• COMMUNITY RESOURCES

    Click on the links below to access community resources.

Links

  • Create a Resume

    This resource aims to help high schoolers create resumes that can frame their current life experiences in a way that highlights them as well rounded, quality individuals for their college and scholarship applications. Great site for first time job applicants!

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  • Crisis Services

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  • Temporary Assistance

    The Department of Social Services offers temporary help for needy men, women and children. If you are unable to work, can't find a job or your job does not pay enough to meet your basic living expenses you may be able to get help. Erie County has a Work First policy that focuses on the temporary nature of cash assistance and an individual's responsibility to achieve self-sufficiency.

    Emergency Temporary Assistance offers help for an urgent need or situation that has to be taken care of right away. Some examples of an emergency are:

    • You are homeless
    • You have received an eviction notice
    • You do not have fuel for heating during the cold weather period
    • Your utilities are shut off or are about to be shut off
    • You or someone in your family has been beaten, abused or threatened with harm by a husband, wife, partner, ex-partner or other member of the household
    • Applications for Emergency Services may be accepted on the first floor of 158 Pearl Street, OR at the TAS Unit, located on the 6th floor of 478 Main Street, Buffalo. To contact the Emergency Services Unit by phone, call (716) 858-6265.
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  • STEPS Online Guides to Public Assistance

    The STEPS Online Guides to Public Assistance is your hub for information and advice on everything from affordable housing and utility assistance to food security and child care help.

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  • WNY 211 Holiday Partnership

    Need help making ends meet at the holidays? WNY 211 is offering families assistance with toys and gifts for their children 12 and younger through their Holiday Partnership Program. Click here for more information.

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  • Community Action Organization Head Start

    King Urban Life Center is now acception applications for 3 & 4 year olds for the 2019-2020 school year. Click here for a flier with more info. 

    Please note this is not a CSAT Program.

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  • 211 of WNY

    This website provides information on health and human service programs available in Western New York.
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  • WIC

    The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) offers nutrition education, breastfeeding support, referrals and a variety of nutritious foods to low-income pregnant, breastfeeding or postpartum women, infants and children up to age five to promote and support good health.

     
    Do I qualify for WIC?
    To qualify, you must:
    1. Be a
      • A pregnant woman;
      • An infant or child up to five years old;
      • A mother of a baby up to six months old; OR
      • A breastfeeding mother of a baby up to 12 months old.
    2. Be a resident of New York State, but you do not need to be a U.S. citizen.
    3. Meet the income eligibility guidelines OR receive benefits from Food Stamps, Medicaid or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
    4. Be assessed by a WIC health care professional.
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  • Catholic Charities

    Protect. Strengthen. Empower.
    As the most comprehensive human service provider serving all eight counties of WNY, we're there for people in need of every faith, race or walk of life. We work to protect, strengthen and empower more than 130,000 people each year.

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  • HEAP- Erie County Energy Assistant Program

    HEAP Hotline: 858-7644
    HEAP Office Hours 8:00am-4:00pm

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  • CARES- Crisis and Re-Stabilization Emergency Services

    882-HELP (4357)
    The Crisis and Re-Stabilization Emergency Services (C.A.R.E.S.) Team, funded by the Erie County Department of Mental Health, serves families and youth of Erie County experiencing psychiatric or behavioral emergencies. The mission of the C.A.R.E.S. team is to assist families in resolving crisis situations in the community as quickly and effectively as possible.
    The C.A.R.E.S. Team looks to empower parents to more effectively manage crisis situations, link families with appropriate services and supports in the community, and avoid any unnecessary out of home placements for youth. The C.A.R.E.S. Team is on call 24 hours a day/seven days a week. When a call comes in the staff conducts a clinically based triage to determine with the family or requestor of services, the most appropriate response to the concerns expressed.
     
    The C.A.R.E.S. Team will conduct visits in the community, either at home, school, or another location in order to complete an assessment or to provide interventions to the family and youth. When necessary, the team will link families with community mental health providers on an emergency basis. Also, the C.A.R.E.S. team can coordinate a psychiatric evaluation for individuals who are at risk of harming themselves or others. The C.A.R.E.S. Team works closely with police agencies, schools, and mental health providers to ensure that the needs of youth with psychiatric and behavioral issues are adequately addressed.
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  • ECMC - Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP)

    ECMC's Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) is the only 24-hour psychiatric emergency program in WNY. The treatment team features a multidisciplinary approach, with professionals from psychiatry, psychology, social work, psychiatric nursing, child mental health, chemical dependency and community mental health. Each year, 7,000 people come to CPEP for help, and about 2,800 are admitted on an inpatient basis.

    Within the CPEP program, ECMC operates an extended-observation (short-term-stay) unit for patients who require further assessment, treatment and stabilization (with five adult beds and one dedicated for adolescents); a Mobile Crisis Outreach Program, which provides medical or psychiatric evaluation and treatment in the patient's home by qualified mental health professionals; a Crisis Residence Program, which offers short-term emergency housing to patients who have mental illness but are capable of self-supervision; counseling support and medication management for follow-up services to CPEP patients; Children's Services, including an Adolescent Inpatient Unit; and a referral program, which provides ongoing support and linkage to various community outpatient services.

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  • Parent Network of Western New York

    Parents helping parents and professionals enable individuals with disabilities to reach their own potential.
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  • EPIC- Every Peron Influences Children

    EPIC - Every Person Influences Children, Inc. is a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping families, schools, and communities raise children to become responsible and capable adults. EPIC supports the people who have the most influence on children by providing evidence-based programs for parents, a character education curriculum for families and schools, and training for schools and agencies.
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  • Erie County Department of Health Programs

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  • Persons In Need of Supervision (PINS)

    Family Services Team (FST)
    More information:

    478 Main Street
    2nd Floor
    (Also Pearl Street Entrance)
    (716) 858-8349

    Children’s Services Intake and Persons In Need of Supervision (PINS) Diversion Services.

    The Family Services Team assesses each youth’s risks/strengths and the family’s needs, to determine optimal linkage to community based services.

    The Family Service Team may be able to assist you if:

    • Youth willfully does not attend school regularly
    • Often disobeys parents, guardians, or other authority figures despite appropriate parental attempts to intervene
    • AWOL (Runaway) whereabouts unknown for over 24 hours
    • Substance abuse without treatment cooperation.

    The Family Services Team assesses each youth's risks/strengths and the family's needs, to determine optimal linkage to community based services or services within the Erie County Department of Social Services.

    The goal of the Family Service Team is to assist families in stabilizing their own home environments and preventing youth from penetrating the Juvenile Justice System if possible and appropriate.

    What is PINS?
    Persons In Need of Supervision is a term used to describe youth with serious behavioral problems who come to the attention of the Juvenile Justice System, whereby an adjudication of PINS is made in Court.

     

    Who is a PINS Diversion Eligible Youth?
    Youth under the age of 18 who show a pattern of ungovernable behavior, such as running away, curfew violations, alcohol and/or drug abuse, violent or destructive behavior, or severe school truancy.

    As defined by law, a PINS is “a youth less than 18 years of age who does not attend school; or is incorrigible, ungovernable, or habitually disobedient and beyond the control of a parent or other person legally responsible for such child’s care; or a youth who violates the provision of 221.05 of the penal law (unlawful possession of marijuana).”

    Who can bring a complaint?
    Most PINS behavioral complaints are made by parents, or, in the case of severe truancy problems, by school districts.

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  • Domestic Violence

    What is  What is domestic violence?

    Domestic violence is a pattern of intentional, coercive behaviors that may include verbal, physical, sexual, financial and/or emotional abuse directed against current or former spouses/partners, parents, children or any family member, in order to establish and maintain power and control.

    Some behaviors in this pattern are clearly criminal acts. Other behaviors are not necessarily illegal but are abusive and controlling, designed to intimidate or instill fear.

    Victims of domestic abuse come from every culture, income group, age, and religion. They frequently share feelings of isolation, guilt, fear, shame, and helplessness. Intervention by the criminal justice system is often necessary, and, with support, victims can emerge as survivors.

    Does your partner or family member:

    • Threaten or intimidate you, your children, or your pets?
    • Become extremely jealous or overprotective?
    • Destroy personal property?
    • Call you names or make fun of you?
    • Treat your roughly - grab, push, punch, shove, kick, or hit you?
    • Pressure you sexually?
    • Use drugs or alcohol as an excuse for his/her behavior?

    If you answered yes to ANY of these questions, you are at risk of being a victim of domestic violence.

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  • Child Support Assistance

    Office of Child Support Enforcement
    95 Franklin Street
    Rath Building - 7th Floor
    Buffalo, New York 14202

    The purposes of the Office of Child Support Enforcement are:

    Locate absent parents and establish paternity of children born out of wedlock; and
    Establish, enforce and collect child support from legally responsible individuals; and
    Reduce the cost of public assistance for taxpayers.

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  • Comprehensive Employment Division

    290 Main Street
    Buffalo, New York 14202

    Hours of Operation: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

    The Comprehensive Employment Division [CED] of the Erie County Department of Social Services provides integrated employment and training services for Temporary Assistance clients and Non-Temporary Assistance Food Stamp recipients.

    In addition, services are available for recipients who request services and non-custodial parents of a TANF-eligible child.

    CED provides assessments, job skills training, day care services, substance abuse treatment monitoring, and coordinates Workfare assignments.

    ECDSS utilizes a 'Work First' approach to welfare reform and expects all clients capable of work to enter employment at the earliest time possible. Work First initiates immediate job search upon application and prior to cases being opened, and mandatory participation in 'Job Clubs' - which are supervised and specific group job searches.

    If the initial job search activities fail to result in employment, Workfare, a short-term vocational training, or other employment assignment is required for all active clients.

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  • Medicaid

    Erie County Work Center
    158 Pearl Street
    Buffalo, New York 14202

    Hours of Operation: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

    The Medicaid Program in Erie County provides access to a variety of public health insurance programs including Medicaid, Family Health Plus (FHP), Family Planning Benefits Program and the Medicare Savings Program.

    Financial eligibility is determined based on the income and resource standards governing the Public Health Insurance Programs.

    Persons eligible for Medicaid may be required to enroll in a managed care plan. Persons eligible for Family Health Plus must enroll in a managed care plan.

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  • SNAP Benefits (Food Stamps)

    Erie County Work Center
    158 Pearl Street
    Buffalo, New York 14202

    Hours of Operation: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

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