Groundbreaking Ceremony for Black Water Acres scheduled for August 19, 2025 at 10:00-10:45am
The Arc Erie County New York, an agency that has supported children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities for the past 74 years, has a Groundbreaking Ceremony scheduled for its Black Water Acres project’s main building on Tuesday, August 19th from 10:00-10:45am. The Groundbreaking Ceremony will take place on the property at 170 Slade Road, Alden NY 14004 and it is open to the general public, and all are invited to attend. The 12,000 square foot facility will include a commercial teaching kitchen, programming areas, and a large community space that will be shared with residents of a neighboring senior housing community promoting inclusion opportunities. The facility will also be used in the future for venues, field trips, conferences, rentals, and more providing additional revenue for The Arc Erie County New York and more importantly, employment opportunities for individuals with developmental disabilities through our employment services programs.
Black Water Acres, an accessible farm and four-season site, will offer adaptive workforce training, outdoor recreation, accessible horticulture, habilitative services, and more. Created in a sensory-informed manner, it will provide the opportunity for all to experience nature and the outdoors in a therapeutic setting. Vocational training on site will include every step from planting and harvesting to cooking and sales. With both a community garden and accessible greenhouses in the plans, Black Water Acres will provide significant growing space and meaningful inclusion for the people we support and our community.
Black Water Acres site work will occur in multiple phases over the course of the next several years. Located on 150 acres of land, donated by Glenn and Cynthia Wetzl, this main building is Phase 1. The Arc Erie County New York received a generous donation from Mr. Thomas Golisano that will be put to use with this project. The recent gift of $5 million dollars will be disbursed over a 5-year period of which 2 million will specifically go towards the Black Water Acres project. We are incredibly grateful for the Wetzl’s and Mr. Golisano’s philanthropic spirit. Future site plans for the project include space for a field house, walking trails, additional crop plots, an art building, sensory spaces, and more! This project will drive The Arc Erie County New York’s vision into the future by expanding integration opportunities so that members of our community can “Achieve with us”.
Black Water Acres will be the first initiative of its kind in Western New York, don’t miss out on the opportunity to be involved in the exciting future of The Arc Erie County New York.
For questions about the Black Water Acres project in Alden, The Arc Erie County New York agency and programs, donating to this project, and/or how to get involved please contact Luke Kantor, Director of Marketing & Community Outreach at 716-290-5457 or by email at LKantor@ArcErieCounty.org
About The Arc Erie County New York
Established in 1951, The Arc Erie County New York provides programming addressing a broad
range of needs within the developmental disability community including residential services, educational programming, clinical services, vocational support, and community-based services. All services are geared to support participants in their goal of increasing independence. To learn more, visit www.arceriecounty.org.