OASAS Awards More Than $500k for New Recovery Community Centers

State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) Commissioner Karen M. Carpenter-Palumbo today awarded $510,000 in funding for three new Recovery Community Centers that will provide support services for New Yorkers in recovery from alcohol, drug or gambling addiction.

"We know that addiction is a chronic disease that demands on-going support to sustain life-long recovery," said Commissioner Carpenter-Palumbo. "Recovery Community Centers will have a fundamental role in preventing relapse by providing a combination of services that will support individuals through long-term recovery."

Recovery Centers offer services provided by peers and staff which can include: peer-led support groups; transportation support; training in parenting, nutrition and meal planning; financial management; facilitating education and career planning; resume writing and computer skills.

New York's Centers are modeled after those first implemented under the Recovery Community Services Program (RCSP) grant program established by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (SAMHSA-CSAT) in 1998.

Awards were distributed as a result of a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) process that focused on three geographic categories - downstate, upstate urban and upstate rural.

This initial cycle of awards will be dispensed, in varying amounts, to the following providers through direct contracts from OASAS.

• - Phoenix House of New York, Incorporated, has been awarded $250,000 to develop a Recovery Community Center in central Brooklyn.
• - The Center for Community Alternatives in Syracuse, New York, has been awarded $200,000 to develop a Recovery Community Center in Rochester, New York.
• - Friends of Recovery of Delaware and Otsego Counties, Incorporated, have been awarded $60,000 to develop a Recovery Community Center in Oneonta, New York.

OASAS plans to utilize the Recovery Community Centers as learning laboratories to gather, identify and share best practices in recovery support services with the field. In support of this new initiative, nine additional centers are planned for within the next five years.

"The Recovery Community Center initiative will enable people who have achieved years of recovery to give back by imparting peer-to-peer recovery support services, while also providing an opportunity for those in need to receive valuable guidance and mentoring as they try to establish their recovery," said Commissioner Carpenter-Palumbo. "Undoubtedly, these centers will improve the quality of life for everyone involved - individuals, families and the community at-large."

OASAS oversees one of the nation's largest addiction services systems dedicated to Prevention, Treatment and Recovery, with more than 1,550 programs serving over 110,000 New Yorkers on any given day.

Addiction is a chronic disease and New Yorkers need to know that help and hope is available. Individuals can get help by calling the toll-free, 24-hour, 7-day a week HOPEline at 1-877-8-HOPENY. For more information, visit www.oasas.state.ny.us.

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