The Staten Island Foundation
The Staten Island Foundation – over its 16+ years in the community – has become a trusted leader in the community, providing support through grants and deeply engaging with a wide range of community stakeholders to set shared objectives and aggregate or help coordinate resources for greater impact.
The Foundation is a champion of community, education, health and arts programs on Staten Island, especially those serving the least advantaged. It is the catalyst for community-wide collective impact with the Tackling Youth Substance Abuse Initiative. Currently, Foundation giving to 700 local community organizations totals over $52 million.
Over the course of its history, The Staten Island Foundation has supported a varied and wide-ranging array of projects. The Foundation has contributed to local projects of national prominence as well as to programs serving schools, faith-based groups, community centers, and community programs serving the physically, emotionally and intellectually disabled, immigrants, low income and homeless populations.
The Staten Island Foundation has supported New York Center for Interpersonal Development with almost $250,000 in funding since 1998 with $100,000 of that in the last two years for the ACE program. The Achievement in Career and Education Program provides educational and occupational training to out of school and disconnected youth between the ages of 16-24 living in Staten Island. Foundation funds cover the cost of Certified Nursing Assistant Training (CNA) for ACE participants. Completion of the training offers participants the opportunity for long term employment in the healthcare field. They receive their NYS certification as a Nursing Assistant and will be able to work in hospitals, long term treatment facilities and nursing homes. This is the first step for many of the participants to enroll in college and attain their degree in nursing, a high demand field.
Led by Chairman Allan Weissglass and Executive Director Betsy Dubovsky, the Foundation currently funds outcomes based projects related to specific results areas in education, arts, and health and community services. In recent years, literacy has been a particular focus for the benefit of children and English language learners of all ages. From day one the Foundation has worked to build the “capacity” of its non-profit grantees – providing funds for leadership development, technical assistance or management consulting.
The Foundation is a member of the national Council on Foundations, Philanthropy New York, the Association of Small Foundations as well as Grantmakers in Education and Grantmakers in Health. As a result, The Staten Island Foundation is in touch with current issues and practices in the field of philanthropy to better serve its grantees with professionalism and expertise. In addition, the foundation serves as a link to other sources for funding. Post Sandy, the Foundation connected a number of off-Island funders with local organizations and raised over $1.5M which, combined with its match of $500,000 has brought over $2M for the longer term recovery needs of Staten Island nonprofits.
The Staten Island Foundation is the first, largest and only independent private foundation exclusively focused on the Staten Island community. It is proud to operate with a long term commitment to assisting the community reach its targets and realize its dreams.
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