For the past 100 years, The New York Community Trust has served the diverse communities and needs of New York City, Long Island, and Westchester.
While our Long Island and Westchester offices previously had different names (the Long Island Community Foundation and Westchester Community Foundation) they have always been part of The Trust, and both regions have always been central to our mission.
Even before the establishment of the Westchester Community Foundation in 1975, and the Long Island Community Foundation in 1978, The Trust made pioneering grants in each region, supporting critical causes such as medical research on Long Island and affordable housing in Westchester.
As early as 1927, Dr. Walter B. James, a professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University, established a designated fund at The Trust to support Long Island’s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. This marked the beginning of The Trust’s long relationship with a local world-class institution.
The Laboratory has gone on to shape contemporary biomedical research and education, with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology, and quantitative biology. Its labs have been home to eight Nobel Prize winners.
Since Dr. James’ early grants, our Long Island office has continued to support innovative biomedical research along with many other causes—from education and mental health care to affordable housing and racial justice—that improve the quality of life of all Long Islanders. It also has helped some of Long Island’s historic nonprofits get their start.
In 1983, our Long Island office provided a start-up grant to the Peconic Land Trust, which has since conserved more than 6,000 acres of farmland, 3,300 acres of woodland, and 2,000 acres of wetlands and meadows. More recent grants have supported habitat restoration and helped Long Island’s farm and fishing communities remain viable.
In 1926, The Trust demonstrated its early commitment to Westchester when it formed the Westchester Advisory Committee to guide funds for charitable causes throughout the county.
The Trust supported a detailed, 18-month housing study conducted in 1956 by the Westchester Council of Social Agencies, which found there were 18,000 substandard dwellings in the county, half of Westchester families were living on less than $4,000 a year, and fewer than a thousand units of public housing had been built from 1950 to 1958.
As a result of the study, in 1958 the Westchester Citizens Housing Council was incorporated to address housing for the county’s low- and lower-middle-income residents.
Our Westchester office has carried forward its early commitment to equity and improving living conditions for local communities through its grants to build a healthier, more equitable region, supporting causes such as advocacy for affordable housing, justice reform initiatives, welcoming communities for immigrants and refugees, cleaner water, and environmental conservation.
To help mark our centennial and better reflect how we’re one organization working with a unified mission across the region, we’re now using The New York Community Trust name for all three of our offices.
We look forward to this next century of partnering with our local communities across the eight counties we serve to build a stronger region, together.
For Long Island. For Westchester. For New York. Forever.
