New Opportunities Build Excitement for Students

For young people, recovery and growth take off when they feel seen, engaged, and excited about learning. Now, a new grant from the JKW Live Well Foundation for The Daytop Preparatory School on Long Island is helping us better support young students in recovery by expanding hands-on music programs – including DJing and music production – and robotics and coding using LEGO-based technology.

Daytop Preparatory School serves adolescents who are struggling in school due to substance use, behavioral health, and co-occurring disorders. Focusing on curiosity-sparking subjects like music and robotics helps students build confidence, develop problem-solving skills, and discover talents that can open doors to future education and career paths. These programs also bring joy and hope to our young people.

For more than 25 years, The Daytop Preparatory School has bridged academics and treatment through a social learning model that addresses students’ clinical and educational needs, builds life skills, and supports personal growth. The New York State licensed private school emphasizes a holistic approach to increase students’ opportunities for success and provides students with treatment at our Suffolk County Outpatient Treatment program.

To learn more about The Daytop Preparatory School, click here.

Bitterly Cold Weather Doesn't Stop Our Outreach Teams

While overdose deaths have declined, the need to support people struggling with substance use disorder has not diminished. As temperatures drop, people become more isolated and harder to reach. Movement slows, building trust takes longer, and survival becomes the focus.

Our outreach teams don't let the bitter cold deter them from helping people work towards recovery. Peer Alliance Recovery Centers (PARC) team members – who are themselves in recovery from substance use disorder – adjust everything from where they go to when they show up in order to keep people connected to services and supports.

Even with temperatures in single digits, you’ll find our PARC teams in the community connecting with people, and connecting people to services. Winter outreach often means navigating train stations, government offices, and warm drop-in spaces; bringing coats, hats, socks, and hand warmers collected through our annual coat drive; and continuing to offer risk mitigation tools like Narcan and fentanyl test strips. At the same time, our PARC offices offer people a safe and warm place to stay longer, engage more deeply, and take their first steps toward stability.

This is all part of our long-term commitment to helping people overcome their addiction struggles by providing them with the support they need, when and how they need it. It's a model that has made us successful and a leading substance use recovery service provider. And it’s why community thought leaders, like NY1’s E rrol Louis consistently site us as a leader in the field.

Samaritan Daytop Foundation Welcomes Two New Board Members

We are thrilled to announce that Frank J. Sansone, J.D. and Michael Mell have joined the Board of Directors of Samaritan Daytop Foundation, which focuses on Samaritan Daytop Village’s fundraising, housing development, and real estate.

Together, they bring deep financial expertise, strategic leadership, and a shared commitment to our mission and goals of expanding access to housing, recovery, and supportive services for New Yorkers experiencing substance use disorder, mental health challenges, and homelessness. Their expertise is especially valuable now as the Foundation accelerates its development of large-scale housing and real estate initiatives.

Sansone has more than 30 years’ experience in global banking and currently leads treasury strategy and oversees financial risk at China Construction Bank’s New York Branch. “I look forward to supporting Samaritan’s incredible work providing critical support, hope, and dignity to those in need,” he said.

Mell leads the global custom indexing business at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “Housing and recovery go hand in hand,” he said. “Without stability, it is incredibly difficult for people to heal and move forward.”

Read the full announcement here.