Amy Jones

Community Organizer for Citizen Action of New York

Amy Jones lives and breathes activism in all its forms. Serving as Community Organizer for Citizen Action! NY, she coordinates advocacy efforts around state legislation through a social justice lens. As a woman who was formerly incarcerated and has battled addiction, Amy is unwavering in her fight for freedom, equity and treating all people with dignity and respect. Amy heads up multiple committee efforts: Women of Color, criminal justice reform, and reentry to action. Amy led the organizing efforts for Albany’s first-ever BlackOut Festival, commemorating the significance of Black August.

Betsy Sandberg

Community Volunteer

Since 2013 Betsy has become a full-time volunteer to bring free community art projects to folks of all ages and incomes. Most of this work comes through her role as chair of the Kids Arts Festival planning committee. For 25 years, Kids Arts Festival was a free, one-day festival in downtown Schenectady to provide high-quality artist interactions with children. The festival has grown to more than 30 agencies and 15 artists, providing more than 50 activities and performances.

Brenda Baddam

Lawyer, Barclay Damon

Brenda has been integrally involved in changing the landscape in minority communities in the Capital Region. As a former prosecutor for Albany County, she pushed to pass legislation mandating that Interactions with non-English speakers be translated in their native language. Brenda has also supported and hosted events to educate the public on movement lawyering and how to defend activist during protests.

Christine Rickeman

Helpline Coordinator at the National Alliance on Mental Illness New York State

Christine has saved countless people's lives, provided help and hope to families and loved ones struggling with mental health and addiction issues as not only a community member but as the Helpline Coordinator at the National Alliance on Mental Illness New York State. Christine also depends on CDTA to go to and from work and has even helped many commuters during her travels on the bus by providing an empathetic listening ear and provides them with resources and support.

David Traynham

Pastor

Pastor Dave founded the ALERT which he brings on every level law enforcement agency together with our Black and Brown communities allowing an open line of communication and a platform for community members to address their concerns and needs with law enforcement agencies. He serves on the board of Albany Land Bank assisting people in deprived communities with homeownership in their community. Pastor Dave have saved many children’s and adults during his tenure at Parson Family Center.

Dominick Purnomo

Feed Albany/DP Owner

Dominick Spearheaded Feed Albany during the Pandemic as President and a Founding Board Member. Dominick and his fellow founders have been working tirelessly to produce, package and distribute food and groceries with the help of a dedicated team of volunteers.

Elaine Houston

WNYT Anchor

Elaine reports on stories about women, especially the recent Zoom she did with Black mothers of sons on their reactions to the George Floyd murder. She also empowers women through her “SheSpeaks2Me” symposiums and Zoom sessions.

Erasto Nova

Community Volunteer

Mr. Nova has been delivering food to families since COVID-19 hit. It doesn't matter if its day or night, if Mr. Nova sees a need he responds to it. If he is contacted and told there is donated food, he picks it up, filling his car to the top, and then delivers it around the city until all of the food is distributed to families. Mr. Nova works for the City School District, but during COVID-19 took his job to another level by checking in on the families he works with and making sure they have food and other needs.

Erica Warner

United Way Community Impact Manager

Erica Warner has been CDTA's campaign coordinator for 3 years. Every year she motivates CDTA employees, and keeps everyone excited about what United Way does and why it is important. This year she even came to all the CDTA divisions at 4AM to talk to our employees at a time most convenient to the operators. Her pride and passion for United Way and her community is inspiring.

Jesse Saperstein

Community Advocate

He not only helps to keep our shelters clean, he also looks after Market 32 at the Hamilton Square Plaza and the grounds of Albany Medical Center. His efforts are meant to beautify our city while letting society know that he is serious devoting his life toward the collection of Convalescent Plasma to get patients off the ventilators who are suffering from COVID-19. Jesse has Asperger's, a condition on the Autism spectrum. He is a best-selling author, autism advocate and motivational speaker. He is considered one of the most respected leaders in the Anti-Bullying movement of his generation.

John Harden

The Writing Partnership

John is the founder of the Albany non-profit org The Writing Partnership and also a teacher at Bishop Maginn High School. As a volunteer with the organization. He helps refugees and disadvantaged students develop precision in writing, access technology, financial assistance and makes sure that they are getting full access to educational opportunities. He has helped refugee students that use English as a secondary language graduate from high school, receive full scholarships to college, and even get into an Ivy League graduate program.

John Scott

Founder of 4th Family

4th Family leverages a love of sports to help at-risk youth. It designs and delivers empowerment: positive, authentically science-based programs in the Capital Region. This includes work with STEM programs, that connect the science to sports. John works for the Albany School District and is always there for his students.

Judy Becker

Bread of Life Pood Pantry

As if Judy Becker hadn't already accomplished enough in the first 73 years of her life as a wife, mother of three, nursery school teacher, employee of the Golub Corporation, and truly engaged volunteer at Messiah Lutheran Church, she saw a need in the town of Rotterdam. As the poverty line started to creep up, shoving an increased number of Rotterdam and Bellevue residents below it, food insecurity was becoming a real issue. Discussions with a new and energized Pastor led Judy to the realization that something needed to be done for an area that lacked a regular option for a food pantry. So at 73 years old, she started one. That is how the Bread of Life Food Pantry. Judy worked with Schenectady-based food providers to understand the process for opening a food pantry, and eventually developed partnerships with the Regional Food Bank, Concerned for the Hungry, Food Pantries for the Capital Region, the Schenectady Foundation, Stewart's Shops and Price Chopper. Judy speaks on the phone or in-person with every client to understand their needs. She works with the Food Bank to provide extras for clients (fresh produce, meat) and continues to look for ways to expand. Helping people has always been Judy's passion, and the Pantry is the way she meets that need now.

Karen Carpenter Palumbo

CEO of Vanderheyden and Social Worker

She is committed to maintaining safety while providing continued services to the youth, adults and families that are served 24/7 365 days a year at Vanderheyden. Every day she updates, encourages and recognizes the more than 350 employees that she calls SUPERHEROES to the essential business. In addition to being the leader, she is seen driving at all hours from the campus to all the various group homes to bring them cheer and reinforce we are VanderheydenStrong at this uncertain time. She is one that leads but is seen on the frontlines whether it is after dinner or a weekend. We had students graduating from high school in June. Karen made it her mission to find a way to make memories for those graduates and to make them feel honored and proud within the recommended guidelines.

Kathleen Howard

Volunteer

Through the American Legion in Ballston Spa she works countless hours advocating for US veterans, volunteering her time to help raise money for veterans affairs, and is an active member of the American Legion Ladies’ Auxiliary. She is always working to improve the lives others and ensures everyone is cared for before she worries about herself.

Kelly Webster

Principal of Watervliet Elementary School

Mrs. Kelly Webster epitomizes compassion and dedication to the children and families of the Watervliet City School District. Throughout this pandemic, she has gone out of her way to meet the physical and emotional needs of our students and families. To stay connected with students, families, and teachers, Mrs. Webster created a Facebook page called Mrs. Webster's Way. Every day, without fail, she appeared live, with her daughter Madigan, and son, Daniel, to engage our students in a variety of activities. These activities included daily read alouds, dance parties (complete with unicorn and dinosaur costumes), science and baking lessons, a virtual field day, and so many more activities too numerous to mention. More importantly, however, Mrs. Webster began each session with an honest conversation with our students about how things were going. She let them know it was okay to not be okay, that it was perfectly normal to feel worried or anxious, and that we were all in this together. She let students and families into her home (virtually) and gave them a sense of normalcy in some very uncertain times. For so many of our students, her daily virtual sessions were a bright spot in their day.

Liz Hitt

Executive Director at Homeless and Travelers Aid Society

Liz is a community champion for the Homeless community and works tirelessly to ensure every individual has access to safe housing and services.

Lori Tambasco

Adminstrator of the Glendale Nursing Home

As a nursing home administrator, Lori is responsible for the care and comfort of residents living there, usually elderly individuals at the end stages of their lives. She oversees medical, nursing, dietary, activities and maintenance Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she has lead the staff in response efforts and has made the residents as comfortable as possible while the facility remains in lockdown (no visitors allowed). She is one of the only facilities in the Capital Region, and the only one in Schenectady County to have zero positive cases within the resident population.

Mary Beth Fowler

The Red Bookshelf

Mary Beth provides books to children in the Albany area by placing them on bookshelves in health clinics, schools, family court, and many places where children can find them. They have been giving away free books to kids for over 10 years. They also have mobile bookshelves they take to community events such as MLK day, National Night Out, and many other celebrations in the area.

Natasha Pernicka

Executive Director, Food Pantries of the Capital District

For nearly two decades, Natasha has been quiet force driving our region forward on issues around homelessness and food insecurity. Under her leadership, the Food Pantries of the Capital District has nearly doubled revenue and in-kind support in just 6 years, and increased food funding to assist local pantries so that no one is turned away due to lack of food. Additionally, Natasha has been very involved in the Capital Region community - as a member of the Junior League of Albany, on the board of Cares, Inc, and as a teacher and mentor at Rockefeller College.

Scott Jarzombek

Albany Public Library Executive Director

Scott runs the Albany Public Library and is dedicated to his job and the community. He has also been a key part of the CDTA annual Fall Festival…providing Storytime on a bus and bringing Bleeker the Mascot to entertain the more than 500 kids we host on property.

Sirena Cordova

Department of Social Services

Sirena is a relentless essential worker at 3 jobs that all deal with dual diagnosed homeless populations throughout the Capital district. Sirena is a warm, kind hearted person who is an advocate for the homeless as well as the domestic violence survivors in the Capital District. She has worked for the Department of Social Services since 2008 and is a supervisor for the SNAP Program. In her off time, she helps her community find access to essential resources.

Teens Helping Seniors - Albany Chapter

Teens helping seniors is a national organization that has a local chapter that is helping seniors navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. High school students from all around the area have been going out to grocery stores and pharmacies and delivering items to seniors. It is all volunteer, with more than 60 students participating. Across the country there have been more than 1650 deliveries, 650 volunteers, 27 chapters in 16 states/province.

Tracy DuShane

Military Family Foundation

Tracy started the Military Family Foundation in Albany County in 2013 to help Military Service Members and their families. The mission of the Military Family Foundation is to help military service members, past and present, and their families with obtaining emergency assistance and social/emotional support through local service agencies and other nationally recognized organizations.

Vicki Hillis

Director of Human Services for the Town of Glenville

Assistance Program. She organized volunteers, drivers, shoppers and donations to deliver groceries to over 350 seniors who were unable to grocery shop.

William Rivas

Youth Mentor in the City of Schenectady

William Rivas has made it his life’s work to bring positive change to his community. He serves as a mentor to the youth in the City of Schenectady. He started the “Random Santa Drop Off” program giving away gifts and Christmas trees during the holiday season. Will has taken youth on “Boys Day Out” to professional sporting events and sponsored the annual weekend backpack giveaway and basketball tournament in Schenectady. Now, he has accepted another challenge running the COCOA house providing after school support and a safe place for youth. He has also been providing free pizza lunches and coronavirus supplies to the community. He assists young adults open their own businesses including artists, poets, clothing designers, and others. He runs “5-1-8 talks” a local Ted talk style to inspire small business people to hone their craft. He's been instrumental in helping keep the black lives mattered focused on racial reconciliation in Schenectady.