Media Coverage Archives - The New York Foundling

City & State: The 2025 Women Power 100

Our CEO & President, Melanie Hartzog, was named on City & State’s Women Power 100, along with the other leaders on Zohran Mamdani’s transition team:

“Hartzog, who leads the nonprofit human services provider The New York Foundling, played key roles at City Hall as deputy mayor for health and human services and director of the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget. She overlapped with Torres-Springer under then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and also served as a deputy in the Bloomberg administration, bringing plenty of firsthand experience and insights into filling important posts.”

Read more on City & State

November 17, 2025/by Carmen Rojas

Leadership, Media Coverage

PIX 11: PIX on Politics Daily – Co-chair of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s Team on New Appointments

Melanie Hartzog, our CEO & President, recently appeared on PIX 11’s PIX on Politics Daily with Dan Mannarino to discuss and share insights regarding her new role as co-chair of the transition team for NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. She also touches on the work The Foundling is doing to support our communities.

Watch the full interview on PIX 11 or in the player below

November 11, 2025/by Elefant Design

Events, Media Coverage

City & State: Editor’s Note: Somos Day of Service Returns and is Needed ‘More Than Ever’

City & State reports on The Foundling’s service day in Puerto Rico – a volunteer event held in Cataño – near our newest Head Start & Early Head Start center – in conjunction with the annual Somos Conference:

“A tent was set up along the waterfront in the town 10 miles west of San Juan for a food and backpack giveaway hosted by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, in partnership with The New York Foundling. Members of 250 families lined up in the sun for the distribution and information on valuable social services. A discussion followed at Cataño’s town hall with a panel of social services experts calling for collaboration among nonprofits and governmental groups that help the neediest of Puerto Ricans.”

Read more at City & State

November 10, 2025/by Elefant Design

Leadership, Media Coverage

The New York Times: Mamdani Turns to Seasoned Officials for Transition Team

The New York Times reports on our CEO & President, Melanie Hartzog, being named to Mayor-Elect Mamdani’s transition team. She will utilize her expertise in city government and social services to help shape the new administration.

As they report:

“Zohran Mamdani, the mayor-elect of New York City, will turn to veterans of City Hall, nonprofit executives and a former chair of the Federal Trade Commission — all of them women — to lead his official transition effort, he said on Wednesday.

The transition will be overseen by Maria Torres-Springer, who was first deputy mayor under the current, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams; Lina Khan, a progressive former F.T.C. chair; Grace Bonilla, the head of United Way of New York City; and Melanie Hartzog, a former deputy mayor for health and human services.”

Read more at The New York Times

November 5, 2025/by Elefant Design

Events, Media Coverage

Patch: New York Foundling’s Fall Fête 2025 Raises Over $1 Million

As Patch reports, “On Wednesday, October 22 The New York Foundling celebrated the success of its 10th Annual Fall Fête, raising over $1 million, the second-highest fundraising total in the event’s history.”

Read more on Patch

October 28, 2025/by Elefant Design

Events, Media Coverage

PIX11: Follow-up Friday: Honoring heroes healing families

Monica Morales, who hosted our recent Fall Fete, gave our event a shoutout on her PIX11 show, Monica Makes it Happen.

Watch more on PIX 11

October 27, 2025/by Elefant Design

Child Welfare, Media Coverage

Associated Press: Mother of Baby abandoned at Penn Station Subway Stop Charged with Endangering Child

Liyan Bao, our Senior Vice President of Child Welfare, was quoted in an AP article on a recent abandonment incident:

Liyan Bao, senior vice president for child welfare at The New York Foundling, one of the city’s oldest child welfare agencies, said babies used to be left on the agency’s doorstep 150 years ago. But today, support is available to New York parents, such as a new short-term respite program launched this summer for parents facing a crisis.

“Services are available,” she said. “And I really would encourage for families in need to reach out.”

Read more at Associated Press

October 22, 2025/by Elefant Design

Health and Behavioral Health, Media Coverage

Wall Street Journal: How to Check What Your Teen Boy Is Doing Online

The Wall Street Journal reports on the psychological issues facing boys and young men today – and how parents can identify when their sons are struggling with loneliness, resentment, depression, and other mental health problems. The piece includes insights from Dr. Akeem Marsh, who serves as Vice President of our Vincent J. Fontana Center for Child Protection and Medical Director of our Home of Integrated Behavioral Health.

“Try to empower him so he feels he’s in control of the situation,” he says, “There are so many things in their lives kids can’t control, and speaking to their parents is one thing they can.”

September 19, 2025/by Elefant Design

Health and Behavioral Health, Media Coverage

AM New York: Legionnaires’ Outbreak in Harlem Exposes Grim Future Risks for NYC as Steep Medicaid Cuts Loom

AM New York reports on the recent Legionnaire’s Disease outbreak in Harlem, and how public health crises such as this one could be more dangerous in the future given looming Medicaid cuts.

Kristy-Lee Jean-Pierre, Senior Vice President of our Mental Health Services, discusses how these cuts can impact families throughout the city – and may even affect their access to mental health care. “While folks are waiting, a very real tragedy can happen,” she says. “Even if the cuts don’t directly affect behavioral health access, they impact a family’s willingness to engage, because now their focus has to be on getting food.”

Read more at AM New York

August 14, 2025/by Elefant Design

Health and Behavioral Health, Media Coverage

City Limits: New York Health Care Advocates Rally Against Medicaid Cuts: ‘You Will Bury Children’

Youth advocates held a rally last week to protect mental health care access for children in New York in the wake of federal Medicaid cuts, gathering at our Home of Integrated Behavioral Health in East Harlem to denounce the changes.

The New York Foundling’s Senior Vice President, Dr. Kristy-Lee Jean-Pierre, warned that these cuts will reduce access to mental health services and preventive care for millions of children in New York. This means fewer resources to serve youth, families in crisis and children with developmental needs.

“Fifty percent of our kids are dependent on Medicaid to be able to access that care. So any cuts are going to result in real effects, real tragedy and real incidents,” Jean-Pierre said.

Read more at City Limits

August 1, 2025/by Elefant Design