Clifton Park-based youth and adult support program to open Gloversville office

GLOVERSVILLE — CAPTAIN Community Human Services, a Clifton Park-based organization that provides support, prevention and educational programs to local youth and adults, will be opening a full-time office in the city of Gloversville.

The organization is largely made up of volunteers.

The new office was secured as a result of funding from the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA).

It will be located in the First Congregational United Church of Christ at 31 East Fulton St. in Gloversville. While the space has been donated by the church, the grant funding gives CAPTAIN the means to maintain two full-time employees on the site. Church members will continue to assist in coordinating volunteers for the weekly drop-in center and aid the program by collecting goods and items to support local youth.

The organization announced the opening of the office in a press release last week. There will be a ribbon-cutting to officially open the office on Wednesday at 10 a.m. The funding was announced as part of CAPTAIN CHS’ commemoration of National Homeless Youth Awareness Month

“CAPTAIN CHS has long provided services for homeless and at-risk-of-becoming-homeless youth in Fulton and Montgomery counties, but this grant allows us to expand from a once-weekly Youth Drop-in Center to a full-time office,” said Associate Executive Director Andy Gilpin. “We’re also proud to expand our Solutions to End Homelessness Program into Fulton and Montgomery County, which allows us to work with youth, individuals, and families who are truly homeless so that they can secure permanent housing and have hope for a new future.”

The staff members will be dedicated to an on-the-street presence to find and provide services to runaway and homeless youth ages 13 to 24 and to help them find permanent housing.

Another part-time staff member will work specifically on The Solutions to End Homelessness Program (STEHP), which provides assistance to individuals and families to remain in or obtain permanent housing.

In total, CAPTAIN has been awarded $162,955 annually for five years by OTDA to support expanded homeless services.

The new office in Gloversville comes after a merger between CAPTAIN and Glenville’s Community Human Services in 2017.

The organizations worked together at their inception in the 1970s, but they branched off to service different communities and had since been operating separately.

The new organization was named CAPTAIN Community Human Services (CCHS). The offices that served as headquarters for both nonprofits — CAPTAIN’S off Route 146 in Clifton Park and CHS’ in Scotia — remain open. The combined organization now offers more than 30 programs.

The Gloversville office is part of a large push from the organization to focus on it’s anti-homelessness efforts.

In November, CAPTAIN CHS plans to expand its support for young adults with the opening of a low-income housing facility in Saratoga Springs. CAPTAIN CHS will manage 10 units in the new facility where it will provide individuals who are aging out of foster care with a permanent place to live, as well as those struggling with chronic homelessness, or confirmed
victims of human trafficking.

The effort expands CAPTAIN CHS’ presence in Saratoga County, where it also operates a Runaway and Homeless Youth Shelter that last year alone housed 98 youth. Case managers also provide outreach services two days a week at Nolan House on Circular Street in Saratoga Springs.