Wilton’s Community Steps program, which serves special education students when they reach age 18-22, has announced plans to move from Comstock Community Center into a new location in the heart of Wilton Center.
Community Steps Director Denise Arnauckas said the plan to relocate to a new space at 101 Old Ridgefield Rd., next door to The Painted Cookie, makes so much sense given the program’s purpose and the experiences it gives the students.
“Community Steps is a program that serves the district’s most complex learners,” Arnauckas said. “We teach a whole array of skills — post-secondary skills, life skills, vocational skills.”
Although the Community Steps program operates under the auspices of the Wilton Public Schools district, Arnauckas emphasized that the program is “100% community-based” and not in a school classroom.
Through partnerships with a number of Wilton businesses and nonprofits, Community Steps provides students with opportunities to develop the skills they need as they transition out of school and into “real world” settings. Partners offering vocational opportunities include:
- Ambler Farm
- Rise Donuts
- Nova Cafe
- Miller-Driscoll School
- Wilton Library
- Chartwells Food Services
- Rising Starr Horse Rescue
- Stepping Stones Children’s Museum
- Penny Ha’Penny
The program also involves visits to various Wilton grocery stores, the kitchen facilities at the Wilton Congregational Church, and other locations where students develop important daily living skills.
“It’s a huge range that we have here with our students, and we’re here to support them [with] whatever they need, so that they can be meaningful members of their community,” Arnauckas said. “We rotate our students’ schedules so that they get to visit all of the sites eventually, and get to have a huge range of skills that they acquire over time.”
Arnauckas said the program has been fortunate to have the space at Comstock provided by the Town at no cost, but she noted that the program has relied on transportation provided by the school district, which comes at a significant cost. Most Community Steps students do not drive, and walking from Comstock into town is often not feasible.
“We are relying a lot on transportation to take us to different locations around town. So that was one of the big motivators for moving into a central location,” she said.
After searching for an in-town location for a few years, she found the space at 101 Old Ridgefield Rd. “a dream come true.”
“It is the perfect, most amazing location. There couldn’t be a better location!” Arnauckas raved. “Our students can walk to so many of our job sites. The library’s right there, Rise Donuts is right there, CVS is right there. When we go to Stop and Shop to do any of our shopping, that’s right there. We see a [fitness] trainer at CT Fitness Lab, which is right in the Stop and Shop parking lot… so we’ve opened so many doors just by moving locations [and being] able to move around the community.”
Arnauckas anticipates that a reduction in transportation costs will offset the cost of rent at the new location, making it “cost-neutral” in the budget — a key part of the plan that she proposed to Wilton Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Smith.
“We had to take a really deep dive into our budget and see how we can make this work,” Arnauckas said. “By cutting our transportation in half because of the location, we were able to make it cost-neutral.”
Arnaukas noted she worked closely with Melissa Barrett, who was recently promoted to Assistant Superintendent for Special Services (effective July 1) in coming up with the plan.
She also thanked the Board of Education for supporting the move.
“The Board of Ed has been so supportive throughout this entire process and approved this move right away, once they saw how great of an opportunity it is for our students,” Arnauckas said.
The space itself will have a classroom space, a kitchen and laundry area, a sensory corner, and a hangout space.
“It’s a really inclusive space that’s going to have somewhere for everybody to go and be comfortable, with our wide range of students there,” Arnauckas said.
She thanked two Wilton families for generous donations of items needed for the new space, including Tiffany and Michael Burton, and another family who did not wish to be named.
“It’s just great that we can be out and about in the community. This is where our students live,” Arnauckas said. “So for them to be able to walk around and navigate and have vocational sites within their community, it’s wonderful.”
Arnauckas said a ribbon-cutting will mark the official move on May 19. Look for the blue awning!