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120 Years of Building Better Futures...
1888 - 2008

A group of ladies from Schenectady met one afternoon in 1888 to discuss doing "something
for the homeless children of our city." They each vowed to raise $4 per month to meet
operating costs and to help children move from "homelessness to homes."
That year, the first Children's Home was incorporated.
 

By the mid-1950s, the first Children's Home on State Street was bursting at the seams with 45 children in a house built for 24. The current Children's Home was built in 1955. A new wing was added in 1968, and in 1973, the Children's Home opened an on-grounds school.
 

 

 

 

 

 

In the 1980s and 1990s, Northeast began community-based programs to help children and families. Today, thanks to our dedicated staff, the Children's Home provides exceptional care for 68 young people ages 11 to 18 from our 30-county service area.

 

Along with therapy sessions and school, there was time to be a kid, whether cooling off in the Children's Home pool, or admiring animals at the Catskill Game Farm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

120 years later, our basic philosophy is the same,  but the needs of the community have grown and we have grown to
meet them. Northeast provides a wide spectrum of services including foster care, child guidance and therapy, parenting effectiveness education, a secondary school for 152 children in grades 6-12, independent living skills training and career development services. It is Northeast’s mission to help those in our care learn to stand on their own.

 

 

Children encountered a variety of problems: homelessness, abandonment, violence, neglect, and drug abuse.

 

 

Since the first prom in 1991, students have enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime experience thanks to supporters who donate dresses, tuxedos, limos, prizes, and their time.

 

 

 

 


 

Through the years...


1888 - A Group of women organized "The Home for Destitute Children,"
later changed to the Children's Home of Schenectady

1901 - The Women's Club of Schenectady formed a "humane society."

1914 - The Humane Society, later called the Parkhurst Parent and Child Center,
began collecting support money from employed fathers who had abandoned their families.



 

1955 - The cornerstone was laid for the new Children's Home at 122 Park Avenue.

1973 - The Children's Home boys' wing converted into an on-grounds school.



 

1983 - Northeast Parent & Child Society formed on July 1 through the consolidation of the Children's Home of Schenectady and Parkhurst Parent and Child Center.

1985 - Northeast purchased Grout Park School to house its alternative education co-ed school. Grout Park School is now The School at Northeast.




 

1986 - The Children's Home opened a dormitory for girls.

2006 - Northeast started Career Development Services and purchased the Picotte building in downtown Schenectady.



 

2009 - Our children have moved into Northeast's new Children's Home.

2011 -  The Career Center opens, expanding Career Development Services to over 250 young adults every year.