In a services delivery system as diffuse and imperfect as ours, it’s always heartening to see organizations work outside established channels to help improve the lives of people with developmental disabilities (DD).

One such partnership, between for-profit customized care management company Future Centered Care (FCC) and community center Shames JCC on the Hudson, began as many good things do: With dogs.

First, to lay the groundwork:  Since COVID, Shames JCC, a non-sectarian community center in Westchester County, N.Y., has been ramping up its supportive programming under Director of Supportive Services Annie Bridson. FCC, meanwhile, works with neurodiverse adults and their families in the greater NYC area and Westchester County to find meaningful support and services.

So, last year, when one of FCC’s clients wanted to work on social skills, it reached out to Giving Retrievers, a therapy and service dogs program that offers a social skills program, but for a younger population. Giving Retrievers liked the idea of a social skills program for adults, but didn’t have the space.

Enter FCC Senior Case Manager Laura Galbraith, who reached out to Bridson at Shames JCC to see if it could handle the program in-house. It could. It offered the space, and then provided the needed support, such as sign-ups and payment. It was the start of a fruitful relationship.

“It’s such a unique collaboration,” says Bridson. “FCC has direct access to the individuals we’re looking to serve, and they’re looking for specific classes and opportunities to support the growth of the people they’re working with. If I think there’s more of an appetite for a program than their one or two clients, I’m really excited to try it and see if there are other people out in the community who want it, too.”

This fall, The Giving Retriever’s Canine-Integrated Social Skill Enrichment Group at Shames JCC will be starting its second year. Additionally, thanks to the partnership, Shames JCC is also offering a hiking program at Rockefeller State Park Preserve. Participants will have the opportunity to enhance social skills and physical fitness while also enjoying the benefits of nature.

A Beauty & Bonding program participant.

Previous programs included “Beauty & Bonding,” which featured pros from Neiman Marcus providing participants with make-up, hair styling and fashion tips.

Both organizations are open to other such partnerships. FCC, for instance, joined with the non-profit The Extended Family, also in Westchester County, to create a retail initiative. “We had a client who finished an internship at camp where he did really well at a bakery, and then really wanted a job as a cashier,” explains Galbraith. “His parents said they wanted him to practice and not necessarily get a job right away so we went to Extended Family and a ‘mini-class’ was created.”

Galbraith clarifies that FCC “is not a program-development business. We’re eager to connect people and ideas, and we’re ready to provide any necessary support. But [at Shames JCC] Annie does the hard work of pulling it all together.”

Both organizations are just happy that such partnerships can be effective.

“This community is becoming more open to collaboration,” says Bridson. “Sometimes you just need to know where to send [someone] to get what they need. It’s helpful to have the mindset that, well, we’re not going to be experts in everything.”