THE CENTER WITHOUT WALLS

A Joint Project of Resources for Children with Special Needs, Inc. and Advocates for Children of New York, Inc

The Center Without Walls (CWW) helps parents of children with disabilities or special needs find and connect with programs and services for their children and for themselves. In workshops at community-based organizations in all parts of New York City, the Center Without Walls Access Team tells parents and family members about their child's right to an appropriate education, and about the education process. CWW gives immediate, on-the-spot information about schools, educational and related services, family and community resources, recreation, camp, respite programs, and much more. It provides direct help and advocacy services and gives parents basic advocacy strategies so that they can act effectively on behalf of their children. Parents can use CWW's traveling "library," and can get their own resource lists printed from Resources' comprehensive database of programs and services. They can call Resources for Children with Special Needs for assistance or support at any time.

The Center Without Walls' multilingual Access Team provides training and helps parents in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Chinese, and can link parents to sources of help in many other languages.

CWW can provide either:

Two 2-1/2 hour sessions, one week apart: a training workshop and a follow-up session for more individualized help.

One full day on-site "clinic" combining a training workshop and individualized help.

The Center Without Walls is funded in part by the New York State Education Department's New York City Parent Center Program. The Pinkerton Foundation and the Child Welfare Fund also provide funding. The Parent Center Program reaches out to parents all over New York City through Advocates for Children of New York, Resources for Children with Special Needs, Parent To Parent of New York City and the Metropolitan Parent Center of Sinergia.

To schedule a Center Without Walls workshop session call Roberto Romero at Resources for Children with Special Needs, (212) 677-4650, or by email at rromero@resourcesnyc.org