News

RAUCH FOUNDATION  HAGEDORN FOUNDATION
HORACE AND AMY HAGEDORN FUND at the NEW YORK COMMUNITY TRUST

Contact: Danielle Hundt
DHundt@rauchfoundation.org
516.873.9808 x204
At Today’s White House Summit on Early Education, Three Long Island Philanthropies
Will Make Expanded Commitments to Early Education on Long Island
Rauch Foundation, Hagedorn Foundation, and Horace and Amy Hagedorn Fund
Commit $13.5 Million over Next Five Years
Garden City, NY – December 10, 2014 – The White House is hosting today a Summit on EarlyEducation to highlight progress and build momentum on expanding and strengthening early education across the country. In conjunction with the Summit, three Long Island foundations – the Rauch Foundation, the Hagedorn Foundation, and the Horace and Amy Hagedorn Fund at the New York Community Trust – are announcing that they will expand their longstanding commitments to early education on Long Island. The three philanthropies will be represented at the Summit by Nancy Rauch Douzinas, President of the Rauch Foundation.
The Rauch Foundation, the Hagedorn Foundation, and the Horace and Amy Hagedorn Fund
have worked closely for more than 20 years to support organizations and policies on Long Island that intervene early in children’s lives. Over the past five years, the three philanthropies have invested more than $11 million to expand quality early care and learning opportunities on Long Island. The focus of those efforts has been on early childhood programs and policies that help strengthen families, instill a love of learning in all children, build public will for early learning, and strengthen communities so that all children can have a healthy, safe and happy start to life.
Looking forward, the three philanthropies will collaborate more intentionally to increase their investments in early care and learning programs to $13.5 million during the next five years. This funding will be used to leverage additional support to strengthen family supports for young children in Long Island’s most vulnerable communities.
The increased spending has two primary goals:

• Significantly expand the number of families that have access to the Parent-Child Home
  Program (PCHP) in New York State. PCHP, headquartered in Garden City, works with
  low-income and underserved families (this year reaching families speaking 35 different
  languages) to build school readiness and strengthen parent-child relationships through a 2
  literacy-based home visiting model. Multiple research studies have found that PCHP
  consistently improves both the child and parent’s preparedness for school.

• Support efforts to strengthen state and local systems and leverage existing funding so that
  more children in New York will have access to high-quality early care and learning
  opportunities starting at birth.

Additional funding is available, should there be increased opportunities for public-private
partnerships with local, state, or federal funding.
“Early education has proven to pay great dividends for children and communities,” said Nancy Rauch Douzinas, President of the Rauch Foundation. “Research on the Parent-Child Home Program specifically shows that low-income children who completed two years of the Program went on to graduate from high school at the rate of middle-class children nationally.”
“Parent-Child Home Program is a Long Island initiative that should reach every family who
wants to participate – on Long Island, across New York, and throughout the nation,” said Amy Hagedorn, President of the Hagedorn Foundation. “My hope is that PCHP is provided the support it needs, so it can reach every New Yorker in need.”
About the Rauch Foundation
The Rauch Foundation (www.rauchfoundation.org), which funds the Long Island Index, is a Long Island-based family foundation that invests in ideas and organizations that spark and
sustain early success in children and systemic change in our communities. The Foundation was established in 1961 by Louis Rauch and Philip Rauch, Jr. Funding for the Foundation was made possible by the success of the Ideal Corporation, an auto parts manufacturer founded in 1913 by their father, Philip Rauch, Sr.
The Long Island Index – conducted annually since 2004 – is available for download at
www.longislandindex.org. The Long Island Index interactive maps, an online resource with
detailed demographic, residential, transportation and educational information, as well as the
Build a Better Burb website, are also accessible from the Index’s website.
About the Horace and Amy Hagedorn Fund and Hagedorn Foundation
Amy was a single mother of four, when she met and married widower Horace Hagedorn, the
founder of Miracle Gro. Looking for a setting where they might assist people and influence the future of Long Island, the Hagedorns established the Horace and Amy Hagedorn Fund at the New York Community Trust. Since its inception, the Horace and Amy Hagedorn Fund has provided support to more than 400 organizations on Long Island and nationwide.
Amy has continued to support the nonprofit community through the Horace and Amy Hagedorn Fund at the New York Community Trust. When Horace Hagedorn passed away in January 2005, he left additional philanthropic resources to be given away through a foundation under the 3 leadership of Amy Hagedorn. The Hagedorn Foundation was incorporated in November 2005 as a private family foundation that seeks to support and promote social equity on a national, state and local level on issues related to early childhood development and immigration reform. Wanting to have a greater impact and to help elevate the importance of foundation dollars to support social justice and advocacy work, Amy decided to spend all the assets of both funding sources and close in 2017