses that she is beyond grateful for her team and that we wouldn't be able to fulfill our mission without each one of them. "Teamwork makes the dreamwork. No matter where we are headed, we will do it together. It's the only way. We can't do anything alone." said Tonya.
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Direct Care Learning Academy Graduates |
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Congratulations to the first graduates of the ACLD Direct Care Professional Learning Academy, Annie Ramlogan, Barbara Miller, Brian Walsh, Diana Sanchez, Jarlande Pierre, Shari Walz and Krystle Waugh (not pictured). These seven direct care staff that underwent this professional development program received their certificates last month at the conclusion of the final module.
This first cohort met once a week for 10 weeks, with unique modules that focus on ACLD’s culture, mission, core values and best practices. This cohort has acted as a pilot program with participants offering their critical feedback and evaluation of each training module, and with this program, ACLD is committed to building a stronger future for our direct care professionals.
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Interested in learning more about the Direct Care Professional Learning Academy? Call Sharon Geiselmann at 516-822-0028 ext. 240.
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Shout out to Children's Services |
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Please join us in giving a HUGE SHOUT OUT to everyone in children’s services. Despite all the challenges faced this year, they continue to show up every day and rally!
Thank you to all educators, teacher assistants, administrators and staff for continuing to run your programs at such a high level.
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Staff at the Plainview community residence celebrated the life of Michael Schneider, long time resident of the house, earlier this month on the one-year anniversary of his passing.
Everyone wore t-shirts with his picture, framed his picture for the dining room, and had a cake with the words “We love you Michael”. Diane Mercer, Plainview Manager, said "Michael was the heart and soul of the Plainview house and we will miss him immensely!"
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National Autism Awareness Month |
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The Month of April is National Autism Awareness Month and ACLD encourages everyone to participate in celebrating by sharing stories and raising awareness about the positives and highlights of those with autism.
Check out pictures below of ACLD staff and adults we support dressed up in blue for World Autism Awareness Day last week.
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Congratulations to Bridgette A. Samuel, Entitlements Coordinator in the Finance Department, for making the Dean's List, School of Arts and Sciences at State University of New York at Old Westbury for both the Spring and Fall Semesters of 2020.
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James Purser, husband of ACLD Community Habilitation Manager Gina Purser, has been nominated by his peers at the Kings Park Fire Department to serve his 8th and final year as Chief of the department. James has been a member of the department for almost 30 years, beginning at the ranks of EMT and Fireman.
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Adam Heidenfelder, the son of Laura Heidenfelder of the ACLD Payroll Department, signed a professional baseball contract with the Gary Southshore Railcats in Indiana. Adam attended and pitched for the State University of New York at Old Westbury and more recently upstate for the independent team, the Rockland Boulders.
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Employee Referral Program |
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The Human Resources Department is excited to announce the new EMPLOYEE REFERRAL PROGRAM! You can now earn up to $1,500 when you refer a friend or family member to work at ACLD. See the flyer below for details.
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Enviable Life News - Spring 2021 |
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The Spring 2021 issue of the Enviable Life News is now available. This issue includes articles about the vaccine roll out at ACLD, our new day habilitation autism program and an interview with the new Executive Director Rob Ciatto.
Click below to download a pdf or to view the newsletter on our website.
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We recently had an incident take place on the Bethpage campus of a stranger approaching a staff member’s car. The staff member was just arriving for the day at approximately 9:00 am. Luckily the staff member used their intuition and did not exit the vehicle and the person eventually left when they saw that they were dialing their phone. Police were contacted and a report was filed. With the additional cameras, we added recently for everyone’s safety, we were able to obtain video surveillance footage. This has been saved to give to the authorities.
We are reporting this to you all so that you remain vigilant and aware of your surroundings at all times. Please never assume that people you see walking in the parking lot are here for a training, always assume they are strangers. Unless you see an ACLD photo ID on them, they are not employees. Thus, the importance of wearing your ID cards at all times when working.
Please report anything you see as suspicious and always call 911 anytime you feel uncomfortable. In an effort to increase our safety and awareness we will be conducting a “criminal observation” training. We are working now with our Homeland Security Police on putting that together and will keep you posted. In addition, we have requested more frequent police drive throughs of our lot, we will be posting additional No Trespassing Signs and Video Surveillance signage. Please stay safe!
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Think Safety & Act Safely |
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- Minimize distractions
- Keep eyes wide open
- Avoid complacency
- Always perform a scan of your area when entering and exiting your cars
- Become a HARD target by walking with confidence to come across as very aware of your surroundings.
- If you encounter someone and they are demonstrating verbal aggression or body language, look at their hands. They may be carrying a weapon of some kind. If you see anything, immediately increase your distance between them.
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Nominate Your Co-Workers! |
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It’s time to nominate your amazing co-workers for the Employee of the Quarter Award and the Team Service Award!
We know there are many stories out there of our dedicated staff that deserve recognition. Please share your story with us in the form of a nomination below.
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Discounts for ACLD Employees |
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Did you know that by being an employee of ACLD, you can take advantage of exclusive discounts at different businesses such as Verizon, P.C. Richard, Six Flags and a lot more?
You can also register as an ACLD employee on PlumBenefits.com to get discounts on vacations, entertainment, online shopping and other services. Use company code ac0825520 to register.
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Thrive Webinars with National EAP |
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See below for information on the National EAP's series of Thrive Programming with two new workshops for the month of April. Be sure to register for these workshops and check out the library of recordings of past Thrive Webinars here!
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Welcome ACLD New Hires - March 2021 |
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Alexander Ventura - Direct Support Professional - Bethpage 857
Alexandra Polizzotto - Direct Support Professional - Bethpage 857
Astride Asmus - Direct Support Professional - Great Neck
Ayobami Bakare - Teacher Aide - Kramer Learning Center
Bryanna Tersigni - Teacher Aide - Kramer Learning Center
Donald Bosquet - Direct Support Professional - Yorktown
Donna Smith - Registered Nurse - Bethpage 857
Elijah Logan - Direct Support Professional - Louis Kossuth
Eneysshia Smith - Direct Support Professional - Wildwood
Huma Amir - Behavior Support Specialist - Kramer Learning Center
Jodie Robinson - Direct Support Professional - West Hempstead
Joel Brea - Residential Administrator - Bethpage 857
John Mizhquiri - Direct Support Professional - Hawthorne
Joseph Ambrosini - Day Habilitation Specialist - Bethpage 837
Julio Moran - Teacher Aide - Kramer Learning Center
Kashianna Wynter - Teacher Aide - Kramer Learning Center
Kendall Reed - Respite Counselor - Bethpage 807
Michel Laguerre - Direct Support Professional - Bethpage 857
Leotise Chery - Direct Support Professional - Bethpage 857
Lorencia Desulme - Registered Nurse - Bethpage 857
Lynn Fortune - Direct Support Professional - Baldwin
Mallissa Mayweather - Direct Support Professional - Brighton
Morsal Rasuly - Registered Nurse - Bethpage 857
Nathan Nyantakyi - Direct Support Professional - Spur Drive
Nuvisha Grosvenor - Direct Support Professional - Russell Gardens
Randell Pierre-Lys - Direct Support Professional - Bethpage 857
Stefanie Bishop - Clerk - Bethpage 807
Wendrice Pierre Louis - Direct Support Professional - Blake Ave
Yolette Ahmad - Registered Nurse - Bethpage 857
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ACLD’s RewearAble program now has two bins located on the Bethpage campus in front of the 807 building - so you can drop off your clothing donation any time, day or night.
RewearAble, now in its 5th year of operation, has continued to accept contactless donations of clothing, shoes and other accessories throughout the pandemic.
Every donation received helps provide jobs for adults of different abilities in the RewearAble program, increases their independence and gives them opportunities to foster supportive relationships in the community.
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Don't forget to give a SHOUT OUT to recognize someone at your location for something special they did for you, your department or a person we support. |
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The Organizational Care Committee is always looking for new ideas and suggestions from all of YOU to continue to make ACLD one of the best places to work, and for children and adults to receive supports and services.
Please share your ideas and suggestions anytime at brightideabox@acld.org or by using the "Bright Idea Box" at one of the following ACLD locations.
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807 Building
837 Building
857 Building
Program Without Walls
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Kramer Learning Center
Spiegel Children's Center
Hauppauge Day Program
Levittown Day Program
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Glen Cove Day Program
Westbury Day Program
Farmingdale Day Program
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Submit YOUR stories for the "Limelight" |
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Each month we include stories in this newsletter about YOU and all of the amazing staff here at ACLD!
BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP to find out about these stories. Please send us anything to include such as:
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A story about how you or someone else went above and beyond to help the people we support, organized any fun or educational activity, or did anything to further our mission in any way
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Information or news useful for staff across the agency. Anything important or fun.
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Proud moments for you or your family (Personal or professional milestones, awards, weddings, educational degrees or works in the community).
Don't be shy about submitting stories - we need new ones every month!
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"the limelight" is an initiative of the
Communications Committee
and is produced by the
Development and Community Relations Department.
Jonathan Dolan, Editor. For questions, comments or suggestions, please email dolanj2@acld.org
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Thank you to all who have submitted information
and photos. Keep them coming!
We welcome your comments and suggestions.
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