Regina LaGatta, executive director of External and Government Affairs, addresses questions about the Hudson Valley Community College’s Foundation has assisted students during the ongoing corona virus pandemic in an article in the October issue of RENSCONNECT, the monthly newsletter published by the Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce. LaGatta is a member of the chamber’s Board of Directors.
Ask A Board Member — HVCC Foundation
Regina Scarano-LaGatta is Executive Director for External & Government Affairs/College Foundation at Hudson Valley Community College. She works to develop corporate, community and alumni relations to raise visibility and support of student scholarships and academic programs.
Q) How has the College Foundation assisted students during the months of COVID-19?
A) We have an amazing foundation board that immediately allocated $7,500 to start a matching fund campaign to provide lap tops for eligible students so they could learn remotely. We also realized that emergency support for students needed to include food, pantry items, rent assistance and help paying
utility bills. Never has our campus community responded so quickly and so generously! In addition, we were able to meet a $50,000 SUNY Impact Foundation matching grant, raising $135,000 between April 1 and June 30. We also received 200 lap tops from SUNY, enabling us to allocate more of our funds to help students struggling financially. All of these support efforts are ongoing (we are working on another
SUNY matching grant right now) and have enhanced how the Foundation does its job in more dynamic and creative ways.
Q) What is the greatest challenge?
A) It’s finding innovative and effective ways to reach out for the assistance we need to help our students achieve their goals. Early on during COVID, we developed an electronic newsletter, HVCC Foundation is Open for Business. Every week, we highlight all the positives that we and our students are doing, including our health sciences students who completed their on-the-job coursework, graduated early and remained working in the hospitals during the pandemic. In other words, we are telling the good news of our story and we’ve learned that people want to hear it and want to support our mission. A significant portion of our emergency funding came in the form of alumni donations and many came with messages of appreciation for what we’re doing.
Q) How have the past months changed the Foundation for the future?
A) Two very positive things have happened since COVID. First, the Hudson Valley campus community is engaged in the day-to-day activities of the Foundation as never before. We know, going forward, we to have to keep doing things differently and more creatively in order to assist our students and engage our
donors. Having the full awareness and support of the campus means it is a truly collaborative effort. Second, meeting the urgent needs of our students under such difficult circumstances has clearly shown the impact of the Foundation’s mission. The tangible results of our work in the lives of each student and their families has been brought to the forefront. We’ve excelled in many ways and it’s been rewarding for our team. But more importantly, it’s changed lives and deepened our commitment.
Published: Fri, 18 Sep 2020 11:55:50 +0000 by d.gardner