Western New York Family Advocacy for Children's Educational Services, Inc.

01/10/2026

WNYFACES is beyond excited and honored to announce that we have been awarded a $50,000.00 grant from the Garman Family Foundation administered by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo.

This generous support directly advances our mission to ensure that children with disabilities in Western New York receive the special education services, protections, and opportunities that are vital to their success and development, and to which they are legally entitled to.

Specifically, this grant applied to the 2026 year will allow WNYFACES to:
Expand direct legal representation to families in Western New York in navigating IDEA, Section 504, and ADA related disputes;
Conduct 8-10 parent education workshops, and trainings, with the plan to reach at least 200 caregivers with training in advocacy skills, knowledge of procedural safeguards, and navigating the complex world of special education advocacy and litigation; Improve educational outcomes for students through securing necessary services, placement, behavioral supports, assistive technology, and other special education and related services; and Strengthen cross-agency collaborations, including at least 10 formal referrals, additional connections, and to build a support network to assist more families system wide.

Most importantly, we wanted to take this opportunity to express our enormous gratitude, as we are profoundly grateful to the Garman Family Foundation administered by the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo for investing in our work, and standing with families of children with disabilities in our region, and helping agencies like ours.

If you have any recommendations or requests for us to include your area, group, or community in the upcoming parent education workshops and training, please feel free to send us an email at [email protected] or to comment directly on this post. We look forward to continuing to assist and expand our mission of helping the great families and children of Western New York.

About the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo:

For more than a century, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo has enhanced and encouraged long-term philanthropy in the Western New York community. A 501 (c)(3)
organization, the Community Foundation’s mission is: Connecting people, ideas and resources to improve lives in Western New York. Established in 1919, the Community Foundation has made the most of the generosity of individuals, families, foundations and organizations who entrust charitable assets to the Community Foundation’s care. Learn more at cfgb.org.

Warm Regards,

WNYFACES Board of Directors

09/21/2025

Love to see it!

The New York State Police is introducing a new tool to improve communication and help create safer, more positive interactions with people on the autism spectrum.

Key points:

The Autism Awareness Visor Card uses simple visual icons to support understanding during encounters.

Each patrol vehicle will carry a card, and the public can download/print one from the NYSP website.

The program will roll out statewide in the coming weeks.

Learn more and access the card here: https://troopers.ny.gov/news/new-york-state-police-introduce-autism-awareness-visor-card-program

07/12/2025

07/10/2025

We are pleased to share that WNYFACES - Western New York Family Advocacy for Children’s Educational Services, Inc. has undergone significant restructuring this past year to better serve the evolving needs of our community.

For nearly 30 years, WNYFACES has been committed to supporting families and advocating for children with disabilities throughout Western New York. As part of our continued growth, we are proud to announce we have restructured the corporation through the NYS DOS, NYS AG, and are now able to provide Legal Services focused on Special Education, Disability Rights, and Family Advocacy Law in association with licensed attorneys to practice in NYS.

This milestone marks an exciting new chapter in our mission to advance equity, access, and justice for the families and children we serve.

We further extend our heartfelt gratitude to the many families, volunteers, and supporters whose generous donations, time, and belief in our mission have sustained us over the years, and brought special education services to many children and helped them to succeed. Your dedication has brought us to this moment, and we are excited to build on this foundation with your continued support and donations as we enter this new chapter.

We further invite you to visit our new website at 🌐 www.wnyfaces.org to learn more about our services, submit inquiries for legal support, make donations to our non-profit, and explore our growing library of helpful resources and information.

Thank you for being apart of the WNYFACES community. We look forward to continuing this work-- together.

This website has been prepared by WNYFACES, for informational purposes and is not intended nor should it be understood to be legal advice. Any representation of past results is not indicative or a guarantee of future results. Each case should be understood to bring a different set of circumstances a...