Our mission is to empower children and adults with developmental disabilities to achieve their potential based on personal choices, abilities and interests...

Westchester Arc
The Gleeson-Israel Gateway Center
265 Saw Mill River Road
Hawthorne, NY 10532
914.949.9300
info@westchesterarc.org

24-hour
Crisis Intervention:
914.949.8200

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Direct Care Professional

Clarence Smith

Clarence shows James Boggains some of the parts inside a computer.

When Clarence Smith realized he had been with Arc of Westchester for 25 years, he could hardly believe it. He is one of those treasured staff members who hold history in their memories and at the same time enable the organization to evolve.

“We used to have to ask permission to take the consumers out into the community,” he says. “Now, we have to ask permission to stay in.”

Clarence enjoys working with Linda Bresmon on the state-of-the art smartboard.

Clarence delights in helping the people he serves to explore new places and opportunities out in the community, and at the same time learn social and travel skills. When he speaks about his job, he bubbles over with enthusiasm about the satisfaction he feels sharing experiences that we take for granted.

Clarence began as an assistant to a developmental specialist, working with people with a variety of capabilities. His academic degree is in fine arts, and throughout his career, he has shared his abilities in arts and crafts, helping people create drawings, clay figures, yearly calendars, greeting cards and many other projects.

These days, in his work as a treatment coordinator at a day habilitation program in White Plains, Clarence has turned to projects that involve technology. He enables the people he works with to learn to use a Smartboard, enjoy Wii, copy DVD’s, and use computers.
He says, “We are all learning together. When I learn something new, I pass it on to them.”

Clarence Smith says about his job, “It enriches my life to feel that at the end of the day I have made a difference in their lives.”