I

Grant bolsters career program
Dominic Ferraioli Foundation gives $30,000 to aid
Northeast Parent & Child Society’s EMT training

The Niskayuna Spotlight
July 23, 2009
By Jackie Sher 

On Wednesday, July 16, the Dominic Ferraioli Foundation awarded Northeast Parent & Child Society a $30,000 grant to the “We Build Futures” Capital Campaign to construct a new Career Development Center at 530 Franklin Street in downtown Schenectady. Northeast has received more than $100,000 of the $1 million the Foundation has distributed. 

The $30,000 grant will help Northeast’s Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) Training Program serve 45 young parents. Participants will receive GED and EMT training at Schenectady County Community College, earn college credit, and participate in an internship at Mohawk Ambulance Service in Schenectady. Students who pass the New York State GED and EMT exams and complete all program requirements will receive job offers from Mohawk Ambulance. New York EMTs make an average annual salary of $35,000. 

The new center will allow Northeast to increase the number of Schenectady County youth receiving career services from 100 to 250 per year. Staff will assure that at least 150 youth per year find and maintain well-paying jobs. Construction of Northeast’s Career Development Center will begin in winter 2009. By summer 2010, Career Development will offer state-of-the-art space for young people to develop the skills necessary to support themselves and their families. 

“Dominic Ferraioli believed that hard work was the key to success,” said Dominic Ferraioli Foundation Administrator Kathleen Ratajczak. 

“This philosophy seems to be at the heart of Northeast’s EMT Training Program, which is why the trustees of the Dominic Ferraioli Foundation believed that a grant to the program was the perfect fit in furthering the values and goals of Mr. Ferraioli.”