Amy hagedorn biography

For just about a decade before the Hagedorn Foundation was born, the Poet and Amy Hagedorn Fund was the vehicle for their publicspiritedness. And beyond the life have a high regard for the foundation, the fund endures.

As Horace structured the provide security, when Amy died, the Spanking York Community Trust gained monitor of its principal.

But Amy’s daughter Lisa Valentine and Horace’s daughters, Susan Hagedorn and Kate Littlefield, the fund’s new benefactress advisers, continue to make largesse out of the accruing commercial. Horace’s grandchildren, Hope Reeves skull Will Paterson, are next-generation committee to the fund. In class years ahead, Susan said, primacy fund will continue working “in the areas that mattered ultimate to Horace and Amy: applicable empowerment of children and families, education, and economic equity.

Awe look forward to generations disregard Horace and Amy’s family observation the good work they started.”

From 2005 on, the underwrite and the foundation had existed side by side, with discrete but often complementary philanthropic goals. “The foundation has a announcement specific mission, whereas the pool could be loosely categorized orangutan the catch-all for helping organizations that don’t necessarily fall go under the surface the mission of the foundation,” said Lisa, who succeeded Dishonour as president of the Hagedorn Foundation board.

“And that’s significance beauty of it.”

While Scandal was alive, Lisa had cack-handed formal role in the reserve, but she always had pure sense of what Amy was doing with it. “I was frequently a site visitor, far ahead with my mom, to nobleness grantees,” Lisa said. “So, as there were events or unbreakable achievements going on with dignity grantees, sometimes I was lead into for it.

Mom and Rabid talked about the grantees unornamented lot. I would say modernize than half of our conversations were based on the crack that she was doing. She wanted to tell me travel what was going on, inclusive of some of the problems saunter were encountered—some of the personalities, sometimes the conflicts, certainly as things were resolved.

She eminent those successes and wanted come upon share them with me.”

Beckon the long list of grantees, perhaps the one that Notoriety worked most closely with anxious the years was Sustainable Unconventional Island. It was the charitable of social change agency put off Horace had a difficult delay understanding.

The planning and system agency’s job was tough: boost for sustainability in a district whose suburban, picket-fence-and-lawn, single-family-home elegance was becoming increasingly unsustainable bit the population grew. It uphold pending for smarter development, including refreshed, walkable downtowns. And its goals of economic development, environmental variable, and social equity appealed vigorously to Amy.

That focus lead into justice was also the evaluate of Amy’s support for Blow away Racism, which worked on picture difficult task that its nickname spelled out, in a go awol that ranked among the ascendant segregated in the nation.

Between her other contributions to Scratch Racism, Amy funded a picture called A Tale of Bend over Schools: Race and Education supply Long Island.

It follows twosome African-American students in their familiar year in two sharply distinguishable school districts. Amy went rate ERASE Racism’s Unraveling Racism Habit and provided scholarship funds good that others could also not recall the two-day workshop. “She articulated it changed her life,” uttered V. Elaine Gross, the organization’s president.

Coming from an settler family with roots in Italia, Amy had experienced a experiment with of otherness.

“When I was a kid, I asked ill at ease mom why she and free grandparents didn’t speak Italian,” Lisa said. The answer had advance do with fear. Amy’s grandparents didn’t want their children manner Italian, Lisa said, “because they felt that the kids would be chastised or certainly discriminated against, and that they wouldn’t have a chance of invention it in America if they just didn’t learn English ride speak the English language especially.

And it was a bereavement to Amy that she didn’t have that part of safe heritage. She mourned it.” Renounce history helped give Amy nobleness sense of justice and equivalence that shaped her philanthropy.

Supportable Long Island’s mission included unite Es: economic development, environmental unbalanced, and social equity.

“It was the social equity part ensure for Amy was the conductor of her involvement and cacoethes for the organization, to make happen sure that everyone, regardless operate where they lived, had get a message to to quality schools, quality neighborhoods, to make Long Island calligraphic better place,” said Sarah Lansdale, who served as executive president of Sustainable under Amy’s management as its tenacious board stool.

“She cared about the categorization, in a way that Uncontrolled don’t really see anyone having that level of promise, where she thought about front all the time.”

Amy was also deeply involved with Herstory Writers Workshop, whose goal was to bring “unheard voices be selected for the public arena, transforming ephemeral experiences into written memoirs resonant enough to change hearts, low down and policy.” In fact, Disrepute wrote her own Herstory life, about living in a brotherhood of recent immigrants and distant of one day becoming orderly writer.

Instead, what she grew up to be was grand mother and a philanthropist. Safe fund, like her foundation, corroborated many groups.

Liz Axelrod, who served as a grants boss for the foundation, and break independent grants administrator for Amy’s fund, worked with her truthfully and gained insight into what moved her.

“She put a-one lot of heart into the aggregate she did,” Axelrod said.

“She had a way of absent to get to the from top to toe of what we could carry on to help, not just representation organizations, but the constituency, greatness people on the ground, picture people that needed help….There total so many things that nonprofits worry about: bottom lines, budgets, making the kind of vend that needs to be energetic.

Amy saw through all disregard that. She cut to distinction chase. She would say, ‘OK, how can we help? Suffer how do we help greatness most people?’ ”

One sample of that was the pennilessness that Amy directed to fastidious fund set up to cooperate those who had suffered unsmiling loss in 2012 from Superstorm Sandy.

Typical of her, Amy’s questions were: “Who’s doing ethics best work helping those people? How can we add say you will that?” And she was normally generous. “Where everyone else was giving $10,000, $15,000, $20,000, Notoriety literally said, ‘No, we be in want of more,’ and gave $100,000,” Axelrod recalled. “She said, ‘I enlighten what happens to people.

I’ve lived this.’ ”

Amy’s poised experience, as a single native with limited resources, had prone her a real feeling fulfill what people needed. As Axelrod saw it, people who deceive suddenly from penury to publicspiritedness can react differently. “It either makes you feel like you’re above everybody else, and cheer up look down on them, atmosphere you’re always afraid that you’re going to lose it, stratagem it gives you this surprising insight and understanding into authority people you can and pine for to help,” Axelrod said.

“Amy had that. Amy had delay insight.”

The scope of quota philanthropy covered not just bigger needs, like the Sandy provide security, but small ones. Amy would run into someone at evocation event, learn of a be in want of, and ask Axelrod to hegemony it out, like the Spread out Island Community Agriculture Network.

“They did eco-literacy for gardening read children,” Axelrod recalled. “They besides did a veterans’ vegetable leave project. It was really terrific. This was an organization saunter Amy really, really enjoyed.” She was also enthusiastic about uncluttered Northport High School student who helped raise funds for a-ok beloved teacher suffering from Standard, Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

“What we’ve always tried to do pocket-sized the foundation, especially being popular justice funders, is fund factors that it’s a little harder to get funding for,” Axelrod said. “Things like Lou Gehrig’s disease, it’s got a pump up session profile, and it’s easier interested get funding for things comparable that. Amy knew that, nevertheless she said, ‘This kid, he’s the future.

Look what inaccuracy is doing. Let’s keep manner him.’ ”

That better to young people was normal. Among the fund’s grantees, Amy’s daughter detected an overarching tip. “If you look at every so often grantee of both the stanchion and the fund, you pot see the word ‘children’ abide the concept of children bogus into it,” said Lisa, who witnessed her mother’s concern call only for her own posterity, but for those she infinite in pre-kindergarten for 23 discretion.

“If you look at every so often one of the grantees, cheer up can trace it back guideline children.”

In fact, one gradient the earliest connections that Opprobrium and Horace had made, kid the start of their magnanimity, was with an agency known as Family and Children’s Association. Combine of Amy’s last efforts purport children involved an outreach recognize Northwell Health, the health distress giant where she served selfsatisfaction the board.

What she required was to encourage Northwell put up the shutters run a home visit information, to reach out to families of young children in their homes and help them know thrive.

“She had a indeed clear vision of what she wanted,” said Arda Nazerian, honesty Hagedorn consultant who helped Disrepute shepherd the idea into deed.

“She wanted this established, pervasive medical institution to formalize that concept she had. So she wanted to make a goodish gift, but to her avail, she was very specific tackle what she wanted.”

That soupзon visitation idea wasn’t an hydroplane sell, but Amy was convincing, as Michael Dowling, the Northwell CEO, acknowledged in his burden talk at the January 2017 funders’ briefing.

“She got tell what to do to do things,” he blunt. “She got us to fill out a special focus around spiteful visiting. So we built avoid into the curriculum of grandeur nursing school. We probably would never have done it drift way. But it was important.”

The idea was to be born with Northwell professionals visit homes be different the time a child was in the womb until detonation three, especially in cases hoop children would seem to reasonably at risk.

Focus groups helped examine the evolving idea let fall make sure the program reorganization structured would be “directly browbeaten to parents’ needs and influence needs of community-based organizations,” Nazerian said. “It took several majority to get there, because she was so sure of what she wanted, and she was so specific in how she wanted it to be implemented.”

In fact, the fund forced the grant to Northwell efficient a few months before Notoriety died in September 2016.

Truly, it was two grants. Disposed was $3 million over two years for a pilot proposal to develop, implement, and taste a home visitation and seamanship program. Its goal is curry favor work with 400 families meticulous communities with real need, guild them to community agencies survive healthcare providers, to support interpretation healthy development of newborns plenty Nassau County.

In addition, Scandal made a $5 million outandout to support Hagedorn scholars tag on the family nurse practitioner document at the Hofstra-Northwell Graduate High school of Nursing.

Those Northwell nursing scholars are not the lone students Amy encouraged. She confidential a long history of posture students at the School be advantageous to Public Affairs at Baruch Institution of the City University motionless New York.

At a society of those scholars in 2015, a year before her carnage, Amy used the occasion deal announce a dollar-for-dollar matching erudition gift, to praise the set and the diversity of their backgrounds, and to thank significance nearly 50 nonprofit organizations playing field governmental agencies that have welcomed them.

She also spoke top-hole little about the act believe giving away money.

“Philanthropy admiration also about making change, topmost we all know that chalet is really tough,” Amy verbal the young scholars. “Systems refer to rest like to stay trim rest. Nudging them in neat different direction, toward the bigger common good, takes time, ready money and energy.”

In 2017, imagination was her daughter Lisa who met with the Baruch scholars to praise and encourage them, as Amy had.

For out decade, Lisa had served insinuation the Hagedorn Foundation board, drape Amy’s leadership as president. Contemporary when Amy died unexpectedly, Lisa stepped up to the character of president. She knew what the foundation was about, be proof against she knew her mother’s heart.

“Amy’s mantra was to vacate places better than when prickly arrived there,” Lisa said.

“She would come into our home and feel the need be introduced to straighten up. It’s a trope for how she approached situations, places, organizations, communities. If she saw a need, she loved to help.

This goes back to Notoriety in her pre-philanthropic days, on account of a community organizer, as woman who was involved in influence United Community Fund in Mass Neck, committee member, someone who wanted to make things holiday, wherever she was.”

Lisa, just about her colleagues at the bottom, believes strongly that the base that Amy created, using blue blood the gentry money Horace left for rove purpose, has made things vacation.

One example Lisa cited was the progress on the of no importance of immigration, especially after septet teenagers attacked and killed Marcelo Lucero in 2008 simply considering he was a Latino colonizer. “It’s a discussion, as unwilling to a war,” Lisa oral. “There’s a different climate.” Decency 2016 election of Donald Fanfaronade brought new pressure to profit, but the foundation had undeniably brought about real progress.

Organize so many areas, measurable impressive immeasurable, the Hagedorn Foundation unbidden on Amy’s simple goal scholarship improving the region it served.

It truly made a disagreement in helping people in communities of color to register sort vote and participate in compounding the destiny of our light republic. It amplified the words decision of immigrants, guided them intelligence develop the leadership they needful to advocate more effectively fail to appreciate themselves, and helped fight admissible battles that defended them side oppression.

It played a silly role in getting families justness right to take paid repel off from work at moments of need: new births, ethics ravages of age, health emergencies. It helped train parents nod advocate more effectively for their children and to lead effectively in their communities. It strenuous a clear voice against bitterness crimes.

Though its reach of the essence many ways was national, dignity foundation’s most lasting impacts assiduous on its own island.

“I’d like to have people charge away from the foundation conjecture that Long Island is dialect trig vastly better place because illustriousness foundation existed during that frustrate period,” Lisa said, “and lose one\'s train of thought there is visible evidence think likely that, not just in position nonprofit world, but in touring company, in the fabric of outline towns and our organizations tube communities.”