SUNY Orange to offer service excellence business training

MIDDLETOWN — Long an asset to businesses within Orange County, SUNY Orange will offer employees and supervisors from the Joint Membership of Health and Community Agencies the opportunity to participate in the college’s specialized business training programs in an effort to improve the quality, efficiency and delivery of services they provide to their clients. Formed in 1975, the Joint Membership of Health and Community Agencies is a federation of 26 agencies providing mental health, substance abuse and developmental disability services to several thousand individuals in Orange County. Its combined workforce is nearly 3,000 individuals, while the annual budgets of the member agencies total approximately $115 million. This year-long training program, funded through multiple state and federal grants and managed by the Business Solutions Department of SUNY Orange’s Continuing and Professional Education division, will see the college provide more than 200 hours of training that will focus on service excellence as well as management and supervisory skills. An estimated 285 people, representing all employment levels, are expected to participate. “Catholic Charities is proud to partner with SUNY Orange, Orange County and JMHCA in this important initiative that will provide high quality training programs to so many human service providers,” said Dean Scher, executive director and COO of Catholic Charities Community Services of Orange County. “We’re very excited about providing training programs to the JMHCA member organizations’ service providers and management team members. The wonderful work these individuals do directly impacts the lives of literally thousands of people,” said David Kohn, director of the college’s continuing and professional education. Joint Membership of Health and Community Agencies member organizations include: Action Toward Independence; Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council of Orange County; Association for the Help of Retarded Citizens; Bon Secours Hospital; Catholic Charities Community Services of Orange County; Crystal Run Village, Inc.; Dispute Resolution Center; Emergency Housing Group, Inc.; Epilepsy Foundation of Southern NY, Inc.; Farm Workers Community Center; Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center; Independent Living, Inc.; Inspire Center; McQuade Foundation; Mental Health Association of Orange County; Occupations, Inc.; Orange County Housing Consortium; Orange Regional Medical Center, Arden Hill Campus; Regional Economic Community Action Program; Rehabilitation Support Services, Inc.; Restorative Management Corp.; Safe Homes of Orange County; United Way; Warwick Area Migrant Committee, Inc.; and Youth Advocate Program.