Gallery
Welcome to United We Stand
UWS has been successful at providing large numbers of families with 1:1 support with extremely modest resources. As a Community Parent Resource Center funded by the US Department of Education, UWS consistently served more than 200 new families per year, generating approximately 3,750 episodes of telephone support, 375 episodes of field support and 120 home visits annually.* UWS has achieved this through the high level of motivation of its staff, volunteers, and through remarkably effective collaboration with peer organizations. UWS has led efforts to make more effective use of special education mediation as an alternative to litigation at due process hearings, a particularly necessary contribution in New York City, which has traditionally generated a disproportionate volume of hearings. In doing so, it has demonstrated how the use of alternative dispute resolution can yield better outcomes for students and families.
UWS has also led the way in expanding parent training and support for self-advocacy with efforts to develop the knowledge and self-advocacy skills of young people with disabilities. These activities allow for the recognition that to truly achieve maximum autonomy and integration, young people with disabilities will need to know their rights and have the ability to articulate their points of view and wishes.
UWS has gained support and respect from a variety of voluntary organizations, public institutions, elected officials and others. Among those with whom UWS have collaborated are the New York State Parent Center Coalition, New York City Department of Education, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, the National Technical Assistance Alliance for Parent Centers, the National Grassroots Consortium of Community Parent Centers, Safe Horizons, the Williamsburg Charter High School, Kids As Self-Advocates, and countless others. Among its successes have been annual conferences for Brooklyn parents attended by two Assistant US Secretaries of Education, giving parents in challenged communities an opportunity to interact with high-ranking policy-makers.
Among our most recent accomplishments are the establishments of our partnerships with the Red Hook Community Justice Center, where we have our first satellite location, The House of Prayer in Sunset Park, Brooklyn where we have our second satellite, Child and Family Support Services in the Morisania section of the Bronx, and most recently our Partnership with, My Time, Inc in Carnarsie Brooklyn.