Ken Gholston – Supervisor Spotlight

In December of last year, Ken Gholston became our agency’s Director of Grants and Contracts. His previous position involved grant management, though now he also oversees our Housing programs. These programs are funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and The New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS). Ken, who has a Master of Arts in History from the University at Buffalo, has been with the agency for over three years. He is visibly passionate about civil rights and public service.

Before joining the Cazenovia Recovery team, he worked for twelve years at Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME). He spent his first six years with them as a counselor in a community housing program and then spent the subsequent six years serving as that program’s director. The experience he received at HOME is now helping him to be an effective leader of our Housing programs.

Ken has spent his whole career in housing. “Housing is everything,” he said. “If you don’t have a place to live, it’s hard to focus on recovery, finding work, and other important things.” In his new position, Ken oversees our Housing programs and provides direction for where they should go next. “I’m able to focus on the bigger picture,” said Ken. “It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day stuff.”

Thankfully, Ken still oversees our agency’s grant management, too. This corresponds well with our Housing programs since they’re all funded by grants that last for one year. According to Ken, the grants for these programs typically involve regular reporting, performance measuring, data review, quality improvement assessments, and responding to requests from HUD. All of these responsibilities help us to gauge the effectiveness of our care.

With his new responsibilities, Ken gets to be more involved with residents by supporting the Housing staff. He also reviews files, charts, and other information so he can learn more effective ways to improve the Housing programs’ outcomes. This works out well for him as it constantly reaffirms his ability and desire to serve the community. “If we help the people in our programs thrive, our whole community thrives,” he said.