PRONTO - People Helping People

News & Events

01.05.07

Long Island Business News Profiles PRONTO

One of the greatest gifts one can offer is to give back to their community. Every year millions of Americans find themselves unemployed, fighting not just for a break in life, but just to get by. Here on Long Island, we are not immune. However, PRONTO, and its Director Lisette Rodriguez, along with President Frank Sinisi, are doing all they can to give struggling Long Islanders a beacon of hope in their time of need. For some 38 years, everything from food pantries to continuing education advisement have been offered to the needy in and around the Brentwood area by PRONTO. The outreach does not end there. What sets this non-profit apart from many other community organizations is its catering to the immigrant population. With English as a second language (ESL) classes, and a portion of the educational programs provided in Spanish, it is clear that the organization’s mindset soars beyond any potential language barrier.

“We’ve come a long way from our basement operation in St. Anne’s Church.” said Sinisi, noting the organization’s evolution from a church community outreach program to their now freestanding organization operating from a 10,500 square foot building. “With more than 26 services and programs provided at PRONTO, we have a good amount of ways to give people the basics, but more importantly the hope they require to believe that things will get better.”

Cerini: What are some of the programs provided by PRONTO, and what would you consider the organization’s main service?

Rodriguez: There are many ways that we reach out to the needy in the community and it’s difficult to touch on all of them in just one interview. Our primary, on-site services are geared towards the basics for survival. They include our food pantry, which we have been very blessed to be able to have more than enough food thanks to Island Harvest, Long Island Cares, and other organizations and individuals who are always donating. We also have a thrift center, which we take great care in ensuring that our clientele are able to come in and get clothing and other items they need. We are also very blessed with the support of Dresses for Success and others who provide us with attire that we’re able to give our clients when they go on interviews and the like. Another service is our furniture warehouse. We get furniture and home goods donated here which we are able to distribute to our clients. However, the backbone of our operation is the intake department. We have intake workers who meet with the clients, work with them to collect information, and basically try to assess their financial needs, and where they’re at economically in order to properly refer and advocate for them, making sure that we’re able to connect them with the right type of community resources, to help them become a lot more self sufficient.

Cerini: Do you provide most services directly, or do you link people with specific community service providers?

Rodriguez: We provide some of the services directly. We try to get a lot of the community providers to provide some of these services on site; it makes it easier for our clientele. When need be, we will link consumers to other agencies and services. It is important to note that we always screen our providers, either myself or my assistant director will meet with the individual to find out what their intentions are, explain to them exactly who our clientele is, and assess whether or not they can really be of help. We also provide a multitude of education and health services right here on premises.

Cerini: Are education and health services the driving force behind PRONTO’s goals for 2007?

Rodriguez: Yes, I think the biggest impact that we’re trying to make now is on education and health, and whenever we can, we try to combine both. We provide some of the services directly. For example, we provide ESL classes here on site that are provided by teachers from Brentwood High School and graduates from level 3 are provided with the tools necessary to communicate with not only employers but health professionals and educators as well. We also have the nurses from the Suffolk County Department of Health who come here twice a month and provide inoculations to children under the age of 18 as part of our Shots for Tots program. Our goal in 2007 is to establish a full functioning GED program hopefully in collaboration with Suffolk Community College, where we’re able to provide some services here, again at no cost to the community

Cerini: Do you do job coaching and such in terms of helping your clients prepare for interviews, writing resumés, etc.?

Sinisi: We actually just began an adult personal development center which introduces basic knowledge on how to operate a computer, or process data entry, and those classes are provided in both English and Spanish. Right now, since we just started this, our primary students are the students who have completed our third level ESL classes. What we try to do is give them exposure to any basic data entry programs or things that we have here on site so they are able to add these things to their skill sets.

Cerini: You’ve mentioned a lot of services that you offer to needy adults and families in the community. Do you have any services geared towards children?

Rodriguez: A large portion of our clientele is single mothers so naturally the children come along with it. We take great pride in the fact that we also have Girl Scouts; Brownie and Junior troops, that are here on a week to week basis, and these are girls who come from homes that would not necessarily have a space conducive to their meetings and things to that extent, so we are able to provide them with that and it is a real treat to see something so simple as a place to have meetings go such a long way in making these children happy.

Sinisi: We are very children oriented because people bring their children in every week and it’s almost like Christmas all year round.  Everyday we’ll go outside and provide them with toys and things like that, and the kids get a big kick out of it.  It’s usually something small that brings the biggest smile to their face. Also we have the Shots for Tots program we spoke about earlier, so it’s not just about adults at PRONTO, everyone is affected by poverty, not just adults and we always try to keep that in mind.

Address: 128 Pine Aire Drive
Bay Shore, NY 11706
Executive Director: Lisette Rodriguez
President/Chairman: Frank Sinisi
Phone: (631) 231-8290
Website: www.prontoli.org
Founded: 1969
Staff: 7
Annual Budget: $225,000
Fundraised Budget: $125,000
Program Services: 85%

“With more than 26 services and programs provided at PRONTO, we have a good amount of ways to give people the basics, but more importantly the hope they require to believe that things will get better.”