More than two dozen nonprofits gathered at Troy city hall Thursday to highlight and share their mission.
The group of local and regional nonprofits met to discuss how they can partner with each other to better serve residents.
Lansingburgh Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Jimmy Bulmer is a former “club kid.”
He says being able to connect current “club kids” to resources once they’ve outgrown the organization’s services is crucial.
“We give them a place. We say ‘no matter what, no matter how old you become, you're always gonna have a place at the club.’ And then we bring them in and show them and tell them about some of the things that I'm trying to set up for the future. But other than that, we work with the people in this room,” Bulmer said.
Bulmer, who was tapped by the club’s board of directors as the next leader last year, says if he can’t connect kids with proper resources, he knows another organization can.
The leaders were brought together by Mayor Carmella Mantello at a time when a recent report by the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy found that 41 percent of Troy’s children live in poverty. And in 2024, a report by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found nearly half of the children living in poverty were classified as living in deep poverty – meaning they are in a household with an income less than 50 percent of the federal poverty line.
Brian Williams is the Executive Director of the Capital Region Workforce Development Board. He says people shouldn’t have to tell their story dozens of times — the organizations should communicate more effectively about how they or others can support those in need.
“Our goal is to break down the silos amongst all of the organizations and get everyone in the sandbox together, actually building a sandcastle, and helping our communities,” Williams said.
Aside from working with other nonprofits, some say their organizations and residents need more support from first responders.
Elisabeth Espinosa, Director of Outreach Programs with Catholic Charities, says she’d like to see more collaboration with the city’s police department to connect those in crisis to support services.
“So that they know how to help people who are substance abuse, substance use disorder. So, what are the resources for them? So, when they come in contact with someone, right, that's going through an overdose, how can they help them? Who do they navigate them to? Instead of it just being this criminology perspective, it's like, ‘hey, there's a holistic thing to it,’” Espinosa said.
In a statement, Assistant Chief of Police Steve Barker said officers in the field direct people to specific resources based on need, adding many organizations participate in regular trainings to share information.
Mantello says she used it as a learning session. The Republican says the organizations work to make the community better and formally connecting them only helps.
“Today was the first step to really learn, to educate each other, to begin to network. As you can see, it's already a success. And then we'll share all of our contact information with each other,” Mantello said.
Mantello adds she wants to maximize the services residents can access.
“I know what people are doing out on the streets, and how can we synergize, how can we merge our efforts to really maximize the services for the people who really need it,” Mantello said. “And you heard tonight or today a lot about food insecurity, but you also heard like other services that are being provided that even the people at the table didn't know about the tax service and being able to get your taxes done for free to keep more money in folks’ pockets.”
Mantello says she wants this to become a biannual meeting and split organizations into subgroups to further encourage collaboration.