NY Foundling Gala TableOn Wednesday, October 2, The New York Foundling celebrated our milestone 150th anniversary with a show-stopping gala at The Plaza. Over 500 trustees, supporters, corporate partners, staff, and other friends of The Foundling joined us to reflect on our organization’s past, present, and future. The event raised over $1.1 million for The Foundling’s life-changing programs!

As our photo gallery shows, it was a special evening.

Hosted by NY1 anchor Pat Kiernan, the event commemorated The Foundling’s 150-year presence and lasting impact on the New York community.

Gregory Braca

TV personality Seth Meyers provided a virtual welcome, and our President & CEO Bill Baccaglini spoke about our history and current initiatives. An array of speakers, including Sr. Donna Dodge of the Sisters of Charity, Foundling Trustees Bob King and Nadia Owens, and Dorm Project participant Marangely, provided insight and context on The Foundling’s incredible legacy and impact. We honored Gregory B. Braca, President & CEO of TD Bank – a valuable partner with deep personal connections to The Foundling.

Two commemorative videos – covering our history and current impact – showed The Foundling’s long legacy of trusting in the power and potential of people.

The evening was capped off with a lively program auction, led by Ruth Maudlin, which allowed the crowd to support vital Foundling programs, and an online auction – featuring exclusive items and experiences – was introduced.

The Foundling owes its success over the past 150 years to our supporters and community – thank you for being part of our legacy.


While our 150th Anniversary Gala might be over, the fun continues! Here are some ways to celebrate with us:

View more photos from the Gala

Follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram

Watch our new videos: The History of the New York Foundling & Program Overview

Explore Volunteer Opportunities

Note: As of 2020, The Crisis Nursery is no longer operated by The Foundling.

Affordable childcare is at once one of the most tantalizing promises of contemporary American life, and the most broken. Our modern economy cannot function without a system for the nurturing of our youngest citizens—as of 2017 there were nearly 15 million children under 6 in this country with all available parents in the workforce. But for everyone except the very wealthy, childcare is ruinously expensive.

Read more, including a mention of our Crisis Nursery, at TIME.

Christina Young is one of a fraction of foster youth that make it all the way through to college graduation with a bachelor’s degree. Only 50% of foster youth graduate high school by the time they turn 18. Those that do graduate often do not fare well in college. Only 20% go on to post-secondary education. The numbers vary, but experts say that 1 to 11% finish their degree.

As a foster youth over 21, Young had been part of a pilot program called the Dorm Project. It offered a solution to one of the biggest problems facing foster youth: stable housing. It allowed Young and a few dozen other students to live in their dorm rooms all year. When other students went home for break or holidays, Young could stay in her room without having to navigate the complicated foster care system and worry about finding a new temporary home to live in until the semester went back into session.

Read and watch more at Youth Today.

On Wednesday, The New York Foundling — one of the city’s oldest and largest social service providers — held its 150th Anniversary Gala, a sold-out affair attended by over 500 guests.

Read more at Medium

The Social Impact AI Lab – a partnership between MercyFirst, The New York Foundling, SCO Family of Services, and Augmented Intelligence – created a tool that consolidates information from social work case notes into a clear summary and even graphs risk levels for clients.  The project won first place in a national competition for digital health solutions at the Health 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara, California.

Read more at NYN Media.

“The Foundling — one of New York City’s largest and oldest child welfare and social services organizations — is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. It all began with one baby.”

Watch the news report and read more at Net TV.

“A major milestone for one of our city’s oldest and most important institutions. Find out how the New York Foundling is still helping children 150 years after it was founded.”

Watch the video, which includes an interview with our President & CEO Bill Baccaglini, at Metrofocus here.

“Of the more than 25,000 children in foster care in New York state, some 3,500 are waiting to be adopted. But legislation that passed the state Assembly and Senate in June could make it much harder for these children to find permanent homes.

Introduced by Bronx Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner, the Preserving Family Bonds Act would let birthparents whose rights have been terminated by the court apply to visit their children. They would be entitled to a hearing to argue that their continuing contact is in the child’s best interest…”

Read more, including insight from our President & CEO Bill Baccaglini, at The Wall Street Journal here.

“The Foundling — one of New York City’s largest and oldest child welfare and social services organizations — is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

It all began with one baby…”

Read more at The Tablet here.

Marina was thrilled to learn she was pregnant for the second time. But when she discovered she was expecting twins, the excitement quickly shifted to anxiety. It had been nearly 13 years since she had her first child, and she worried that having twins would be a completely different experience. With guidance from The Foundling’s Healthy Families Program, Marina refreshed her parenting skills and learned about community resources available to her and the new babies, Amaya and Ayden. From the hospital room to today, The Foundling’s family support specialists have been there every step of the parenting journey. “The program has given me confidence in being a mom,” she says.

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