Our CEO & President Melanie Hartzog appeared on the Capitol Pressroom – a radio show airing on WCNY – to discuss our programming designed to help prevent child abuse and support survivors.
Listen to the full interview below, or learn more at the Capitol Pressroom.
The Staten Island Advance reported on a recent event – hosted by our Strong Families & Communities Training Center – at our Staten Island office. This event brought together community partners to teach child CPR, disaster preparedness and child development to families in the area.
Read more at Staten Island Advance
“A new study shows that home health care workers and others who work in the human service fields are among some of the poorest state workers. It’s an issue that is statewide,” writes Spectrum News. “A CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance report highlights how 18% of social service workers in Orange, Rockland and Westchester area live in poverty.”
Their news report features Brian Bulluck, one of our Residence Managers in Rockland County, as well as Jennifer March, our Chief Advancement Officer, to speak about the impact of this issue and our BUMP Campaign.
ELECTED OFFICIALS AND SPECIAL GUESTS ATTEND OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NEW YORK FOUNDLING COMMUNITY CENTER IN CATAÑO, PUERTO RICO SERVING NEARLY 150 CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES
Honorable guests included Puerto Rico Secretary of State Rosachely Rivera Santana, Senator Ada Alvarez Conde, Mayor Julio Alicea Vassallo
Cataño, Puerto Rico – The New York Foundling, which supports approximately 1,400 young children and their families in Puerto Rico each year, celebrated the grand-opening of their brand-new early childhood center Mundo De Colores in Cataño with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
The new space was designed by The Foundling to protect neighbors during emergencies, including an extensive raising of the ground floor above the flood level of the area, back-up power generators and a water cistern that would provide water during an emergency. The facility will provide families with access to essential needs, including a state of the art kitchen and food storage, nursing and infirmary rooms, as well as 10 classrooms for Early Head Start and Head Start programs and outdoor playgrounds.
The opening ceremony was headlined by The Foundling’s leadership, Puerto Rico Secretary of State Rosachely Rivera Santana, Senator Ada Alvarez Conde, and Cataño Mayor Julio Alicea Vassallo.
The event marked the official opening of The Foundling’s newest Early Head Start and Head Start Center and community response facilities. Mundo De Colores will support 149 children and families in the community.
“The New York Foundling is steadfast in our commitment to providing exceptional early childhood education and responding to the changing needs of the communities we serve in Puerto Rico,” said Melanie Hartzog, President and CEO of The New York Foundling. “The opening of our newest Head Start and Early Head Start megacenter is a testament to that dedication, expanding access to comprehensive programming and child development services for children and families. As extreme weather events become more frequent, the Center will also stand as a critical emergency resource for the surrounding community.”
The center in Cataño is one of three major construction projects across Puerto Rico that The Foundling has developed, including:
- Cardinal John O’Connor Early Head Start and Head Start Center, San Juan, completed renovations in Fall 2024 and serves 141 children and their families. The center features a newly built storm shelter for The Foundling families and the larger community to support their needs during the time of a hurricane or other emergencies.
- Las Flores Early Head Start and Head Start Center in Coamo opened in Fall 2025, and serves more than 100 children each school year, consolidating some of The Foundling’s Head-Start and Early Head Start programs from across the municipality in a new resilient building.
The Founding’s Head Start and Early Head Start programs serve more than1,400 families in 29 centers across five municipalities of Puerto Rico: San Juan, Cataño, Vega Alta, Coamo, and Toa Baja. These programs provide early education services and child development support for newborns up to age 5 and offer holistic services to parents including health, nutrition, mental health, and parenting support.
Established in 1869, The Foundling has provided opportunities to build futures for hundreds of thousands of their neighbors on their own paths to stability, strength, and independence in New York and Puerto Rico. With an internationally recognized and interrelated set of research-backed services, The Foundling works in partnership with children, adults, and families who are creating transformational change in their own lives.
The Foundling has worked with children and families in Puerto Rico since 1973, when the organization sought opportunities to continue serving families who were returning to the island from New York City. Our Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Puerto Rico arose out of these family services in 1984 and are deeply embedded in the communities served.
For more information about The New York Foundling, please visit www.nyfoundling.org.
Our CEO & President, Melanie Hartzog, appeared on Monsignor Kevin Sullivan’s radio show, JustLove, where she discussed her distinguished career shaping New York City’s social service landscape— including exciting Foundling initiatives such as our investment in Puerto Rico and our BUMP campaign to bring up minimum pay for human service workers.
Listen on JustLove (Mel’s segment starts at 34:20.)
Dr. Akeem Marsh, Medical Director of our Home for Integrated Behavioral Health and Vice President of the Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection, spoke to NBC News Daily on its Daily Heath segment to discuss how families can make the most of winter break.
Watch it below:
While the holidays are a joyous time for many, this season can be difficult for many of the young people in our community – particularly for those who are struggling with their mental health. Whether it’s a child in foster care overcoming past trauma and instability, young adults striving toward independence without a traditional support system, or families struggling to maintain cohesion, it can be difficult for our neighbors to know where to turn.
A recent report shows that 4 in 5 New York City children who need behavioral health services are not receiving adequate support. The Foundling’s programs seek to change this reality. Our services combine effective, evidence-based therapeutic models with a focus on community engagement and holistic integration – ultimately expanding access to care and meeting each person where they’re at.
For young people in our foster care programs, mental health support is embedded into each of our services. Evidence-based training is provided to our foster parents, children get regular mental health screenings, and many of the supports available to children and adolescents in care – from our Road to Success tutoring to our Supportive Housing program – are trauma-informed and provide connections to behavioral health care as needed.
Programs like our School Based Mental Health Services, which embeds Foundling therapists in schools across New York City, work to create a culture where help is available for those who need it. In the last academic year, this programming has reached over 7,000 students, families, and school staff, and has been shown to drastically reduce the number of mental health crises at the schools we serve.
At our Home of Integrated Behavioral Health, our behavioral health center in East Harlem, Foundling staff provide accessible pediatric care and work with our neighbors to create an atmosphere of support. “All of our services are provided to families free of charge,” says Shelly Burke, who oversees the center. “[This] allows us to work with families all over the community and provide really holistic and trauma informed services that they might not usually have access to.”
The center hosts a variety of free events throughout the year, typically leveraging community partnerships and providing giveaways and resources tied with occasions such as Mental Health Awareness Month, back-to-school season, and the holidays.
“These events really give us the chance to talk to community members and hear about their needs, and also introduce ourselves and what we do in a way that is less stigmatizing,” says Shelly. “And we’re able to talk about mental health in a way that’s really welcoming.”
Through these programs, we’re investing in the next generation and ensuring they have effective support at every stage of their mental health journey. Given the immense need, we’re poised to expand our footprint – we’re bringing community-based mental health services to Brooklyn, bolstering our school-based programming, and continually finessing our community-based approach to reach more children, adults, and families.
However, we can only do this with the help of our supporters. This holiday season, give to The Foundling and help us continue providing high-quality mental health services for the children and families in our community.
We are excited to announce our 2024-2025 Impact Report, Doors of Opportunity.
This report highlights our achievements over 2024 and 2025, including participant stories that emphasize the interconnectedness of our programs and the many ways that our neighbors receive personalized, comprehensive, and life-changing support.
Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we open the doors of opportunity to over 30,000 children, adults, and families each year – learn more about the impact we’ve made together.
Click here to read Doors of Opportunity, our 2024-2025 Impact Report (.pdf)
Nutritious foods and healthy habits are essential to good health, and our Nutrition Services team is committed to providing the support, guidance, and access for our community to live their healthiest lives.
Participants in our Developmental Disabilities programs learn vital cooking skills
While the team initially was developed to guide nutrition planning in our Developmental Disabilities residences and day programs, it recently expanded to serve the young people in our Foster Care and Mother Child programs.
Healthy eating and dietary management can be hindered by existing barriers to independence, so our dietitians do essential work to prepare the people we work with to manage their health independently.
Foods are often themed for added fun – such as these Halloween mini-pizzas for the children and adolescents in our Mother Child program!
“We started as a team of one over a decade ago – we’re now a team of five people. With that expanded team we can provide so many other supportive services other than just clinical nutrition and counseling,” shared Madeline Rizzuti, a director in the program. “It’s really a wonderful opportunity to meet somebody where they’re at and address multiple needs at once.”
“I know how to reach people with nutrition,” said Carlye Husserl, Assistance Vice President of Clinical Nutrition and Wellness. “I have a big passion for it – all the people I work with have a big passion for it.”
Our licensed dietitians provide dietary guidance, share recipes, and host hands-on cooking sessions to introduce our participants to new nutrition ideas. The children and adults in our programs enjoy these demonstrations, which cover an array of topics – teaching healthier ways to prepare favorite snacks and sweets, batch cooking for efficient meal prep, simple and quick cooking techniques, and more.
Members of our Nutrition Team provide healthy eating demonstrations throughout our community
It’s because of supporters like you that we can provide and expand health and wellness across New York City. Nutrition is a key aspect of long-term stability – and you can help us continue building this foundation for the young people in our community.