MILLERTON — The North East Community Center (NECC) fulfilled its long-awaited dream and opened its Early Learning Program at the former Astor Head Start at 11 Park St. in Millerton on Thursday, June 23, at 3:30 p.m. Supporters of the nonprofit community center attended the ribbon cutting, some of them hoping to enroll their children in the pre-school program once it opens.
Years before joining NECC as executive director, Christine Sergent said her predecessor, Jenny Hansell, came up with the idea for an early childcare program with the NECC Board. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sergent said the need for childcare reached a critical point in the area. Then came the closure of the Astor Head Start program in the last year or so, adding further pressure.
The new program will provide childcare for those between 18 months and 4 years old.
Assemblymember Didi Barrett (D-104) helped NECC acquire much-needed grants; it also received funding from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and the Foundation for Community Health.
NECC had focus and community groups convene throughout the 2021 to discuss plans for the preschool and day care. By December, Sergent and her team created a comprehensive implementation plan to present to the NECC Board, which unanimously voted to go forward with the program.
The ribbon-cutting drew a small, but cheerful crowd of community members, NECC staff, local and state representatives and longtime NECC supporters. Passing underneath the golden ribbon tied tautly across the building’s entrance, Sergent said, “We are incredibly proud to be able to come to this moment while this site is opening to us in Millerton.”
She also reminded those present that their dream came on the heels of Millerton losing the Astor program. She thanked Astor Director Athena Galarza for her years of work.
Given that Millerton has a reputation as a “desert” when it comes to five critical issues — affordable housing, public transportation, mental health services, food and childcare — Sergent said, “Many of the people here are all partners as we all work together on those five issues to try to bring change for Millerton and the North East region.”
NECC Co-Founder Wendy Curtis offered words of encouragement and said the bedrock remains.
“Citizens want the community to be as vigorous and healthy as possible and we will do what it takes to make it possible,” she said.
NECC Board member and Treasurer Diane Zimmerman remarked she’s never seen so much energy, hard work or frustration go into a project. She added it reached a point where the program evolved from Hansell’s dream to the NECC’s dream.
Remembering her mother Mariley Najdek’s advocacy for local children, and as the person who began and served as the longtime director for the Astor Head Start program in Millerton, Mayor Jenn Najdek also spoke at the ribbon cutting.
“I know she’s looking down smiling, knowing the children are receiving the support they need,” she said with pride.
Acknowledging the hardship of closing the Astor site, Galarza said the partnership between Astor and NECC was the best solution as it assured local families they would be taken care of. She thanked NECC for stepping up to the plate.
In addition to announcing 32 open slots with the preschool, Sergent announced the entire building at 11 Park St. will be rented out.
Thirty-five NECC staff members and counting have been relocated from the South Center Street building to Park Street. Meanwhile, Astor will rent a portion of the first floor from NECC for its services and an outpatient mental health clinic.
Early Learning Program Direct Raina Cashdollar cut the ribbon and marked the program’s official opening, while guests toured the new facilities.
Applications are being accepted for NECC’s Early Learning Program throughout July. For more information, contact Cashdollar at 518-789-4259, ext. 110 or at raina@neccmillerton.org.
NORTH EAST — Habitat for Humanity of Dutchess County will conduct a presentation on Thursday, May 9 on buying a three-bedroom affordable home to be built in the Town of North East.
The presentation will be held at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex at 5:30 p.m.
Any first-time home buyer interested should attend the information session.
The application for this pilot program home-buying opportunity must be made between May 1 and June 10.Minimum household income for the pilot program is $55,000 while maximum income is determined by family size.
Applications are available at the North East Town Hall.Habitat for Humanity describes itself as a nonprofit with global reach, working across the United States and in approximately 70 countries.
‘Migration Collage' by ransome
If you claim a single sobriquet as your artistic moniker, you’re already in a club with some big names, from Zendaya to Beyoncé to the mysterious Banksy. At Geary, the contemporary art gallery in Millerton founded by New Yorkers Jack Geary and Dolly Bross Geary, a new installation and painting exhibition titled “The Bitter and the Sweet” showcases the work of the artist known only as ransome — all lowercase, like the nom de plume of the late Black American social critic bell hooks.
Currently based in Rhinebeck, N.Y., ransome’s work looks farther South and farther back — to The Great Migration, when Jim Crow laws, racial segregation, and the public violence of lynching paved the way for over six million Black Americans to seek haven in northern cities, particularly New York urban areas, like Brooklyn and Baltimore. The Great Migration took place from the turn of the 20th century up through the 1970s, and ransome’s own life is a reflection of the final wave — born in North Carolina, he found a new home in his youth in New Jersey.
‘Square Quilting painting' by ransomeAlexander Wilburn
Map fragments of North Carolina feature heavily in a large collection of eight-by-eight collage and acrylic paintings, sold individually but together mounted on Geary’s wall resembling the stitched patterns on quilts, like the quilts by the late Black American artist Arlonzia Pettway. Along with artists like Annie Mae Young and Mary Lee Bendolph, Pettway was a renowned artist associated with the quilts of Gee’s Bend, generations of women in the town of Gee’s Bend, Alabama who preserved African American culture in beautiful and vibrant textile art with bold combinations of stripes, textures and colors. The influence is also wonderfully clear in ransome large-scale collages and acrylic paintings like “Square Quilt painting” on display at Geary. It’s a powerful symbol of Gee’s Bend’s legacy continuing on, even under a new artistic medium.
In the smaller works, called “Migration Collages,” painted portraits are combined with pieces of floral and pastel paper, evocative of the tradition of “Sunday Best” splendor worn in Black churches in the South. “The women elders at my Baptist church often greeted each other that way on Sunday mornings when one hat was more elaborate, colorful, or wider brimmed than another,” New York Times veteran Lena Williams wrote in her 1996 essay, “In Defense of the Church Hat.” “It was traditional to put on one’s newest finery for church, and in many historically black churches, the wearing of fancy hats by women carried both spiritual and cultural significance.”
“The Bitter and the Sweet” is on view at Geary through Sunday, June 2.
Hospitality, ease of living and just plain fun are rolled into one for those who are intrigued by the leisure-time Caravana experience at the family-owned Four Brothers Drive-in in Amenia. Tom Stefanopoulos, pictured above, highlights fun possibilities offered by Hotel Caravana.
The month-long process of unwrapping and preparing the various features at the Four Brothers Drive-In is nearing completion, and the imaginative recreational destination will be ready to open for the season on Friday, May 10.
The drive-in theater is already open, as is the Snack Shack, and the rest of the recreational features are activating one by one, soon to be offering maximum fun for the whole family.
Tom Stefanopoulos, the second generation helping to guide the Stefanopoulos family’s recreational complex, brings a deep understanding of hospitality and business sense in support of the multi-faceted enterprise, begun in the 1970s, that is now a mainstay of the town of Amenia, located on a corner in the heart of the commercial district. He paused for an interview on Friday, April 26.
Two luxury camping trailers, each with an attached wooden deck and fire pit, make up Hotel Caravana, and each offers a different fun vibe, Stefanopoulos explained. The larger of the two, offers a California lifestyle, retro to 1967, although its modern where it should be. It can sleep four.
The smaller Caravana sleeps two and offers a lifestyle of the future dating to about 2041. It’s a brand-new Airstream, Stefanopoulos noted. It also has an attached deck with firepit.
“We get a lot of New York City people,” Stefanopoulos said when asked what sorts of people are apt to be attracted to Hotel Caravana. “They want to experience the upstate life,” he added. The idea of sitting out on the deck while watching an actual drive-in movie appeals to them, as does room service offered by the restaurant.
The lobster rolls prepared by the Snack Shack, are served on brioche hot dog rolls, either Maine-style or Connecticut-style, and the lobster can be topped with caviar. Four Brothers version is praised by customers for the generous portion of lobster in each, and the price is competitive.
Caravana guests may book for a single night, or maybe two, or even longer, taking advantage of the bicycles to pedal along the nearby rail trail, a local amenity, Stefanopoulos noted.
“We make our guests feel like movie stars,” Stefanopoulos said of the hospitality. And, if they like miniature golf, it is just a few steps away from their Caravana deck.
Asked how and why the Caravana idea began, Stefanopoulos recalled that as the drive-in theater grew in popularity, people were traveling from greater distances away. The last film of the night might start at midnight, he said, so the idea grew that Four Brothers might be able to offer an accommodation to stay the night.
In addition to Caravana, Four Brothers offers an alternative of two or three tent camping sites.
Future plans may include a third Caravana, Stefanopoulos said. Also, there is a giant mastodon skeleton, presently in storage, that should be on display, he said.
“It’s pretty big,” Stefanopoulos added.
The playground might be enlarged in the coming seasons, and perhaps an old-fashioned arcade added for retro amusement.
The community that surrounds Four Brothers remains important to the Stefanopoulos family as they offer substantial summer employment opportunity. Stefanopoulos said that a goal is to contract locally for business needs, such as musical entertainment and advertising. The drive-in also schedules occasion fundraisers to benefit local organizations, including the Amenia Fire Company and area schools.
