Community
Community Connections
In Job Path’s Community Connections program each participant develops their own weekly schedule to reflect their unique hobbies and interests, needs and goals. Often referred to as “Dayhab Without Walls,” the program helps people forge strong connections as they volunteer, take college classes, get fit or play sports, work on life skills and personal goals. We also run several popular groups, including those for art, poetry, meditation, improv, and social skills.
Finding a Valued Place in the Community
Many participants, like Max in the center working at a food pantry, schedule time in their days to give back to their communities.
Visits to parks, restaurants, or sporting events – like this Yankee game – are a fun and popular way to take advantage of all the vitality the city has to offer.
Our Poetry Group regularly performs at the prestigious New York City Poetry Festival on Governors Island, like Noemi reading here in 2025.
Spotlight on Poetry
Every Community Connections participant develops their own schedule and creates their own list of priorities for personal growth and development. Members of our staff, Direct Support Professionals, help them develop a plan with concrete steps to work towards their goals, and are there to provide the level of support they need. As a person grows and changes, their goals grow and change with them. Some examples of personal goals are:
- I want to be more confident when I travel.
- I want to learn how to manage my time more efficiently.
- I’d like to get in better shape and learn how to prepare a healthier diet.
- I want to make more friends, or deepen my existing relationships.
- I’m excited to find ways to explore a new hobby or interest.
Creating Community Together in Our Groups
Jose, seen here in the center cracking up Improv Group Facilitator Anson Chen, said he loves the weekly group: “I feel confident in my energy, it opens your mind. It removes my shyness.”
Our weekly New Path Social Group is the place for educational sessions about a wide range of topics, to share a week’s worth of challenges and successes, and for celebrations, like this birthday party here for Juan.
Our Meditation group held one session outdoors during our summer picnic at the Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Spotlight on Art Group
Weekly Art Group sessions feature a wide variety of styles and mediums and encourages artists to explore and express themselves through their creativity.
At a field trip to the Met Museum, the group experienced the Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism exhibit, which reflected a recent discussion in class.
Outside Voices Theater Company, OVTC, was created by Job Path consultant Cathy James in 2011. The company has been sought out by established organizations and agencies to make training and educational films about disabilities, often written and created by OVTC actors.
“At Outside Voices I can be very creative with my work and be myself. I can express my emotions and nobody judges me.” – Maria Z., OVTC member.
Click here to watch a clip from OVTC’s play What if I Were Whole?, which had three sold-out performances in 2018.
Support to Reach Educational Goals
Community Connections staff work with participants who are pursuing higher education goals, supporting them as they take classes or obtain associates or bachelor’s degrees.