Paul Scancarelli by all accounts looks like your average Suffolk County forwardly mobile millennial. Dressed smart, impressively groomed, he is youthful and sometimes fits right in with the people he serves.
Working and attending college, he is a student Suffolk Community College studying to become a Drug and Alcohol Counselor. A noble but long-known low-paying field, his passion to make a difference as opposed to making a buck doesn’t stop with his pending career.
Scancarelli is the Founder of the Northport Buddy Club.
“I started the Buddy Club in 2011; I felt had an extreme passion to help young adults in Northport High School at the time,” he shared. His goal was to support and run social outings so members could make new friends.
AND THE CONCEPT AND POPULARITY GREW
The young people that attend Scancarelli’ s non-profit events range from about eighteen to thirty. “I don’t like to turn away anyone, we are loose on age policy,” said the young philanthropist.
He said the growth of the Buddy Club has been surreal and that it blossomed quite rapidly. “It started with Cafés, the movies – it grew so naturally and organically and now we have people coming all across the island to our outings,” he continued. The social events are for young people with varying special needs. They are not limited to Northport residents, many young people from Smithtown, Commack attend regularly.
He calls the group extremely casual with about three events per month. He has worn the organization like a loose garment from day one and like all new entities/non-profits, it took shape along the way.
Some social events are free; some have a nominal fee. The highest end of any outing has been twenty-five dollars, however, they are generally a great deal cheaper in the five to ten-dollar range. Outings include martial arts classes, meditation, bowling, dinner gatherings, hang-outs by the water in the quaint old waterfront town, Northport and many more.
Soon to be thirty-year old Ruth W. is a Buddy Club member. Despite a busy schedule that includes work, a track team, a basketball team, a soccer team, a gym membership, she is (presently semi-retired from her bowling team), Ruth enjoys the Buddy Club events immensely. Highly social, she has renewed and made many new friendships.
A member of Independent Support Services; a state agency under the many arms of the state agency OPWDD, Ruth is out in her community on a daily basis in many facets. OPWDD stands for Office of People with Developmental Disabilities.
OPWDD’s offshoot I.S.S. is an agency, one of many, that utilizes the popular and well-known modality or philosophy called Self Direction.
Self-Direction means many different things to many people but at the end of the day it is a customized life plan and set of goals for each individual member. It helps young people, young adults and adults with diversified needs create a life they enjoy, to meet their goals and do the things that bring them joy. Many participants live independently either alone or with another member of ISS, some remain in their home. However, Buddy Club members are not all from I.S.S.; they are from a myriad of agencies.
Susan is Ruth W.’s mom is a big proponent of The Northport Buddy Club. “It’s great because it is both local and flexible so my daughter can attend the events she’s interested in,” she explained the Northport resident.
Susan and her daughter are not the only ones touting the Buddy Club’s success and vital purpose.
Smithtown Behaviorist Theresa Giacobbe-Grieco
“His grass roots club actually reminds me very much of some of our PBS-CF initiatives,” said Smithtown resident Theresa Giacobbe-Grieco.
Grieco is the Regional Director for Transition at Positive Behavior Support & Psychological Resources, P.C. (P.B.S.) A lifeline to many families of people with special needs, she wears many hats and her organization many robes.
“Paul is a natural leader, loves what he does and I can tell he has as much fun at his get-togethers as the people he supports,” she shares.
They had a P.B.S. and CF brainstorming Summit last week at Dr. Darlene Magito McLaughlin’s place.
In a statement Grieco said;
“Darlene is another founder of the PBS-CF and they provided fiscal support for us to expand our grass roots activities across LI into other communities. At the summit we discussed the importance of Groups like Paul’s to be an option for young people in the area to meet other self-directed folks who may have similar interests. We actually have Paul and the buddy club listed on our website under friends and add his events to our calendar. At our Summit we made a plan to appoint several community Developers who can collect and disseminate calendars and lists of all the events taking place in our communities. I have always felt that Long Island is so beautiful and rich with social opportunities for the people we support. Many people with Diverse-Abilities (as with everyone) are happiest when they can access a combination of everything our communities have to offer”
Another social group, Big Time Glee, was the brainchild of both Grieco and her peer Barbara McNamara, of I.S.S. Themusical/social group began with eight people in Greco’s living room. It has mushroomed over time into a very large group.
“The wonderful folks at Sunrise Assisted Living adopted us but we soon swelled to over 40 and outgrew their parlor! Now we are fortunate to be at St. Thomas in Smithtown but often get close to 80 Self-Directed people with their staff,” she explained.
She asks a critical question for this population of human beings whose numbers will increase by an estimated five-hundred in the next decade nationally. That number is just one number and it will emanate from those on the spectrum, according to many Spectrum or Autism think tanks. So the overall number of those with Diverse Needs will swell tremendously and the consumers will need services to meet their individual needs in the next decade. They will need jobs and homes and equally important; positive social events.
Expanding Industry – Diverse Abilities
Much like the business of aging, this is one industry that needs to continue to grow to meet the needs of all Suffolk’s individuals and the countless families involved. The critical question Grieco asks is why are people coming from as far as Nassau and Riverhead for social events? This example grossly shows the gaping hole in what in the end is a well-rounded package of services in need of additional social components.
“We need to focus on building connections and including people in their local communities. Clubs like the Northport Buddy Club do just that, help build communities for all! We hope Paul continues to offer well thought out and organized grass roots get-togethers,” exclaimed Grieco enthusiastically.
Scancarelli learned so much along this journey that is five years and counting. “The Buddy Club has humbled me, I know for a fact the group is my purpose, the amount of joy in planning these events is immeasurable,” he said.
To reach Scancarelli for information about The Northport Buddy Club email: thenorthportbuddyclub@gmail.com
A Little About PBS: From the Team at PBS
Our vision is that “Everyone has a fundamental right to self-determination.”
Our Mission is that Positive Behavior Support Community Foundation empowers people with disabilities to make their own life choices and succeed in the communities where they work, live and play.
“The PBS Community Foundation was established to help people with autism spectrum disorders, developmental disabilities, and other special needs with a particular focus on self-determination and full inclusion in the community. Our mission is to help these individuals access the supports and services they need to become active and productive members of the community, to encourage long-term planning for aspiring towards meaningful life goals, and to support efforts to establish social connections and friendships in the community.”
For individuals with disabilities, the movement away from inadequate and segregated institutional congregate custodial care has been taking place for 40 years. Now, more than ever, individuals with disabilities are seeking the opportunity to stay in their own communities, pursuing their personal goals while receiving the needed levels of support to make full community inclusion a sustainable reality. What are often missing are community-based, grass-roots support networks, the inter-connected social fabric that will secure life-long inclusion for individuals with disabilities as the basic human right that it is.
Positive Behavior Support Community Foundation, Inc. is organized exclusively for charitable, scientific and educational purposes, to wit:
To help people with autism spectrum disorders, developmental disabilities, and other special needs, with a particular focus on self-determination and full inclusion in the community by:
- Encouraging and assisting long-term, person-centered planning and support for aspiring towards meaningful life goals
- Helping individuals with disabilities access the natural supports and services they need to become active and productive members of their communities
- Supporting efforts to establish quality social connections and friendships for these individuals
- Supporting networking activities among self-determined participants, their families and natural supports and paid support staff
- Engaging in community outreach and public relations to further general knowledge of self-determination as a viable and preferred alternative for individuals with disabilities
- Conducting research on the types of supports needed to sustain a good quality of life independent of traditional agency involvement
- Engaging in fundraising and grant writing activities and offering technical services in pursuit of all of the above-mentioned purposes.
Smithtown Resident Tackles Behavior Issues – Behavioral Whisperer
Smithtown resident Theresa Giacobbe-Grieco is the Director of Transition at Positive Behavior Support Consulting and Psychological Resources; she is also one of the founders and a board member at the non-profit PBS-CF which works towards alleviating loneliness and isolation in young adults with diverse-abilities. Theresa became interested in self-directed services while researching options for her brother who is now living in his community.
She spent 20 years of her career at the Developmental Disabilities Institute where she was the Associate Director of Residential/Community Services. She found great joy in being part of the deinstitutionalization movement and assisting people in leaving institutions and moving into homes in their communities. She now finds even greater joy in assisting people to take advantage of self-directed services where the individual, rather than an agency, can chose where to live, work and build their future. She has worked with numerous families in Self-Direction in clinical roles such as Staff Trainer, Autism Consultant, Behavior Specialist and Community Builder.
She is a past president of The New York State Association for Behavior Analysis (NYSABA). She is a co-author of several publications, and has presented at many local and national conferences.
Her clinical and research interests are in the areas of transition services, self- determination, setting events, friendship formation, high school and college social supports and advocacy.
Her diverse and various involvement levels doesn’t allow her to clock out at 5 pm on a Friday like most people in the work place. However, she doesn’t seem to mind the continuous work, it energizes her.
It’s election season – maybe it’s time for those in the Self-Direction Movement to ask serious questions of those running for county, state and national offices. How much do you understand or value this philosophy, this way of life, this innovative concept that has morphed into many things? In the meantime, young people with diversified needs should get out and have fun in their communities – many advocates will say it is a win win – it benefits us as a society as well.