Celebration Honors Hempstead Assistant Superintendent James Clark Honoree
Garden City, N.Y., (July 2023) – Family and Children’s Association (FCA), a leading health and human services nonprofit organization on Long Island, recently held its 38th Annual Scholarship Breakfast. Honored were the program’s scholarship recipients, scholarship donors and keynote speaker James Clark, assistant superintendent for Pupil Personnel Services at the Hempstead Union Free School District. Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer De Sena was on hand to offer support to FCA and congratulations to the scholarship winners, as was Stevens J. Martinez, Nassau County Regional Representative for NYS Governor Kathy Hochul.
Hassett Subaru presented a check in the amount of $36,185 to fund scholarships as part of its Share the Love campaign.
The annual breakfast celebrates the generosity of its donors, the extraordinary achievements of scholarship winners, and the dedicated staff who administer the program. Scholarship recipients also are invited to mingle and sit with the FCA donors who help make their education journey possible, gaining further opportunity for career guidance.
Numerous studies report that a child’s ability to learn is negatively affected by family stress, particularly stress resulting from poverty and unemployment. The Scholarship Fund helps support the aspirations of at-risk youth who wish to pursue higher education despite years of struggle with homelessness, foster care or other obstacles.
Over three decades, FCA has gifted more than 1,500 scholarships collectively worth over $2,000,000 to students engaged with FCA’s programs and services, enabling at-risk teens to pursue higher education and improve their lives. This year 37 students received scholarship support.
FCA President and CEO Dr. Jeffrey L. Reynolds praised the donors, mentors, FCA staff and the scholarship recipients for their tenacity and commitment to higher education before introducing keynote speaker and honoree James Clark. During his more than 30-year career as an educational leader on Long Island, Clark has inspired countless students in the Hempstead community and beyond to never stop believing in themselves. He has served in numerous roles, including Guidance Counselor in Wyandanch; Assistant Principal for Western Suffolk BOCES; Adjunct College Professor for the New York Institute of Technology; Principal for Barry Technology Career Center – Nassau BOCES; and as a coach for football and wrestling at Roosevelt, Westbury, and Wyandanch high schools.
This year’s reception took place in the Samanea New York mall in Westbury. The Samanea NY site was chosen for its “hall of murals” which provided a dramatic backdrop of color murals painted by emerging artists from the Museum of Urban Arts. Samanea NY Director of Real Estate Dominic Coluccio generously donated the use of the space to FCA.
About FCA
FCA is a not-for-profit agency helping more than 30,000 Long Islanders each year. For nearly 140 years, the organization has worked to protect and strengthen vulnerable children, seniors, families, and communities on Long Island.
FCA believes in the potential of Long Island – a place where no child, senior, family or community is left to struggle alone with barriers to health care, education, employment, or economic prosperity. Long Island continues to be one of the greatest places in the world to live and raise a family for many; FCA exists to ensure that be the case for all.
For more information about FCA, visit FCALI.org.
