Collegiate Recovery Program to Expand Beyond Campus

A new agreement will allow the Tompkins Cortland Community College Collegiate Recovery Program to expand beyond the borders of the campus and serve the general community. The partnership, which provides funding for the expansion of services, is with Youth Voices Matter, an ancillary of Friends of Recovery New York, a non-profit organization that seeks to create a state-wide support network for people in recovery.

“I’m excited because this partnership will allow us to increase programs and events on campus and beyond,” said Ashley Dickson, the College’s recovery program specialist. “We were chosen for this for many reasons, but primarily because we already offer many of those services and are poised to continue and add to them.” 

The College’s Recovery Program, the first at a community college in New York State, was started in 2018 with a grant from OASAS (New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports). The agreement provides the College funding in exchange for providing services to youth and young adults in recovery, including hosting community events and conducting outreach and networking in the community, 

“Right now, I'm particularly enthusiastic about exploring how we can expand what we do virtually to create a robust program that can be utilized by the entire community,” said Dickson. “It's always been our design to be accessible to people in the wider community, but this agreement will give us the resources to do that in a more impactful way. We're all in this together, and recovery is possible for anyone.”