Community Focus
TSF Grants Helps City Strings Grow
Mont Pleasant eighth grader and talented violinist Jacque-Leen Taylor participates in the City Strings Program. In the background is Monica Roach, an ESYO alumna and
cellist who teaches strings to middle school students in Schenectady and Albany.
A recent TSF grant to the Empire State Youth Orchestra (ESYO) was a wonderful opportunity for the Foundation to support youth achievement and arts education. The $30,000 matching grant will support ESYO’s City Strings Training and Recital Program in Schenectady County.
City Strings is an instrumental instruction/performance program for inner-city middle-schoolers in Schenectady and Albany. School music teachers recommend students based on their motivation, skill potential and financial need. Participants in the program are given private lessons at school by the ESYO teacher. At Schenectady’s Oneida, Central Park and Mont Pleasant Middle Schools, City Strings participants study with the talented Monica Roach, a cellist and ESYO alumna. Many City Strings students have advanced enough to successfully audition for ESYO's String Ensemble; three have progressed all the way to the Youth Orchestra.
"We’re especially pleased that this grant will help increase performance opportunities for the student musicians by making nursing home recitals an integral part of the program. Performing is an important educational experience for young aspiring musicians, and listening to these performances is an uplifting experience for elderly audience members," said TSF Administrator Robert Carreau.
The Foundation decided to offer a matching grant because such grants offer the opportunity for organizations to raise more money by "leveraging" the grant to encourage other donors to contribute. "People like matching grants because they see that their donation is actually carrying more value," said TSF Administrator Robert Carreau. "A donor’s gift of $100, in a dollar-for-dollar match, means the organization will actually receive $200."
"Most importantly," he added, "matching grants help build a constituent base so that programs are sustained. In other words, they have other funding sources to turn to after a grant is exhausted. As a funder, it’s important to The Schenectady Foundation that an organization is willing to invest the extra effort to raise their portion of the matching funds."
"It was unbelievably wonderful to be given a $30,000 grant from The Schenectady Foundation," said ESYO Executive Director Susan Broome. "But the most important part for us has been the challenge aspect. As a matching grant, it has forced us to seek new supporters for this program."
Ms. Broome explained that a subsequent fundraising effort by the Friends of City Strings, led by Joan Gould, has been successful beyond expectations. "Many of the Friends members gave us names – most of which were not in our database. We sent out a solicitation letter, and we have had a marvelous response. This would not have happened without The Schenectady Foundation and without the Friends."