Summer Updates from the AFF!

As summer begins to wind down, we want to share some updates for you about what the AFF has been up to these past few months. In times of need, the Foundation’s mission to assist in alleviating poverty, promoting educational opportunities, and providing services to the elderly has never been more relevant. We are thankful for the perseverance and civic engagement that has a strong presence in the Hudson Valley, and we look forward to continuing assist local organizations in the Red Hook area.

First, a very belated public congratulations is due to our two 2020 scholarship recipients! Recent RHHS graduates Samantha Reilly and Chris Donahue were each awarded Ascienzo Family Foundation scholarships. We were so impressed by their spirits and actions of volunteerism and community. We awarded them each an extra $500 to bring it the scholarship to $2,000 each. Samantha will be attending Saint Rose College in the Fall, and Chris is headed to Middleburry College. The Directors has a great celebration with Chris and Samantha and their families over Zoom- complete with surprise cake deliveries and heartfelt laughs. A couple directors learned for the first time on this video call that Chris and Samantha are cousins!

Second, we opened up our emergency Ambassador mini-grant opportunity for a second round, this time allowing ambassadors to apply for grants for groups doing COVID-19 relief and/or anti-racism work. Visit our blog post here for descriptions of those donations. We are up to 23 mini-grants!

Third, last Saturday, Nick Ascienzo was awarded the John Dewey Award for Distinguished Public Service at Bard College’s hundred sixtieth commencement. The award was established in 1990 to recognize extraordinary contributions by Bard alumni/ae and others to the public sector or in the public interest. It continues Bard’s tradition of honoring public service embodied in the Episcopal Layman Award, which was given until 1983. The Dewey Award honors the eminent American philosopher and educator John Dewey, the father of progressive education and an outspoken advocate of a system of universal learning to support and advance this country’s democratic traditions. Read more about the prize here.

A Message from the AFF Directors

Dear Ascienzo Family Foundation Family, Red Hook Community, and extended community,

We write to you, late, to express our sadness and outrage over the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and countless other Black lives lost to brutality, injustice, and systemic racism. While these names have national attention, we recognize they are an incomplete representation of the unacceptable reality that Black people face across this nation. We stand, as a private foundation and as a team of Directors, with the clear message: Black Lives Matter. 

We have been checking in with our community, local organizations, and as a team, ready and willing to participate more deeply in the anti-racism movement. Together, we are committed to action from a place of compassionate presence, commitment to learning, and to taking action steps that are needed for the anti-racism movement to continue sustainably. We will be reflecting on our role and identity as an all white leadership team more critically, and demonstrate our intent actively. Private foundations like the Ascienzo Family Foundation have the opportunity to leverage our own funds, but also our networks and broader communities, to support those fighting for a better future that is equitable and just for all. 

Immediate actions our Foundation is committed to include: 

• Grant opportunities for anti-racism: We are expanding a current mini-grant opportunity that is open to all of our AFF Ambassadors (previously designed solely for COVID-19 relief efforts) to include grants for racial justice efforts in their local communities. This grant opportunity will be effective immediately to include financial support for organizations fighting for racial justice across the country. Our community of 40+ Ambassadors will be able to advocate for these grants, which we will fund immediately upon their advocacy and due diligence. 

• Local commitments to anti-racism: 

• The AFF Directors will be making a donation in solidarity and alignment with the #BlackLivesMatter movement to Soul Fire Farm and Nobody Leaves Mid-hudson in the amount of $4,000 each. We will continue conversations among our networks to ensure our collaborations uplift anti-racism efforts locally and nationally.

• On Wednesday, June 17th, our team met with other Red Hook leaders and partners from the Human Rights Commission to discuss next steps of our commitment to anti-racism. This was the first of many meetings to draft mission language and a collective course of action relative to Black Lives Matters and anti-racism on a local level. Participants discussed local and regional incidents that have transpired and proposed the creation of a youth board comprised of students at RH, RH alum, & Bard students to engage in open dialogue, however virtual for now, with the public. 

• Personal reflection as individuals and as a team: We will be doing our work, individually and as a team, to inform our commitment to social justice efforts, notably anti-racism efforts. We know there is a deep intersection of this work with the efforts we’re already engaged with, and we plan to do our part to bring more BIPOC voices into our funding processes in the future. Right now and for so long, the Black community is leading society forward with incredible resilience, passion, and urgency to pay attention now to the realities of racism of how racism operates daily across the country. We realize that our commitment responds to a call from Black people that was long left unheard or even ignored. We are here to follow that incredible leadership, to listen to your calls for action, and to walk together into a better future.

While much attention has been focused on large cities across the country, there is undoubtedly work to be done in our own backyard here in the Hudson Valley and in rural U.S. communities. We encourage you to show up for your communities; whether that be through civil disobedience, resources support, donations, difficult conversations with friends and family, personal commitment to doing and practicing anti-racism work, and bringing your creative gifts and talents to the movement. Our team will be doing the same, individually and collectively, with local leaders. 

Some organizing and civic groups in the Hudson Valley area include: Community Voices Heard, Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, Soul Fire Farm, Rise Up Kingston, Kingston Midtown Rising, End the New Jim Crow Action Network!, Good Work Institute, Brothers at Bard, and North Star Fund. This list is certainly not exhaustive - we encourage you to send us an email if you know of organizations in the area that are doing important anti-racism or social justice work! 

As we move forward, we welcome your accountability and checking in, as well as sharing resources, organizations, and calls to action around this work. While much of what we’ve shared above is aspirational and forward-looking, we recognize it comes during an urgent call to action where most of our work will be heads down and behind the scenes. Please let us know how we can uplift the efforts of you or other local leaders, especially from Black leaders in the Hudson Valley area, to continue taking action for the long term. We know this will require dedication of energy and action from all of us. 

Thinking of You, as always,

The AFF Family

Nick Ascienzo, Jen Melitski, Fran Thompson, Brittany Mosher, Ali Fraenkel, Sophie Laing (AFF Directors) and Nick Fiorellini (AFF Intern)

Ambassadors help their communities with mini grants

UPDATED AS OF 5/2/20: Across the country, members of our Ambassador Network are involved in causes helping those most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The Foundation understands how a little can go a long way for any organization aiding the frontlines in their local communities, so we decided to allow our ambassadors to apply for immediate emergency mini-grants of $250 to increase access to coronavirus relief efforts in their communities. From Oakland, California to Austin, Texas and Rockville, Maryland to Boston, Massachusetts, the Foundation has already approved several grants to help those from Red Hook help those across the country who need help the most.

Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, the AFF Directors have been meeting to figure out the best way to serve our communities. The Foundation is currently supporting a number of initiatives in the Red Hook community during this time, and we remain inspired by the ways our Ambassadors continue to show up, listen to those in need, and put collaborative service into action. During times of uncertainty, change, and disaster, it’s critical to stay connected to where we came from, where we currently are, and where we hope to go together. Our hope is to equip our ambassadors not only to the Red Hook community, but their local communities as well.

As our Ambassadors continue to advocate for different causes in their communities during the coronavirus pandemic, the Foundation will keep an updated list of the organizations they are working to support.

Damon Allen is advocating for Homeless and Travelers Aid Society

Damon is advocating for the Homeless and Travelers Aid Society’s Feed and Read Program. The Society packs and distributes bags with food and books for children in the Albany area. They have been busy- continuing to supply over 500 bags per week since the pandemic hit. Damon has been volunteering with this program over the past month.

Jonni Mills is advocating for Rethink Food NYC

Across the country, soup kitchens are balancing two public health issues: the threat of coronavirus and the threat of hunger. As many soup kitchens across the country struggle to stay afloat, Rethink Food NYC is helping tackle this problem by repurposing any unused spaces at their partner organizations to provide to-go meals to those in need. They have also opened their own cafe, The Rethink Cafe in Brooklyn, which provides healthy and delicious meals and grocery items for a low suggested donation. After receiving 19k pounds of food donations from first-time donors, Rethink Food NYC is also now repurposing restaurants with a similar model as the Rethink Cafe through grants, which helps keep the restaurants afloat, the staff employed, and feeds the local community. 

Iana Robitaille is advocating for Austin Ed Fund

In collaboration with the Austin Independent School District, the Austin Ed Fund is expanding its services to students and caregivers, including food services, health programs, and remote learning. A staggering 67% of Austin’s public school students qualify for meal benefits and rely on meals provided during the school day.

Betsy Kirtland is advocating for Material Aid and Advocacy Program

The Material Aid and Advocacy Program (MAAP) is continuing to support and empower community members experiencing homelessness or living in poverty in the Boston area. As the coronavirus continues to take its toll in Massachusetts, many shelters are struggling to stay open and provide resources for the growing number of people they need to support. All donations will go towards providing people with survival supplies, like food and tarps, to help guide people through these challenging circumstances.

Emily Appenzeller, Mia Michaelides, and Nick Ascienzo (AFF Director and Founder) are advocating for People’s Place (Kingston)

Food pantry. Thrift store. Community café. While the organization’s hours might be modified due to coronavirus, People’s Place in Kingston continues to wear multiple hats, ensuring those in need in Ulster County are clothed and fed. The People's Place is a food pantry that has provided over 105, 000 meals in the last 4 weeks.

Mia spent time volunteering with the People's Place in 2016 for her Girl Scout Gold Award project, helping to renovate their "Birthday Closet", which is a service for families who cannot afford supplies for their children's birthdays.

Emily and her mother have volunteered for the past two summers at People’s Place for the Bag Summer Hunger program. This program provides additional breakfast and lunch foods for families with school age children in Ulster County when school is not in session.

Kyla Gabriel is advocating for Smart from the Start

Smart from the Start, Inc. is a trauma-informed family support, community engagement and school readiness organization with a mission to promote the healthy development of young children in low income, underserved communities in the Boston area.  Smart empowers families and communities with the right combination of tools, resources and support, to break cycles of chronic school under-achievement and generational poverty. Its coronavirus response includes delivering emergency food and care packages, establishing a crisis intervention fund, telephone counseling, and phone check-ins with families in need.

Elizabeth Ricci and Tessa Rothwell are advocating for Red Hook Responds

Working with elected officials in the Town and Village of Red Hook and the Village of Tivoli, Red Hook Responds coordinates, enhances and supports the existing and new volunteer efforts in the Red Hook area. The organization harnesses volunteers in a centralized location where people work together to maximize the programs already in place.

The Foundation is helping coordinate their fundraising efforts, Red Hook Eats, a sub-committee of Red Hook Responds which will focus on helping with preparation of food and delivery to homebound and ill during a crisis.Funds raised are used to facilitate ongoing, current and future needs in the greater Red Hook community.

Tom Triebwasser is advocating for Sunflower Bakery

Continuing his advocacy that started in 2015, Tom Triebwasser is now advocating for Sunflower Bakery’s initiative to donate baked goods to local shelters and hospital staffs. The bakery has a long tradition of civic engagement, including its Pastry Arts Employment Training Program, which helps people with developmental differences learn a trade (baking) and train them to be self-sufficient.

Emma Donohue is advocating for City Harvest

City Harvest is a food rescue organization that collects rescues food around New York City and delivers it to food pantries, soup kitchens, and other partners throughout the city. They additionally have multiple mobile markets each week to provide free food for food scarce neighborhoods and educational programs that teach participants how to cook with various types of food items that City Harvest distributes. In response to coronavirus, they are adding five emergency food stations in high need neighborhoods to help feed New Yorkers who are struggling to make ends meet given the current climate, ensuring that children and families receive the food that they need with schools being closed, and maintaining their regular food distribution sites which have already seen a 30% increase with the virus.

Aminy Ostfeld is advocating for East Oakland Collective

Empowering and supporting communities of color and individuals experiencing homelessness in Oakland, East Oakland Collective is setting up relief programs in Oakland. From distributing food and sanitary supplies to the homeless and other vulnerable populations, building hand washing stations at homeless encampments, the organization hopes to tackle many poverty-related issues in the East Bay.

Sophie Laing (AFF Director) is advocating for Junta for Progressive Action

Junta for Progressive Action is an organization that seeks to "collaborate with Latinx communities in the Greater New Haven area to advance the social, economic and civi environment for all, while embracing Latinx cultural traditions." Junta has started a campaign for immediate rent assistance for Latinx and undocumented families in the Greater New Haven area. Sophie is a co-director of a medical-legal partnership at HAVEN Free Clinic, which provides healthcare and other resources to uninsured residents of New Haven. As Sophie explains “housing and health care are intrinsically linked, and it feels important for those connected to HAVEN to show support for their patients and their patients' communities during this time.”

Jen Melitski (AFF Director) is advocating for Poughkeepsie Farm Project

About 10 years ago, Jen volunteered with the Poughkeepsie Farm Project and she has been impressed ever since by the “amazing things they do in the Poughkeepsie community,” explaining that they are “positive advocates for food justice.” The Poughkeepsie Farm Project has a CSA farm, and runs educational programs about local foods with children in the Poughkeepsie City School District. They also provide fresh, local food to people with food insecurity. The Poughkeepsie Farm Project has been working in many different ways to meet the needs of the community during this crisis, and that includes working with Poughkeepsie schools to help distribute produce and recipes to the community.

Brittany Mosher (AFF Director) is advocating for United Way of Northwest Vermont

United Way of Northwest Vermont supports several critical groups in the area, including the VT Food Bank, AgeWell, Steps to End Domestic Violence, and Chittenden Co. Homeless Alliance. As Brittany describes, United Way of Northwest Vermont “brings together a variety of service organizations and non-profits in Vermont to build synergies and address needs of Vermonters.” Right now, that work includes a COVID-19 response fund campaign for which they are matching donations.

Ali Fraenkel (AFF Director) is advocating for the Ernest and Rose Samuels Foundation

For #GivingTuesdayNOW, the Ernest and Rose Samuels Foundation lanced a $60,000 double-match campaign for COVID relief in DC area children and families. Ali worked with the Foundation to help launch this campaign. The six grantee organizations receiving the funds will be Life Pieces to Masterpieces, Jubilee Jumpstart, Safer Shores, Generation Hope, Dreaming Out Loud, and Mother of Light Center.

Fran Thompson (AFF Director) is advocating for the Rhinebeck Reformed Church Food Pantry

Fran reports that the food pantry run by the Rhinebeck Reformed Church has been seeing more than double the number of people during the pandemic than they normally see. The Church also hopes to be able to help feed school children during the summer months.

Full Circle Grant Making

We have a guest post from Ambassador Tessa Rothwell (RHHS ‘19), who completed her first year of grant making this fall. She advocated for the Girls’ Leadership Worldwide Summer Conference- not only did Tessa attend GLW one summer, but Director Ali Fraenkel (RHHS ‘11) also attended, a few years earlier!

If you had come up to me a few years ago and told me that I would have written a grant by the time I was 18 years old, I would not have believed you. Yet here I am, writing this in March 2020, having just attended my very first grant presentation as a Class of 2019 Ambassador for the Ascienzo Family Foundation. I wrote my grant for the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill (or ERVK for short), specifically for their Girls’ Leadership Worldwide (GLW) Summer Conference, which I attended as a participant over the Summer of 2018. The grant will be used to provide funds for girls in need who will be attending future GLW conferences.

From the moment I sat down at the table at the Elmendorph Inn during the December 2018 get – together, I was already getting excited about potential grant making opportunities.  It was my first time meeting the ambassador network, and I was already hearing some very inspiring stories about grants which had just been approved over the past grant writing cycle. By the time it came for me to introduce myself, I was already discussing my transformative experience at Girls’ Leadership Worldwide and my aspirations to work with ERVK. A year later, at the same table and gathering, I was reporting about my successful grant for ERVK which had just been approved. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams,” and this was an absolute dream come true!  Knowing that these girls will be able to participate in such a powerful leadership conference with the help of our AFF grant really means the world to me.

I would not have been able to succeed at this without the help of both the Ascienzo Family Foundation and ERVK.  Both non-profits were able to assist me in turning this dream into a reality.  I want to give a very special shout-out to Mr. Ascienzo and the ambassador network, which provided me the support and encouragement that I needed to get the job done!  From sample grant proposals to a timeline of events, I was able to stay on target and write a successful grant without feeling overwhelmed. 

On March 9, I had the opportunity to be present when Mr. Ascienzo met my connections at ERVK.  We were able to meet with the executive director, director of programs and development, and two of the ERVK board members.  It was such a memorable day – I never thought I would be involved in such an incredible opportunity.  Many thanks to Mr. A and the AFF ambassadors, as well as everyone at ERVK: April, Lys, Kathryn, Erica, and Kristin, for their support.  Here’s to many future years of partnership with ERVK!  

-Tessa Rothwell (RHHS ‘19)