Community Outreach

The Connecticut Community Empowerment Foundation is located in New Haven County and serves almost 10,000 visitors throughout New England each year.

We host monthly community-wide, special needs friendly events that attract, engage, and inform adults and children. These monthly events attract between 75 to 250 participants from throughout CT, and include seasonal holiday programs, author talks and workshops, Friday evening outdoor concerts in the summer, educational programs, and fairs with local artists and illustrators. Two major events draw significant crowds of 500+: The Writers Festival in the Fall features 20 Connecticut-based authors and The December Holiday Stroll of arts, crafts, ensemble music, local A Cappella groups, and festive wreaths, trees, and menorahs.

Reread Books Summer Party

We also serve as a fieldwork site for Quinnipiac University Occupational Therapy graduate students which is an integral part of the occupational therapy education experience, allowing students to apply clinical reasoning and practice skills, build professional relationships with future co-workers and community members and clientele, and transition from student to entry-level OT practitioner. The exact day-to-day tasks of students may look different depending on what projects they are working on. However, they work towards the same goals: the ability to educate others about the role and value of OT, engagement with others in OT related activities and tasks, the development of professional and therapeutic relationships, demonstration of evidence-based treatment guidelines, and the transition from student to entry-level practitioner.

Among The Connecticut Community Empowerment Foundation’s collaborative relationships are other nonprofits and educational institutions. These include the Chapel Haven Schleifer Center, Inc. for Young Adults with Autism, the Quinnipiac University Transition Program, the Cheshire CT Board of Education, Best Buddies, Special Olympics, the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the Cheshire Chamber of Commerce, ReSet Social Enterprise Trust, Quinnipiac University Occupational Therapy and MBA programs, Marrakesh, Inc, Cheshire Friends of the Library, Cheshire High School, Cheshire Academy, CT Sustainability, Lori’s Truth and Read to Grow, Southington-Cheshire Community YMCA, Artsplace Performing & Fine Arts, and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Cheshire.

We also could not do what we do without the help of dedicated volunteers! Our volunteers support The Connecticut Community Empowerment Foundation’s mission through integrated teamwork, the genuine appreciation for diversity, and the desire to promote a forward-thinking environment of awareness, understanding and respect for people of all abilities.