Adult Career and Continuing Education Services - Vocational Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR) District Offices

Adult Career and Continuing Education Services-Vocational Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR) starts with the presumption that all individuals with disabilities can benefit from vocational rehabilitation services and should have opportunities to work in jobs integrated within their communities. Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors guide individuals through service programs they need to reach their employment goal.

Adult Career and Continuing Education Services - Vocational Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR) offers access to a full range of employment and independent living services that may be needed by persons with disabilities throughout their lives.

Use this interactive map to locate the ACCES-VR office in your county.

Community, Work and Independence, Inc.

Community, Work & Independence, Inc (CWI), headquartered in Glens Falls, NY, offers a diverse array of services for individuals with disabilities in Warren, Washington, Saratoga and Essex Counties.  Services include:  Residential, Day Habilitation, Community Supports, Pre-vcational and Employment Services, Clinical Services and Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program. Funding sources include OPWDD, OMH, ACCES-VR and DOH.

Disability Employment Initiative

The Disability Employment Initiative's (DEI) strives to:

• Improve educational, training, and employment opportunities and outcomes for adults with disabilities who are unemployed, underemployed, and/or receiving Social Security disability benefits, by refining and expanding already identified successful public workforce strategies;
• Help these individuals with disabilities find a path into the middle class through exemplary and model service delivery by the public workforce system;
• Improve coordination and collaboration among employment, training and asset development programs implemented at state and local levels, including the expansion of the public workforce investment system's capacity to serve as Employment Networks under the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work Program; and
• Build effective community partnerships that leverage public and private resources to better serve individuals with disabilities and improve employment outcomes.

New York Systems Change and Inclusive Opportunities Network (NY SCION)

On October 21, 2021, New York State (NYS) Governor Kathy Hochul announced a commitment of $11.1 million in federal workforce development funding over the next three years to expand the already successful network of Disability Resource Coordinators (DRCs) to all 33 Local Workforce Development Areas (LWDAs) to increase the capacity of their service delivery and better serve individuals with disabilities.

This initiative is being referred to as the New York Systems Change and Inclusive Opportunities Network (NY SCION).  The word “scion” is often used in gardening, and it refers to a process by which new plants are grown from old ones.  Similarly, NY SCION builds upon the work of four rounds of federal Disability Employment Initiative (DEI) pilot funding and the Disability Program Navigator before it.  These two initiatives sought to improve education, training, and employment opportunities and outcomes for youth and adults with disabilities including those receiving Social Security disability benefits. NY SCION will do the same – only taken to scale in nearly every LWDA across NYS.

Pure Vision Arts

Pure Vision Arts (PVA) is New York’s first specialized art studio and exhibition space for people with developmental disabilities. PVA is staffed by trained professionals with backgrounds in art education, fine arts, and art therapy who provide mentoring and support to the artists who attend the studio.

Pure Vision Arts is ultimately about facilitating social change by creating opportunities for access and inclusion in the arts for people with neurological challenges. Many PVA artists have led extraordinary lives and the sheer power and uniqueness of their work helps to break down negative public misperceptions and stereotypes about people who have disabilities. In a very short time, PVA has become a vital resource for new and emerging artists of vision who would otherwise remain culturally and socially isolated.