Leake & Watts expands residential services for adults with developmental disabilities

Leake & Watts opened a new community residence for six young men with developmental disabilities on November 17th. The new home, named Sevilla, provides 24-hour care and support and is the second opened by Leake & Watts in 2009. This growth spurt is part of an ongoing expansion of the agency’s Developmental Disabilities services, with seven additional residences like Sevilla scheduled to open in the next 18 months. 

Sevilla provides a spacious and comfortable home in Yonkers for six young adults who have been diagnosed with Mental Retardation.  Some have come from residential school settings at other agencies;  for them, Sevilla represents a more permanent home for their adult years. Others have been residing with family and welcome this new opportunity for a more independent living situation. The house has been remodeled and renovated to better meet the needs of its new residents.  It offers a homey and welcoming environment for the men.  While everyone has their own bedroom and personal space, all residents sit down for family style dinner, help in the cooking preparations, and engage in nightly discussions around the dinner table.

Staff has been focused on helping the men become acclimated to their new neighborhood and the larger community. Several of the residents participate in Day Habilitation.  Most notably, two of the residents have successfully found employment with Anguilla tourism through Leake & Watts’ new Enhanced Supported Employment Program.

“By providing an opportunity for these young men to live and participate in their community, we are excited to broaden the range and depth of services at Leake & Watts,” says Executive Director Alan Mucatel. “We look forward to opening new residences in 2010.”

This has been a year of growth for Leake & Watts. Since the beginning of 2009, the agency has restructured its campus residential program to better serve the educational and therapeutic needs of the teens it serves and opened two new community residences serving adults with developmental disabilities and launched Supportive Employment and Day Habilitation programs for adults with developmental disabilities.  Likewise, as many as six special education preschool classes will be opening at the Brownell School and the Ames Center in the very near future.