The Schenectady Foundation

05/28/2026

We've continue to support the good work of the Regional Food Bank to make Schenectady County food secure.

05/20/2026

The Schenectady Foundation Awards $91,000 in Scholarships!

Twenty-six Schenectady County high school seniors have won assistance to pursue college degrees through scholarships awarded last month by – the largest amount awarded since the Foundation began its scholarship programs in 1974.

The Foundation supports four scholarships:

The Anna Hudson Erbacher Teaching Scholarship provides up to $10,000 to graduating seniors pursuing a degree to become an educator. A total of $40,000 was granted to: Aidan Ford (Niskayuna), Lesly Garcia (Niskayuna), Kaylee Beehm (Schenectady), Regan Crary-Gracz (Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake), Laurel Karp (Mohonasen) and Apollonia Alois (Schenectady).

The Schenectady STEM Scholarship was established for Schenectady High School students by a former GE scientist, Sanford Shuler, to help inspire and empower the next generation of innovators in STEM fields. This year $10,000 was awarded to each student: Dylan Slater (Biology/Psychology/Medicine), Cole Bogdanowicz-Wilson (Physics), and Sonia Bhola (Physics/Aerospace Engineering).

Our Build Your Future Vocational Scholarship supports students to obtain certificates or degrees in a vocational field, toward a career in the trades. One student, Sage Steenburgh, of Scotia-Glenville High School, was awarded $5,000 toward her degree in Automotive Technology.

The Foundation’s Good Neighbor Awards recognize students’ civic involvement and good character, with selection based on financial need. Sixteen $1,000 scholarships will be awarded by Schenectady County High Schools at their June graduation awards ceremonies.

05/20/2026

Come on out for a meal, and help us better understand how food insecurity is a challenge in your community.

We’re serving up data…and dinner’s on us! 🍽️

📍 Where: The Electric City Barn; 400 Craig St, Schenectady, NY 12307
🕠 When: Thursday, May 21st | 6:00 PM

Over the past three months, more than 950 residents shared their experiences with our local food system, and now it’s time to dig into the findings together.

What’s on the menu:
🍴 A free community dinner
📊 A walkthrough of key survey highlights and insights
🤝 Local organizations and community members sharing their data and stories
💬 Time for questions, discussion, and your feedback

This is more than just a meal; it’s a chance to see how your neighbors’ voices are shaping the future of food in Schenectady.

👉 Please RSVP: https://forms.gle/y9mBAgKAeXYshXH17

Come hungry for good food and meaningful conversation!

05/15/2026

Last night, The Schenectady Foundation celebrated the inaugural Creative Changemakers Circle, a leadership development program that helps Schenectady County residents transform their bold ideas for community change into actionable plans. This first group of changemakers had 10 participants. Here's a story about one of them, Mont Pleasant resident Tiffany Caldwell.

"Tiffany Caldwell didn’t know anyone when she moved to Schenectady’s Mont Pleasant neighborhood with her daughter two years ago from New York City. The colder months, she recalls, were a struggle. It was dark and gloomy, and everywhere she turned, she saw blight - vacant buildings, crumbling infrastructure, trash.

'I immediately started thinking, ‘How can I come up with a solution?’ Caldwell said. 'How can we collectively come together to sprinkle light in the midst of darkness?'

For Caldwell, this wasn’t a rhetorical question. She began attending public meetings and quickly met people with the same desire to bring positive change to the community who were part of the ONE Schenectady movement. And she decided to get to know her neighbors and invite them to join her in revitalizing the section of Mont Pleasant sometimes referred to as Engine Hill.

Caldwell, 46, isn’t doing this work alone. She is one of a group of 10 Schenectady County residents selected to participate in the Creative Changemakers Circle, a leadership development program of The Schenectady Foundation. Through this months-long program, residents transform their bold ideas for community change into actionable plans.

'I’ve learned so much,' Caldwell said of her time in the Creative Changemakers program. 'I’ve met so many amazing people. The connections that I’ve made through ONE Schenectady and also on my own, taking a leap, reaching out to people - the support I’ve received makes me want to break down in tears.'

Caldwell has established a new neighborhood association, the Engine Hill Neighborhood Association, to address concerns and challenges in her community. She did a meet-and-greet at the local library, focused on helping residents connect with programs to save money on energy costs, and organized a neighborhood cleanup for Earth Day. She also plans to partner with C.R.E.A.T.E. Community Studios, a Schenectady non-profit that provides low-cost arts programming, to bring “light and color” to the neighborhood through community art.

The name of Caldwell’s project: Blight to Light.

'When you hear blight, you think of darkness, you think of gloom,' Caldwell said. 'But there’s always light at the end of any dark tunnel.' She added, 'I want to push people to realize that this is about people power. Once we come together, there’s strength in numbers. All of these little simultaneous goals - we’re tackling them little by little.'

To learn more about ONE Schenectady and resident-led systems change, click here:

https://www.schenectadyfoundation.org/page/one-schenectady-147.html

04/30/2026

SPOTLIGHT ON: Mont Pleasant Clean-up Day

During April, The Schenectady Foundation supported neighborhood clean-ups throughout the city through its One Schenectady initiative, which calls on residents to come together to create dynamic, thriving communities and bring about positive change. The Foundation gave every volunteer who participated in one of the cleanups a food voucher redeemable at an Earth Day celebration at Central Park on April 25.

“Please come join us.”

That’s how Tiffany Caldwell greeted a woman who wanted to know why volunteers clad in yellow safety vests had fanned out across the parking lot next to her apartment building with garbage bags and pickers. She explained that they were cleaning up the neighborhood - and that anyone could help.

Caldwell, who organized the Earth Day cleanup in the Mont Pleasant neighborhood, also known as Engine Hill, wants as many people as possible to help transform the community into a cleaner, nicer place to live. The volunteers descended upon the parking lot and access road behind the Family Dollar on Crane Street because it is an illegal dumping spot, strewn with trash - a couch, broken chairs, scraps of plaster, remnants of furniture.

“People just walk by this like it’s normal,” Caldwell said, gesturing at the mess. “It shouldn’t be normal.”

One volunteer, Schenectady resident Odell Smith, works at the nearby Trustco branch, which donated donuts and coffee for the event. He said he decided to get involved after meeting Caldwell, who stopped by the branch and told him about the cleanup. “Through her energy, she made me want to come,” he said, while picking up old cups and wrappers.

Indra Watson learned about the cleanup when Caldwell spoke about it at her church. “I don’t like litter,” she said. “Unfortunately, litter was one of the first things I noticed when I moved to the area. When I saw an opportunity to come out with a group of people and clean, I was like, ‘Where do I sign up?’”

“I feel really good because I’m doing something positive,” Watson said.

To learn more about One Schenectady, click here:

https://www.schenectadyfoundation.org/page/one-schenectady-147.html

04/16/2026

The Schenectady Foundation supports programs that strengthen local children and families. One such program is Parent Child+, which you can read about in our recent article:

"Luz Pereyra sits in a small wooden chair in front of a small circle of children and reads from a colorful children’s book called 'Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.' Sometimes, she pauses to ask a question or make a suggestion. 'Imagine you are driving the bus,' she says to the kids, who hold out their arms and turn, grasping imaginary steering wheels.

The children attend a bilingual home daycare in Rotterdam called My Little Miracle. Pereyra visits regularly, bringing books that she reads aloud and gives to the daycare. She teaches the kids about numbers, feelings, colors and more.

For the family who runs the daycare, Pereyra is a coach and a mentor, modeling how to use books and toys to engage and educate the children. On one trip to My Little Miracle, Pereyra
gave the children toy buses to push along a cardboard brick road.

Pereyra works for Brightside Up, Inc., a non-profit organization that strives to improve the availability of high-quality child care in the Capital Region. She is an early learning specialist with Brightside Up's Parent Child+ program, which promotes childhood literacy and school readiness in Schenectady County by sending trained staff to read and play with toddlers at their homes and at in-home daycares.

'It’s a nice support for families who might not have other supports,' said Abbe Kovacik, executive director of Brightside Up, Inc., which oversees Parent Child+."

To learn more, click here:

https://www.schenectadyfoundation.org/page/news-4/news/parent-child--fosters-healthy-parenting-162.html

03/30/2026

We welcome new board members Kristine Moore and Rabbi Matt Cutler to The Schenectady Foundation! Both appointees bring many talents, deep ties to Schenectady County and an extensive history of community involvement to their new roles. We are excited to be working with them.

The Schenectady Foundation welcomes two new members to its Board of Directors and Distribution Committee. Both appointees bring many talents, deep ties to Schenectady County and an extensive history of community involvement to their new roles.

03/23/2026

Graduating high school seniors! Applications for these scholarships are due on Wednesday! Go to our website to learn more and start an application: https://www.schenectadyfoundation.org/page/scholarships-171.html