Seward celebrates new William George Agency facility

By Jamie Swinnerton
Tompkins Weekly

 

The William George Agency, a private nonprofit residential treatment center in Freeville, officially opened a new 24-bed cottage last week with help from Senator James Seward. The senator cut the ribbon on the new facility at a ceremony last Monday, Aug. 13 before taking a tour of the four-wing building that will house the agencies Hard to Place Boys Program, serving children with histories of trauma.

“As you all know, we have a long-standing commitment to serving vulnerable, high-needs population children, some of the most vulnerable children in New York State,” said interim Executive Director of the agency, Ronald Trumino before introducing the senator. “We have contracts with 55 counties in upstate New York. I want to recognize the fact that the senator has always been a good friend to the William George Agency, but not only to the William George Agency. He’s been a great advocate and supporter of child welfare services throughout New York State, and we greatly appreciate his steadfast support and his advocacy.”

Before cutting the ribbon, the senator acknowledged work of the faculty and staff of the agency.

“This is another big step forward for this agency, and it’s a step forward for your mission,” Seward said, recognizing that the agency gives its residents a second, third, or sometimes fifth chance. “The services that are provided here at the William George Agency gives them that opportunity to turn their lives around.”

The new 24-bed facility is split into four separate wings which theoretically could mean that each wing was specialized to the needs of the occupants. Residents are allowed, and encouraged, to personalize their rooms as they wish. The kitchen in the facility was designed to be a teaching kitchen giving residents a chance to learn how to prepare their own food. The theme of self-reliance covers other chores too, as the residents will be responsible for doing their own laundry at the on-site laundry room in the new facility. Therapy for residents will take place in-house.
“We’re constantly growing and expanding, but we wanted to build a building that would allow us the flexibility to not be pigeon-holed into a specific treatment population,” said David Dankert, director of residential services of why the facility was built. “We built four separate wings, identical, so we could have the flexibility, depending on treatment population and as trends change in social and child welfare, we wanted to be nimble and have, again, the flexibility to meet the needs of our populations.”

Dankert said the project has been in the works for about three years. Part of the reasoning for the long timeline was due to the dificulty of finding contractors during a time when the construction market is in high demand, along with some delays once work did start. The agency took out a mortgage to fund the new facility, Dankert said. Although the new facility has 24 beds, Dankert said that because some other cottages on campus will be downsizing the new facility won’t actually be increasing the resident population by 24. Residents were scheduled to move in on Monday, Aug. 20.