Stacey for KLSD

After leaving NYC for the Hudson Valley, I opened a brick-and-mortar family and community recreation center called Poughkidsie. Including an imaginative playspace for cooperative play and a creative maker space for all ages, Poughkidsie was founded to bring families and the community together for everything from open play to book clubs to parties to fundraisers to preschool to our own Girl Scout troop, and then some. My work at Poughkidsie earned us 3 annual “Best of Hudson Valley” awards and inclusion in the Dutchess County “40 Under 40” in 2017.

While Covid-19 maintained a chokehold on Poughkidsie, I had capacity and a desire to help; as my husband’s grandfather liked to say, “if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the pollution.” In joining Northwell Health, the state’s largest healthcare provider and largest private employer, I led operations of the health system’s Westchester sites for Covid vaccines and testing. I’m proud to have been nominated for Northern Westchester Hospital’s 2022 MLK Jr. Community Hero Award, recognizing acts of service in local and global communities. Once site operations wound down, I was able to focus my work on community health in Northern Westchester, working with Community- and Faith-Based Organizations as well as school districts, including KLSD.

In my community and education work at Northwell, our team sought a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to open a public healthcare high school. After our submission was selected as one of only 10 in the country, I proudly served as the founding Program Director for Northwell School of Health Sciences, a Queens school opened in September 2025 in collaboration with NYC Public Schools and Bloomberg Philanthropies. An eye-opening experience in transforming education, my role comprised designing career pathways for high school students, collaborating on curricula and immersive experiences, monitoring budget, recommending state-of-the-art medical and education equipment, and hiring school leadership.