A new school year is often accompanied by a stylish new outfit, a new backpack full of fresh crayons and new tools, and brings the opportunity for a new start. For the Albany Fund for Education, a 501c3 not-for-profit organization supporting the Albany City School District, the beginning of the 2021-22 school year is accompanied by a shiny new website.
Our new website will help us to communicate better with our various stakeholders and also help to spark the next great idea
-Kathryn Bamberger, President, Albany Fund for Education
AFE’s new website is colorful, bold and fun. Site designers took steps to simplify navigation around the new website with a streamlined menu system that invites users to learn more about the organization. With design elements and a color scheme courtesy of a generous donation from Fingerpaint Marketing, the site features photos of schoolchildren, faculty, staff and community members all working together in support of the District’s students. The new color palette and updated graphics create excitement and vibrancy, reflective of the AFE organization and people they serve.
Featuring an updated news page, the new site will keep everyone current on the latest news from AFE. Unlike the old website, the user experience is dynamically responsive across various devices including laptops, mobile phones and tablets.
The overhaul was led by Phil Quindara, Luis Ortiz and Jeremy Evans and supported by board members Anne Erling, Orah LeHockey and Theresa Swidorski as well as AFE Executive Director Mari Shopsis and Board President Kathryn Bamberger.
During the last 2 years, we have really focused on some key projects. We brought in a lot of new instruments as people cleaned out and found unused trumpets, drums and violins. We had them cleaned and tuned and put them into the hands of students who would otherwise not be able to afford an instrument. We marshaled resources for technology needs as students were learning online and from home. We continued and expanded our Feed and Read weekend ‘backpack’ program in partnership with HATAS and Grassroots givers to provide a book and some food to families who heavily rely on school meals during the week.
-Mari Shopsis, Executive Director, Albany Fund for Education
President Kathryn Bamberger commented, “It’s been an honor and a privilege to work with our donors and families as well as the District itself to meet the needs of students where over 70% of the students experience poverty. Poverty doesn’t limit talent and perseverance, but it does often limit opportunity. Our goal is to increase the opportunities our students have for growth and development.”
AFE’s annual fundraising gala is typically held in the fall, and for the second year, has been put on hold. “However we held a very successful online auction last year and will launch the 2021 auction in November” Bamberger continued. “The fresh website will be another way to introduce ourselves to new supporters who are attracted to the auction. We are very fortunate to have generous donors providing fantastic items for our auction and are really looking forward to this year’s online event.” Links to the auction will be found on the website. We hope to move forward with the annual gala in March 2022 and will keep you updated as we monitor the covid-19 situation.