This May 11th, Schuyler Center is celebrating our 154th Founder’s Day! On this day in 1872, what we know today as the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, was founded by Louisa Lee Schuyler in the parlor of her parents’ home. Originally founded as the State Charities Aid Association (SCAA), the mission was to promote an active interest in New York State institutions of public charity and aid the state in the administration of its public charities. It was organized as a nonprofit, nonsectarian, and independent organization and remains so today.
The early achievements of SCAA include founding a committee that removed young children from poorhouses, educating the public about tuberculosis, working in adoption and foster care, developing a training school for nurses, and advocating for improvements to the deplorable conditions in tenement houses. This advocacy continued throughout the 20th century, setting the stage for The Schuyler Center to become a powerful force in protecting families and children in New York State.
In December 2000, SCAA changed its name to the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy, to reflect its expanded mission to analyze and inform public policy and to acknowledge in a permanent way the organization’s indebtedness to Louisa Lee Schuyler for her vision and action.
Today, Schuyler Center continues to build upon the legacy started by Louisa Lee Schuyler 154 years ago. Our dedicated team continues to advocate fiercely for improved conditions for New Yorkers living in poverty and advance social welfare policy for all New York families.
For 154 years, we’ve asked one relentless question about every policy decision: Is this good for children? That question guides our work today, in a moment that demands more from all of us. Federal funding cuts are threatening Medicaid, nutrition programs, and child care assistance that millions of New York families depend on. Nearly 1 in 5 New York children still lives in poverty, a higher rate than 38 other states.
Right now, expert, evidence-based advocacy has never been more vital, or more at risk of being drowned out. Your support keeps Schuyler Center in the room, making the case for children who cannot always speak for themselves.
Louisa’s Life of Philanthropy
Louisa Lee Schuyler was born into a wealthy family in 1837 in New York City. At 24, she became a leader in the Women’s Central Association of Relief, where she was tasked with overseeing all of the volunteers on the home front of the Civil War, including distributing supplies and providing training materials.
With this experience, she founded the State Charities Aid Association, useing the skills she developed during the Civil War to create visiting committees. She established these committees of volunteers with the intention to visit every institution in New York State to make the public aware of the deplorable conditions and to make recommendations to the State Commissioners of Public Charities, later renamed The State Board of Charities.
Louisa leveraged her position in society by inviting her wealthy friends to join these visiting committees and using that social power to make recommendations and urge change. Initially, she visited Westchester County Poor House and Bellevue Hospital with volunteers and wrote a report to the State Board of Commissioners, which gave approval to inspect other charitable public institutions. This gave SCAA. the ability to champion big changes, including removing children from poor houses and placing them in foster families (https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/organizations/state-institutions/schuyler-louisa-lee/).
Other notable achievements of Louisa Lee in SCAA’s early years include: founding the first Training School for Nurses in 1873, passing of The State Care Act, Chapter 126, Law of 1890 (requiring aftercare of those institutionalized for mental illness), and organizing physicians and laymen for the Committee on the Prevention of Blindness. She was also appointed as one of the original Trustees of the Russell Sage Foundation, and in 1915, se received an honorary degree of laws (L.L.D.) from Columbia University.
Learn more: Louisa Lee Schuyler’s Legacy
Blog – Louisa’s Legacy: The Profession of Nursing
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