Nonprofits get support

The nonprofit sector has for years relied on government support to provide social services that otherwise would not be funded. In 2010, the Urban Institute, founded by President Lyndon Johnson as an independent social and economic policy group supporting the War on Poverty, reported that $1 out of every $3 given to public charities came from government sources. In other words, about one-third of crucial social services wouldn’t be available to local communities without government support.

In Dutchess County, the Agency Partner Grant Program, entering its 12th year, has been a source of funding for nonprofit organizations across the county. On the front page this week, we report on biennial grants totaling almost $2 million awarded in the last week of 2023 to 32 nonprofits in our community.

The competitive grants are awarded based on an organization’s ability to demonstrate its vital community role. In announcing the latest round of grants, outgoing Dutchess County Executive William F.X. O’Neil said: “Our Agency Partner Grant Program continues to serve as an important collaboration between local nonprofit organizations and Dutchess County Government to address critical needs in our communities. We thank the Dutchess County Legislature for its ongoing support of the APG program and the agencies that strive every day to improve the lives of our residents.”

The Urban Institute has pointed out — in its study of the mutual dependency of governments and nonprofits — that while nonprofits are dependent upon the public sector, so, too, is government dependent on the nonprofit sector.

Nonprofits deliver vital social services, strengthen communities, and promote civic engagement.

In Dutchess County, the 32 nonprofits receiving grants provide a broad range of services. Some are familiar: assisting students with special needs; offering afterschool programs that nurture academic, social and behavioral development; providing English as a New Language (ENL) courses for elementary school students; promoting literacy, job skills training and 4-H youth development.

This grant funding also aims to address a much broader range of community needs: homelessness prevention; senior nonemergency medical transportation; initiatives to reduce criminal recidivism; programs for enhancing parenting skills, helping grandparents and other relatives caring for children; LGBTQ+ teen support; food, nutrition and health programs.

The list of recipients across Dutchess County, which includes our North East Community Center and a number of organizations based in Red Hook, Rhinebeck and Poughkeepsie, represents an impressive array of nonprofits helping to fulfill the diverse needs of our community. (For the full list, click here.)

Latest News

Packed house hears Hitchcock estate golf course pre-application

Dozens of people crowded into the courthouse at the Washington Town Hall on Reservoir Drive in Millbrook on Tuesday, Oct. 7, to watch a pre-application meeting between Planning Board members and representatives of Centaur Properties LLC. David Blatt and Henry Hay of Centaur Properties LLC described their plan to build an 18-hole golf course with limited membership and residences on the historic 2,000-acre Hitchcock estate.

Photo by Nathan Miller
"This is nothing like Silo Ridge," said Centaur Properties co-founder Henry Hay. "This is Buckingham Palace to a craphouse. It's completely different. It's much higher quality."

MILLBROOK — Dozens of residents of the Town of Washington packed into the courtroom in Town Hall on Reservoir Drive for a standing-room-only regular meeting of the Planning Board on Tuesday, Oct. 7.

Well over three-quarters of the crowd were there to listen in to a pre-application meeting between Planning Board members and representatives of Centaur Properties LLC, a New York City-based development company that’s proposing an 18-hole golf course, equestrian facilities and luxury residential development on the 2,000-acre Hitchcock estate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Stanford home market sees nine sales in July and August

Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.

Christine Bates

STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.

At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.

Keep ReadingShow less
Dutchess County Sheriff’s Report
Village of Millerton offices on Route 22
John Coston

Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Harlem Valley area activity reportSept. 18 to Sept. 30.

Sept. 23 — Deputies responded to 1542 State Route 292 in the Town of Pawling for the report of a suspicious vehicle at that location. Investigation resulted in the arrest of Sebastian Quiroga, age 26, for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree. Quiroga to appear in the Town of Pawling court at a later date.

Keep ReadingShow less
Out on the trail
Nathan Miller

Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.