Grace Church Community Center Press Release

KeyBank Makes Grant To Support Economic Development in White Plains

KeyBank awareds two grants totally $5,000

White Plains, NY - Decenber 2008

KeyBank has awarded two grants totaling $5,000 to Grace Church Community Center (GCCC) to support the opening of a Training Center for Home Health Aides. The Training Center will be opened in 2009 as part of GCCC’s Neighbors Home Care Services Agency which has been providing care for elderly and disabled residents of Westchester County since 1983.

The new Training Center will provide free classes and books for 15-17 students per session and plans are to offer four sessions per year. All graduates will be guaranteed employment at the Neighbors Home Care Services Agency.

In a recent presentation ceremony, two KeyBank grant checks were presented to Lesma Howard-Zepeda, Director of Neighbors by Anthony Owens, VP and CRA Compliance Manager of Community Development Banking, Cathy Braniecki, Manager, Community Development Compliance and Betsy Davis, VP Community Development Lending . One check was from the Key Foundation and the other was from the KeyBank Contribution Committee.

Westchester County is currently home to over 167,000 elderly individuals, with one-in-five residents 60 years of age or older. According to Mae Carpenter, Commissioner for the Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services this represents the highest per capita concentration of seniors in the country.

Geriatric home health services, is already one of the nation’s fastest growing industries and, as baby boomers continue age, the need for services for the elderly, especially health care services will skyrocket.

Paul Anderson-Winchell, Executive Director of Grace Church Community Center said that the greatest barrier to meeting the demand for increased home care services has been an extreme shortage of trained Home Health Aides (HHAs) in Westchester County as well as throughout the U.S. In response to this shortage, he said that the Neighbors Home Care Services Agency felt it was necessary to start up its own In-House HHA Training Center not only to ensure a steady stream of aides, but also to monitor their training since the agency is very selective about the qualifications of its hires.

The majority of individuals expected to enroll in the new training program are unemployed or under-employed females from low-income, minority groups. KeyBank and GCCC hope that for some this will be a stepping stone to a higher level of health care certification. In the meantime, the new training center initiative is expected to provide approximately 60 new jobs in the county each year.