A Message from the Community Works Committee
October 24, 2024
Community Works
Vassar College Box 144
124 Raymond Ave.
Poughkeepsie NY 12604
Dear friends and colleagues,
The Community Works organizing committee is excited to announce the beginning of this year's annual Community Works fundraising campaign!
This year we will strive, once again, to reach our goal of $87,500. We fell a bit short last year only raising $73,383, so more than ever we need your support. The funds we raise help the selected non-profits meet the ever-growing needs of our neighbors in the Hudson Valley.
Please support the eleven local non-profit organizations selected by the Community Works committee based upon your nominations. These agencies have demonstrated their ability to address important community needs such as, but not limited to, introducing underprivileged youth to the arts, health, education, food assistance, community building, immigration, and animal welfare.
Each organization receives an equal share of the Community Works funds raised. One hundred percent of the contributions go directly to the agencies as Vassar assumes all the administrative costs of the campaign. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution via payroll deduction, credit card, or check.
For more information on grant recipients and to make a donation, please visit our website at communityworks.vassar.edu. All contributions are important no matter the amount!
Sincerely,
The Community Works Committee
Nicole Scalessa (chair), John Bradley, Kelly Ceely, Jolee DuBois, Doreen Hammell-Backer, Rose Hartman, Dana Kleinhans, Sonja Krekun, Miriam Mahdaviani, Tracy O'Neill, and Amanda Potter
2025 GRANT RECIPIENTS
BRIELLE GRACE BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION is a small local charity that serves those diagnosed with breast cancer by providing financial support for medical bills. They also fund mammograms for early breast cancer detection and donate to New York research facilities. The Foundation provides services to local recipients through fundraising events, donations, and grants. The Foundation’s mission is to save lives and was founded by Dawn Fortis, a two-time cancer survivor. She has a vision to save one life at a time and to help create a breast cancer free world.
CELEBRATING THE AFRICAN SPIRIT is a volunteer-based local non-profit whose mission is to acknowledge, articulate, research and commemorate the lives of enslaved Africans in Poughkeepsie, New York. Their work is rooted in the reality that slavery existed in the Mid-Hudson Region, and in Poughkeepsie from the earliest days, and enslaved adults and children were major contributors to the city and region’s growth. Among their initiatives are a summer intensive workshop for local youth, community commemorations like Frederick Douglass Day, and educational outreach in local schools.
COMPASS ARTS works to create healthy, just, equitable, and resilient communities through arts based classes, performances, and events rooted in exploration, collaboration, creation, and play. Compass Arts provides community-sourced teachers who are passionate about what they do, professionals in their fields or just incredibly good at teaching. It is a local outside-the-box learning center with a holistic, student-driven, improvisational, integrative, equity-aware and supportive approach.
DUTCHESS COUNTY PRIDE CENTER is a safe place for members of the LGBTQ+ community in Dutchess County including LGBTQ+ youth, young adults, and their families and allies to feel comfortable and free to express themselves. Their goal is to support, educate, and advocate through outreach, support groups, and social events.
DUTCHESS OUTREACH INC. has operated emergency food access and relief programs in Dutchess County for more than 46 years. Food Banks and Food Access Centers like Dutchess Outreach continue to help fill in the gaps that individuals and families face in fulfilling their most basic needs that have been exacerbated by increasing income inequality.
HUDSON VALLEY ANIMAL RESCUE AND SANCTUARY is an animal rescue, wildlife rehabilitation center & low cost vet service clinic. As a multi vet facility everything from wellness clinics to more complex surgeries, dentals, x-rays, bloodwork and more are offered. All of the money that comes through the clinic services is given right back to the animals that are rescued, rehabilitated and adopted out. It is also used for the hundreds of wildlife taken in that have been orphaned, injured or misplaced every year.
NUBIAN DIRECTIONS II provides technology training, work readiness skills training, and educational support services for youth and adults that improve workforce skills in an effort to foster sustainable community development. Participants work to achieve personal growth; academic, vocational, and leadership development; and community service skills and competencies; to pursue challenging careers, life-long learning, and volunteerism and to become mentally and morally tough by accepting responsibility for themselves, their families and their communities.
PEACE EDUCATION CENTER envisions a community that appreciates the interconnected nature of life, where positive peace is nurtured into existence. Their aim is to support and sustain community efforts to create a more just and peaceful world, through educational and interfaith programming in the Hudson Valley and beyond.
POUGHKEEPSIE FARM PROJECT began in 1999 as a small community farm with a commitment to education and food justice. As leaders in cutting edge practices in today's sustainable agriculture they harvest over 180,000 pounds of produce per year and donate over 30,000 pounds of it to those in need in our community. In addition to food cultivation, they train and educate the community on healthy growing and eating practices year round.
THE ART EFFECT empowers young people to develop their creative voice to shape their futures and bring about positive social change. The Art Effect helps youth explore, experience, and excel in the arts, introducing them to visual arts and media, giving them the opportunity to develop real skills in these fields, and guiding them towards achieving their academic and career goals. The Art Effect directly serves over 2,000 young people in classes and programs throughout the Hudson Valley each year.
ULSTER IMMIGRANT DEFENSE NETWORK provides help with household needs including food, clothing, furniture, school supplies, and emergency financial aid; rent and utilities assistance; information and referrals for legal support, healthcare, social services, time-sensitive problems; response to ICE actions; support schools, students, and families with education information and advocacy; and case management for time-sensitive problems that fall outside the work of other teams.
Elizabeth H. Bradley, President
Vassar College
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
@EHBVassar