Vassar’s Community Works Campaign: Funding Critical Services Across the Hudson Valley

Ten recipients are selected each year by an employee committee based upon nominations from other Vassar employees, and 100 percent of all donations support those agencies because the College assumes all administrative costs. The campaign kicked off on October 15 and will conclude at the end of December.

Nicole Scalessa, Head of Digital Scholarship and Technology Services in the Libraries at Thompson Library, has been helping to run the annual campaign since 2020 and is chair of the Community Works Committee. This year’s goal is $85,000 from 225 donors, and meeting that goal is critical in this 25th campaign this year, Scalessa said. “Many of these agencies are receiving significantly less government funding this year,” she said, “so it’s especially important for us to step up.”

This year’s Community Works recipients are providing a wide variety of services in the local community, including housing and food assistance, and support for immigrants, victims of domestic violence, and young people in the LGBTQ community. The committee also decided to fund Fall Kill Creative Works, which runs two studio spaces in Poughkeepsie. “Amidst all the chaos and all the serious issues the nation is dealing with,” Scalessa said, “the committee decided to also support an agency that is bringing an element of joy to the community.”

Other long-time members of the Community Works Committee said they believed it is important for Vassar to support agencies that are helping others in the community.

“I joined the Community Works Committee in 2020 just when the Covid crisis was starting to impact the Poughkeepsie community,” said John Bradley, spouse of President Elizabeth Bradley and former Director of Vassar Education Collaboration (VEC). “I was happy to support the effort and glad that the program existed because the community needs were so significant during that period, and we had a mechanism to help.”

Doreen Hammell-Backer, an accounting specialist in the Facilities Operations office who has served on the Community Works Committee since its inception, said the fundraising campaign “embodies the true spirit of Vassar—coming together with compassion, dedication, and generosity to support those in our community facing difficult times.”

Here’s a brief look at four of the agencies that will be funded by this year’s campaign:

Hudson River Housing

Based in the City of Poughkeepsie, Hudson River Housing has been providing emergency shelter and affordable permanent housing, and other assistance to the Hudson Valley region for over four decades. President and CEO Christa Hines said the funds from this year’s Community Works campaign are particularly welcome during this time of great uncertainty. “We are especially appreciative of the flexible nature of the funds,” Hines said. “Since this money is unencumbered, we can apply it towards programs with the greatest need.”

She said some of the money would be dedicated to supporting “warming centers” established by local churches and civic organizations to provide shelter for unhoused people during the coldest months of the year. “Last year, we worked with St. Christopher’s Church in Red Hook to establish a warming center there,” Hines said. “Hudson River Housing has a long-standing partnership at Christ Episcopal Church in Poughkeepsie, and we hope to offer similar services in other areas of the county as well.”

Community Works funds may also be used to help support “Pat’s Place,” which provides transitional housing for young people aging out of foster care, and “Pete’s Place,” a drop-in center for young adults who are seeking job counseling and other services or just a place to do their laundry or charge their phones.

Two residents of Pat’s Place, Alexander Borowski and Tyrel Albin, both ’19, said living at the facility and working with the staff there had helped them overcome many challenges in their lives. “This place helped me get back on my feet,” Borowski said. He said he had used computers at the facility and other resources provided by the staff to help him secure his birth certificate and other documents, and he found a job at a local bakery that will help him save money for permanent housing.

Albin said he arrived at Pat’s Place last January with a goal of enlisting in the military, “and I needed a support system to help me do that.” He said he was also taking financial literacy classes that help him manage his money.

Mediation Center of Dutchess County

The Mediation Center of Dutchess County provides dispute-resolution services to individuals, families, and groups. Established in 1983, it strengthened community relationships and resilience through mediation and restorative practices. As a member of the statewide network of Community Dispute Resolution Centers, the organization facilitates constructive conflict resolution.

Executive Director Leanne Lawson said some of the funding from Vassar’s Community Works campaign will be allocated to support the agency’s restorative justice program, which focuses primarily on fostering dialogue among young people engaged in conflict in the Poughkeepsie, Arlington, and Wappingers school districts. This initiative has hosted numerous Vassar interns whose guidance and curiosity have guided young learners.

Paula Rodriguez, the Mediation Center’s Director of Restorative Programs, said the initiative serves students from fifth grade through senior high school. “Each group we serve develops its own processes of building trust and addressing conflicts,” Rodriguez said. “Our program prioritizes the agency’s clients to decide how they want to frame their conflict-resolution practices. We amplify the students’ voices and choices, whether it’s an 11-year-old needing connection or support, or a group of Arlington bus drivers wishing to create a safe ride to and from school.”

Lawson said other funds from the Community Works campaign will be used to fill gaps in programs that may receive less government funding this year. “With federal funding in jeopardy, it’s unclear how that will impact some of our state and county funders,” she said, “so we are especially grateful to receive these flexible funds from Vassar.”

Vassar-Warner Home

Also located in the City of Poughkeepsie, the Vassar-Warner Home offers a range of adult daycare services to over a dozen local residents. The home had been a residential facility providing low-cost housing to seniors for many years, and the Vassar-Warner Home board and staff are working to restore that aspect of service, said Executive Director Ericka Von Salews.

“Our adult daycare program is the first step in reestablishing our residential services that began 153 years ago,” Von Salews said. “We are doing a lot of grant writing and small fundraisers right now.” The home is expected to be open to full-time residential clients by early spring, she said.

Board President Richard J. Schuster said one of the agency’s current tasks is upgrading its kitchen facilities. He noted that some of the funds from the Community Works campaign will be used to install a new fire suppression system there. “The board would like to thank Vassar for this support,” he said. “It came as somewhat of a surprise.”

Chicano Organizing and Research in Education (CORE)

Co-founded in California in 2004 by Jaime Del Razo, Associate Professor and Chair of Education at Vassar, the organization provides college scholarships for Chicano/Latinx, immigrant, and undocumented students. “We came together as student organizers and wanted to create an organization rooted in advancing and supporting the Chicano/Latinx community from high school to the graduate school level,” Del Razo said.

The organization also hosts an annual conference on the Vassar campus that touches on a variety of topics. Last year’s conference was designed to help prepare Chicano and Latinx students for college. This year’s conference, held on October 24, focused on “strength through organizing,” Del Razo said. “Our students leave the conference with a new sense of hope and the conviction that ‘I can do this,’” he said. “We do this not just because of the current climate for immigrants, but to help them see themselves in college as a place where they can be.”

Julian Aguilar ’23, CORE’s Operating and Communications Officer, thanked the Community Works Committee for choosing the organization as one of its recipients this year. “We are so grateful to all of the Vassar community and to the campus employees who nominated us,” Aguilar said.

Other agencies that will receive funding through the Community Works program this year are Dutchess County Pride Center, Dutchess Outreach Inc., Grace Smith House, the Brielle Breast Cancer Foundation, and the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network.

For more information about this year’s campaign, visit the Community Works website.