21 COMMUNITY NON-PROFITS BENEFIT FROM AWARDS

CLAVERACK, NY — The Ackerman Foundation has announced award-winners in its second year of providing grants to local non-profits for community improvement activities.

Twenty-one awards were made totaling $38,000, a significant advance from the Foundation’s first grant cycle in 2022 that provided $15,000 to six organizations.

“This was an especially competitive funding cycle with 36 applicants seeking almost $86,000,” said Foundation President Claire Ackerman. “Fortunately, we had more funds available for grants than in our first year, but we still faced difficult choices in our funding decisions.”

“Priority was given to smaller organizations and to programs that delivered immediate impact to the community, supported in many cases by a strong corps of volunteers,” Ackerman added.

Organizations receiving funds this year are:

  • Alan Devoe Bird Club, for repurposing educational kiosks for the Wilson Powell Wildlife Sanctuary;
  • Ancram Opera House Theater, for the Writing on Your Feet Storytelling program at Taconic Hills Elementary School;
  • Animal Kind, to support veterinary assistance for low-income pet owners;
  • Beautiful Racket, for their 2023 summer music festival;
  • Camphill Hudson, for their bi-monthly community-building gatherings to promote inclusivity and social integration;
  • Claverack Free Library, for their summer enrichment and reading program for children and families;
  • Columbia Children’s Center, to upgrade security measures at their facility;
  • Columbia County Libraries Association, for their Columbia County-wide community read program;
  • Columbia County Recovery Kitchen, to support its food preparation and delivery program providing 1,200 meals a week to those facing food insecurity;
  • Family Resource Centers of Columbia County, for their community playgroups programs for children and their families;
  • Friends of Copake Grange #935, for their theatre and musical programming aimed at strengthening the local community;
  • Friends of Hudson Youth, for their spring and fall music and media programs for local youth;
  • High & Mighty Therapeutic Riding and Driving Center, to support their equine-assisted services to enhance physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing;
  • Hudson Area Association Library, for their Bilingual Storytime Program to support early literacy skills development and to strengthen their bilingual book collection;
  • Kinderhook Memorial Library, to support their Wi-Fi Hotspots program that provides loans of equipment allowing internet access at home;
  • Long Table Harvest, in support of their gleaning program operations;
  • Lucky Rehabilitation Center, for their wildlife rehabilitation efforts;
  • Mental Health Awareness and Creative Arts Gallery, in support of their Collective Community Collage Program to showcase art and creative work of those diagnosed with serious mental health issues;
  • Perfect Ten After School, for their program of tutoring and mentoring teenage girls;
  • Roving Actors’ Repertory Ensemble (The Two of Us Productions), to support affordable live theatrical productions in eastern Columbia County;
  • Valatie Community Theatre, for their theatre lighting upgrade project.

All Ackerman Foundation grant recipients agree to provide evaluation reports assessing the effectiveness of the programs funded.

“The Board is very excited to see these organizations and projects succeed; and we look forward to being able to assist more organizations in the future,” said Ackerman.

The next round of Ackerman Foundation grants will be awarded in Summer 2024. An announcement will be made when those applications open.

The Foundation was established by David M. Ackerman in late 2021, just prior to his unexpected passing in January 2022. Ackerman was well-known as a businessman and quiet philanthropist with a career stretching over 50 years in Hudson and Columbia County.

The Foundation board is comprised of Claire Ackerman, President; Terry Ackerman, Vice President; Kathy Phillips, Secretary; Matthew Mackerer, Treasurer; Tony Jones, Director at Large; and Sam Hodge, Director at Large.

For more information, please email theackermanfoundation@gmail.com.