The Office for People with Disabilities is also celebrating a new milestone: The arrival of its new director Carin Horowitz. Horowitz served as chair of the Westchester County Advisory Council on People with Disabilities since February 2022. She previously worked as Regional Transition Training Specialist for Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES. We recently interviewed Carin about her goals.
Q. What do you think is the most important function of the Office for People with Disabilities?
A. I would say to be a resource. A resource for community members to find services, supports and advocacy, and a resource for the county to be supported in their understanding the ADA, how to provide compliant programs and services, and how to be inclusive.
Q. Do you have a personal anecdote to share about why you decided to work in their field?
It’s long but I will try and give you a shortened version! By chance, I ended up getting a summer job in high school at age 15 at a sleepaway camp for children with disabilities in Dutchess County (Camp Ramapo, now Ramapo for Children). At the time, the children primarily had emotional and behavioral challenges. I had worked in the school psychologist’s office on my free period as a randomly assigned work period. Through him and his psychology career club, I learned about the camp from an art therapist who came to speak to us. I worked at the camp through high school and college where I learned an incredible amount from the kids and the other staff (most of whom were college students studying psychology, social work or education). There I found my place and my path.
Q. What is your background? Where did you work before?
I have a BSED is Special Education from the University of Delaware, A Master’s in Social Work (Community organizing) from CUNY Hunter College, and a Graduate Certificate in Disability Studies from CUNY School of Professional Studies. I have spent my entire career in the disabilities field. I worked in special education advocacy in NYC (AHRC and NY Lawyers for the Public Interest) Led disability services offices in higher education (CUNY Bronx Community College and Manhattanville University), managed an adult day habilitation program (Richmond Community Services) and worked in transition of students from high school to the adult world (The Arc Westchester, Bedford Central School District). My most recent position was at PNW BOCES as a Transition Training Specialist, working with school professionals on improving their transition work.
Q. What are some of the goals for the office?
First and foremost, I am looking to assess the needs of the community and county departments related to disability so we can be responsive to those needs. We would like to hear from the community and from service providers about any barriers that exist so we can try to address them. Many of the challenges come from state systems out of our jurisdiction, however, we want to find ways we can assist at the County level. We are looking to bring people together to collaborate, all with the goal of increasing inclusivity, independence, and awareness in the county.
Thank You Carin, And welcome!