SYRACUSE — L’Arche Syracuse began an affiliation with AccessCNY in an agreement that became effective on May 1.

The two nonprofit disability providers have been partnering on services for the last several months, per a news release about the affiliation.

Financial support for this partnership was provided by the Central New York Community Foundation’s strategic partnership fund. The fund provided a $16,000 grant, Matt Seubert, associate executive director–development, communication, and advocacy, tells CNYBJ in an email.

The Community Foundation has supported AccessCNY’s growth over the last five years through grants that have encouraged collaboration, the organization said.

L’Arche Syracuse will maintain its identity as a faith-based provider of services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Through a “change of auspices” affiliation structure, L’Arche says it will benefit from AccessCNY’s administrative services and expertise in management, finance, and human resources.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with AccessCNY,” Peggy Harper, executive director of L’Arche Syracuse, said. “As funding and regulations for providers of services for people with disabilities has become more challenging, it became prudent for L’Arche Syracuse to find new ways to move forward. The size and scale of AccessCNY made it an ideal partner for us. L’Arche’s unique mission necessitated a unique arrangement. The change of auspices allows L’Arche to continue our faith and community-based approach to serving individuals with disabilities, while calling on the expertise of AccessCNY.”

Harper will continue in her role until her retirement later this year. Given the hands-on nature of supports provided by the agencies, “no staff reductions are anticipated” as a result of this affiliation, AccessCNY said.

“We’ve been working with L’Arche Syracuse over the past several months to make this partnership seamless to those served by the agency, some of whom are also served by AccessCNY. Our facilities, behavioral management and quality enhancement teams have been among the first to collaborate with L’Arche. Both agencies will be stronger as a result of this partnership. AccessCNY was created from a merger and will continue to partner to meet the needs of Central New York as we create a community where all people belong,” Paul Joslyn, executive director of AccessCNY, said.

About AccessCNY

AccessCNY, based at 1603 Court St. in Syracuse, serves over 3,300 people with developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, mental-health diagnoses and/or acquired brain injuries each year. 

In 2015, AccessCNY was created from the merger of two agencies that served individuals with disabilities: Enable and Transitional Living Services. 

AccessCNY expanded again in 2018 with the merger of Spaulding Support Services. Onondaga CASA, a program that serves abused and neglected children in foster care, also became part of AccessCNY in 2019.

About L’Arche Syracuse 

L’Arche Syracuse is one of 135 L’Arche communities around the world. 

L’Arche includes people with and without disabilities sharing life in a community of faith. Locally, it operates a day habilitation program and four Syracuse homes for people with developmental disabilities where staff live as part of the household.

UTICA — Family-owned Empire Recycling Corp. has fully reopened all of its metal-recycling facilities, including its location at 64 North Genesee St. in Utica, and resumed buying metal from the general public. 

Besides the Utica site, the firm also has metal-recycling operations in Syracuse, Waterloo, and Albany, Beth Park, director of public relations & marketing at Empire Recycling, tells CNYBJ in an email. 

Empire Recycling also has paper-recycling facilities in Utica, Clay, Binghamton, and Albany. Its facilities closed to the general public on March 24 in response to COVID-19 restrictions. However, with recycling services deemed essential, Empire remained open for commercial customers, contractors/tradesmen, and other essential businesses, according to Park.

“We were fortunate in that we did not need to furlough any employees. While business slowed down slightly with the closure to the general public, our metal and paper divisions needed to continue daily operations to keep up with the commercial customers and the processing of materials. As an essential business ourselves, we serve other essential businesses and keep them running,” Park said. 

Empire Recycling had a “soft opening” of its metal-recycling facilities on May 4, meaning that it “slowly” began to accept metal from the general public again, according to Park. 

“This soft opening allowed us to verify that our protective measures and new policies would adequately protect our team and customers,” she added. 

The company is now requiring that all customers wear a mask to receive service, metal should be presorted prior to their arrival, and customers should remain in their car unless otherwise instructed. 

Empire Recycling also has additional staff on-hand to help direct people and answer questions, which Park says has been “beneficial because we’re seeing a lot of new customers since we’ve reopened, many homeowners and people doing general clean-outs.”

The metal that Empire Recycling takes in and processes becomes raw materials used to make products “needed by our country’s frontline workers,” the company said. 

Its commercial service, deemed essential, wasn’t interrupted during the COVID-19 restrictions.

“Our roll-off service still continued to haul away scrap metal from manufacturers and a variety of industries. And, our paper divisions continued to do on-site document destruction and accept cardboard recycling from essential businesses,” Park said. 

About Empire Recycling

Empire Recycling, headquartered in Utica, has been family-owned for more than 100 years. It was founded in 1916 by Robert, Morton, and Louis Kowalsky. 

Steven Kowalsky now serves as president of the company with his brother Ed serving as executive VP, per the firm’s website.

Multiple businesses now form the Empire Recycling Family of Companies, which employs a total of 200 people. The companies include Empire Recycling, ConfiData, SMR Fibre, Nathan Steel, ERC Transportation, and ERL Intermodal. 

SYRACUSE — The Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (V-WISE) at Syracuse University will use a federal grant of $150,000 for entrepreneurship training for women service members, veterans, and military spouses.

V-WISE is operated by Syracuse’s Institute for Veterans & Military Families (IVMF). 

The $150,000 grant represents half of the $300,000 in grant funding that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) awarded in this round of national grants, the SBA announced. 

“The U.S. Small Business Administration is proud to award the V-WISE program at Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans & Military Families $150,000 as a direct result of their stellar track record fostering entrepreneurship to women servicemembers, veterans and military spouses,” Steve Bulger, SBA regional administrator, said in a news release.

Bulger oversees the federal agency’s operations in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

V-WISE is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the SBA and philanthropic support of corporate and foundation partners nationwide, per the Syracuse University website.

About the program

The V-WISE program at Syracuse University’s IVMF is an “intensive,” three-phase program containing a 15-day online preparatory course, a three-day residency program, and post-training technical support. 

This training program in entrepreneurship and small-business management assists women veterans, female military spouses/partners, and service members “find their passion” and learn the “business savvy” skills necessary to turn an idea or startup into a growing venture. 

“Women veterans represent a fast-growing segment of the veteran population. As that number grows, so has the number of female veterans who continue to serve their country by becoming small business owners. The SBA Syracuse district office has a long-established relationship with the V-WISE program at IVMF, a top-notch resource in Central New York’s backyard. Together, we can continue empowering our veterans and military entrepreneurs,” Bernard J. Paprocki, director of the SBA Syracuse district, said. 

The Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship program will use the SBA funding to support its entrepreneurial training program for female veterans of all service eras and branches. 

The program works with those applicants who are interested in either starting a new small business or growing an existing one. V-WISE enables female veterans to “find their passion” and learn business-savvy skills in order to turn their ideas or businesses into growth ventures while “recognizing entrepreneurship as an important part of economic growth nationwide,” the SBA said. 

“Our long partnership with the SBA has created significant opportunity for those who have worn our nation’s uniform. We are honored and grateful for this most recent grant and look forward to working alongside SBA to propel veteran business owners toward their goals of successful entrepreneurship, both for their benefit and to the benefit of our communities,” Misty Stutsman Fox, director of entrepreneurship and small business programs at the IVMF, said.    

SYRACUSE — Ashley McGraw Architects of Syracuse has rolled out Vaysen Studio, which the firm describes as a “creative studio that focuses on design strategy and interior design.” 

Susanne Angarano, a principal with Ashley McGraw, leads the Vaysen Studio’s work. 

It includes five interior designers and design strategists. They have experience in “transforming” interior spaces for a wide range of project types including K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and community/civic buildings, the firm said.

Ashley McGraw is still working on securing projects for those involved in the Vaysen Studio’s work, says Angarano, who spoke with CNYBJ on May 12. 

She started thinking about this studio about the same time she became a principal with the firm in 2017. 

As Angarano explains it, the Vaysen Studio is about “understanding [the] essence of our clients, the stakeholders for projects, the context of projects, and understanding the deep essence and personality of all those entities so that we can provide design that really speaks to their values.” 

Angarano says she’s German by heritage, and the word essence in German is wesen (pronounced like vaysen), so she used the word’s phonetic spelling to name the studio.

Ashley McGraw will continue to offer interior design and design-strategy services. The new studio “allows for maximum flexibility and customer service” in serving clients, the firm contends.

“Vaysen Studio stems from the needs of Ashley McGraw Architects’ clientele who were seeking something beyond traditional interior design services. We have recognized the importance of sophisticated stakeholder engagement methods and measurable outcomes for design strategy and interior design,” Matthew Broderick, president of Ashley McGraw Architects, said in a release. “The creation of Vaysen Studio will not only support and strengthen Ashley McGraw Architects but will also increase our geographic and market reach while expanding our project portfolio.

When asked to explain the difference between the work that the Vaysen studio will do and other projects at Ashley McGraw Architects, Angarano says she hopes that the firm’s Vaysen Studio work will help it “team up” with other architectural firms on projects. Those firms could be in the Central New York region or outside of it. 

“The research and knowledge that we are using to develop our design and the way that we approach design and the way that we work with clients, we want to be able to offer that to a broader client [base],” says Angarano. 

Ashley McGraw created a second website for its Vaysen Studio work. “We wanted to highlight how we’re emphasizing the services and the importance of the work that we’ll be doing,” says Angarano. 

She notes that its work that Ashley McGraw has previously handled but considers the firm’s design process in the Vaysen Studio to be “more in depth” and “more specialized.”

Most of those designers working with the Vaysen Studio can handle their duties in their regular workspaces, so the firm didn’t initially need to pursue a renovation or construction project for the studio. Most Ashley McGraw employees are working remotely as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. 

The new studio didn’t require any additional hiring but Angarano says the firm will hire new staff, if the need arises.

Under the state’s work-from-home mandate for non-essential workers, Ashley McGraw has been using Zoom, GoToMeeting, or other computer programs for its client meetings, and Angarano has described the effort so far as “pretty seamless.” 

“We’ve done everything from just a discussion to a full design presentation … I would say that we’re still getting just as much face time with our clients as we did before,” says Angarano.