Cover Stories Archives - Inside Chappaqua and Inside Armonk: The Magazines for New and North Castle

ChappPAC Destined to be a Center For the Arts and Family Entertainment

December 2, 2018 by Ella Ilan

Tucked away beyond the construction crews and heavy equipment that have been plowing away for the last two years at Chappaqua Crossing lies the recently transformed Chappaqua Performing Arts Center (ChappPAC). Once named the Wallace Auditorium and used primarily for Readers Digest meetings and conferences, the intimate playhouse has been reincarnated as a performing arts center, cultural destination and mecca for educational children’s theatre.

Initially slated for demolition when Summit Development and Greenfield Partners designed Chappaqua Crossing’s retail and residential community, the small theatre was saved through negotiations with Deputy Town Supervisor Lisa Katz and the help of the New Castle Arts and Culture Committee. Summit Greenfield offered to donate the theatre to the Town of New Castle for one dollar.

When the town asked experienced theatre professional and educator John Fanelli’s opinion about saving the theatre, he said, “You don’t find 425 seat theatres in your backyard every day. You couldn’t build this. It would cost way too much money. It’s like a beautiful country playhouse and it’s pretty awesome that it’s still here.”

After issuing a request for proposal for a theatre manager, the town chose Fanelli as the theatre manager. Scott Campbell of Soup’s On Entertainment was also chosen as a promoter. Fanelli was well acquainted with the facility and well aware of its potential as he had already been renting it for productions of his own Armonk-based educational children’s theatre company, Lighthouse Youth Theatre and Standing Ovations Studio, where he serves as artistic director. His responsibilities at ChappPAC include managing bookings, rentals of the space, volunteers, vendors and maintaining the integrity of the structure. Clearly the right man for the job, Fanelli, whose passion is educational theatre, has been directing, teaching and creating programs for children and teens in theatre for almost 25 years.

“If you ask me,” Fanelli professes, “the most important education you can give your child is a performing arts education because it teaches them so much about who they are as people and gives them such great confidence. If they can stand up in front of 400 people and do a show, then they certainly can do a book report or run for class president…they can do pretty much anything they want. We are teaching life skills.”

The theatre has ushered in its second year of children’s theatre programming with a collection of fall children’s workshops presented by the Town of New Castle, Standing Ovation Studios, and Soup’s On Entertainment. Most recently this November, Tony Award winner Lindsay Mendez (Carousel, Wicked, Godspell, Grease) and Broadway star Derek Klena (Anastasia, Wicked, Bridges of Madison County) led a workshop about musical theatre technique and audition preparation. The session ended with the students performing on stage for parents and friends and a “talkback session” with the actors about their own Broadway experiences. Earlier this fall, Broadway actors and former cast members of Wicked, Arielle Jacobs and Alicia Albright, led a children’s Wicked workshop which also culminated in an on-stage performance and an informative Q & A session with the actors.

The season kicked off with a free musical theatre workshop open house where students learned to perform songs and dances from Peter Pan and Hamilton.

Three additional free workshops are planned for the new year to help get people in the door and get them excited about the programs offered.

As part of these workshops, students are split up according to age and then further divided into three small groups that rotate among a musical director, choreographer, and acting teacher. Students are then able to focus on all three disciplines.

Bringing theatre education to our youngest citizens, ChappPAC also hosts Drama Bee, an educational weekly theatre program for preschoolers, in partnership with New Castle Recreation. “My goal is to educate kids and teach them things about themselves using musical theatre,” says Fanelli. “When a parent calls and asks me how to get their child on Broadway, I always tell them to call someone else because that’s not my goal. I think the way to get to Broadway is to go to college and then be a professional and go as an adult. Being a child actor on Broadway doesn’t necessarily translate to becoming a professional actor.”

While many of the children’s programs have been made possible through a generous private grant, the reinvention of this hidden gem has been facilitated through a combined effort of the town, dedicated theatre professionals like Fanelli and private citizens.

Deputy Town Supervisor Katz spearheaded the acquisition of this theatre for the town. “Personally, making this theatre a reality has been very fulfilling for me. It’s really just an exciting opportunity for the town to be able to utilize it and do something incredible for not just our residents, but all of the surrounding communities as well,” she says. “The goal is to eventually make it a preeminent destination for theatre, dance, music and visual arts in Northern Westchester,” she adds.

A foundation comprised of volunteers, The Friends of Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, has been formed to provide funding for capital improvements, programming, special projects and sponsorship opportunities to support ChappPAC. At the time of writing this article, the group was seeking and awaiting 501(c)(3) status so they can begin fundraising. Michele Gregson and Tracy Stein, Chairs of the Friends group, have been instrumental in engaging volunteers and potential donors, developing marketing strategies, and planning for the theatre’s future as a premier performing arts center.

“We have a great model in the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, a highly regarded cinematic destination, where the surrounding merchants have benefited. We hope to do the same here where you can see a show, make an evening out of it, and go to one of our local restaurants downtown,” suggests Gregson.

Some of the exciting ideas that Gregson says have been discussed for the theatre are to organize a lecture series with prominent speakers along the lines of the offerings at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, to use the theatre as a developmental space for prospective Broadway shows, and to host art exhibits.

Gregson, who also serves as Chair of Westchester Women at UJA-Federation of New York, has helped secure a grant from UJA to produce three Jewish-related programs at the theatre, which will likely be presented in the spring.

(L-R): At a ChappPac celebration following its opening: Jonathan Leibner, David Restivo,
Jeff Kuduk, Michele Gregson, Scott Campbell, Lisa Katz and John Fanelli.

The leaders behind this theatre are also open to suggestions. Their goal is to provide programming that the community craves. As they move forward, they will continually assess what is successful and optimize programming to bring in audiences.

Besides producing shows, maintaining the space is also at the top of the agenda for the town and the volunteers. Luckily the building was in good shape and already beautifully laid out as a theater when the town acquired it. Fanelli put in new LED lighting, upgraded the lighting board and the acoustic equipment, and renovated the stage. With the help of the Friends group, he hopes to continue improving the space. “Within three years it will be just like the Ridgefield Playhouse. That’s the goal,” he says, referring to the 500-seat venue in Connecticut.

As the front of the building is in need of repairs, Gregson hopes to undertake a fundraising initiative where donors can purchase bricks engraved with their names on them to adorn the building. She also anticipates planning a fundraising gala in the near future. Additional plans for the theatre include adding a box office and a concession stand. Organizers hope to hire and train workers with special needs to work at the concession stand.

With various improvements yet to be made, exciting ideas yet to bear fruit, and despite the surrounding construction, the theatre has been open for business and successfully putting on programming.

Recent performances in November have run the gamut from family fun with Tim Kubart and the Space Cadets, an indie pop dance party for all ages, to fodder for adult audiences like folk/rock singer-songwriter and former Chappaqua resident Dar Williams. On December 1st, comedians and co-hosts of the popular parenting podcast What Fresh Hell: Laughing in the Face of Motherhood performed.

“The funny thing is that nobody really knew this place was sitting here for 30 years,” remarks Fanelli. “I hope that we can establish ourselves as the number one place for family entertainment and for educational theatre programming in the area. If you want to go see a great show for the whole family, Chappaqua Performing Arts Center is your place,” he says.

RESERVE YOUR TICKETS:

An interactive screening of the Christmas film Elf will take place on Saturday, December 8.

Junie B. Jones will be performed by Theatreworks USA on Saturday, February 9.

On March 9, the Chappaqua Orchestra will perform an interactive, inclusive family concert spotlighting the special needs community playing with the orchestra.

For program information, visit www.chappaquapac.org. For fundraising inquires, email the Friends of Chappaqua Performing Arts Center at friendsofchapppac@gmail.com.

#TaubStrong Movement Keeps Casey Taub’s Memory Alive & Raises Funds for Pediatric Brain Cancer

December 2, 2018 by Deborah Raider Notis

Casey Taub was one of a kind. He was a funny, often opinionated, old soul with a love of Marvel movies and sports. He was the kid who could engage adults as easily as he could rally his friends. But in January 2016, Casey needed his friends and loved ones to rally around him. Diagnosed with a brain tumor, he put up the fight of his life until he passed away in July 2017.

Throughout Casey’s 17-month battle with brain cancer, the Matthew Larson Foundation for Pediatric Brain Tumors was a consistent, reliable source of support for the Taub family. Founded in 2007 in memory of seven-year-old Matthew Larson, the Foundation has funded almost $3 million in grants for pediatric brain tumor research and has helped families cope with the emotional and financial struggles of caring for a child with brain cancer.

After Casey’s death, his father, who dedicated himself to finding a positive way to cope with this devastating tragedy, joined the board of the Matthew Larson Foundation. “I wanted to help the foundation that helped us,” states Taub. “Everything I’m doing is to try to eradicate pediatric brain cancer, and I want Casey’s name to be associated with eliminating the disease that did him in.”

To that end, Taub established the #taubstrong Movement as a component of the Matthew Larson Foundation.

#TaubStrong was a slogan created by Casey’s closest sleep away camp friends at Chipinaw, who designed and sold t-shirts to support Casey while he was sick. When Casey came up to visit camp, everyone was wearing the t-shirt. “It was extremely meaningful to him,” says his father.

Taub credits the Chappaqua and Greeley community, “especially Casey’s closest friends, who have been unbelievable,” with helping to keep Casey’s memory alive. “The fact that Casey will always be part of this community is extremely important to me,” stresses Taub.

Casey was an avid soccer fan and player; he was a valued member of the Greeley soccer team. On August 22nd, Greeley Boys’ Varsity Soccer hosted its first annual Casey Taub Memorial 22:22 Soccer Jamboree benefiting the #taubstrong Movement for the Matthew Larson Foundation for Pediatric Brain Tumors.

The event, organized by Casey’s friends and teammates on Greeley Boys’ Varsity Soccer, as well as Camp Shropshire, Casey’s beloved soccer coach, began with a dedication ceremony. His father, Jonathan Taub spoke, and Casey’s number 22 jersey was retired. The Byram Hills Boys’ Varsity Soccer Team retired Casey’s number for what would have been his final high school soccer season. Soccer boosters sold CT22 merchandise and food, all of the participating teams made donations, and the event raised over $2300 to the #taubstrong Movement at the Matthew Larson Foundation. Taub hopes that this event will grow and become an annual kickoff to the soccer season in Casey’s memory.

Casey’s classmates in the 2019 Greeley Senior Class also donated proceeds from the Senior Carwash to the #taubstrong Movement. Greeley juniors, Emma Rosh and Charlotte Templeton, contacted Taub to start a club in Casey’s name. With Casey’s treasured Spanish teacher, Senor Warren, as the faculty advisor, they launched the CT22 Club. This year, the CT22 Club raised over $2000 from CT22 merchandise at Chappaqua’s Community Day.

Looking ahead, Taub hopes to extend the #TaubStrong movement beyond Chappaqua. “It would be great to get CT22 clubs in all Westchester high schools,” notes Taub, who plans to develop a full line of #taubstrong CT22 merchandise. Most importantly, Taub, who recently spoke at the Matthew Larson Foundation’s annual fundraising dinner, said that he is looking forward to the day that fundraising dinners are replaced by “celebratory dinners because there is no longer any cancers killing kids.” One day, he hopes, “Casey’s name will be associated with a cure for this horrible disease.”

For more information about the Matthew Larson Foundation, please visit www.ironmatt.org. To donate to this foundation in memory of Casey, please use #TaubStrong when you make your donation.

Now, Can You Spell … Perspicacious?

December 2, 2018 by Sabra Staudenmaier

The 9th Annual Spelling Bee Raises over $22,000 to Benefit the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund

Senior Scholarship SHARE Members (L-R): Niamh O’Connor, Jordan Ratner and Olivia Ruggiero PHOTO BY SABRA STAUDENMAIER

The eve of Election Day in Chappaqua was quiet, dark and rainy. Students were still acclimating to losing light early in the night, since time had fallen behind by an hour the day before. Schools would be closed the following day for voting that had been anticipated for two long years. The streets were calm, yet the Horace Greeley High School gymnasium was alive with eagerness and anticipation.

Students, faculty, parents and community members were gathered together in a united purpose. It wasn’t for a basketball game or a wrestling match. The words that best suit this event were not Lay-Up or Pinfall. They were words like “crustacean”, “tinnitus”, “chrysanthemum”, “pharaoh” and “perspicacious”.

The mascot of the night was not a Quaker; it was a Bumble Bee. The event taking place was the 9th Annual Spelling Bee. The excitement in the gym was palpable.

The “Bee” is an upbeat and lively event enjoyed by participants and spectators alike. It is organized and run by Horace Greeley High School’s SHARE (Students Have a Responsibility Everywhere) student community service volunteer group. The proceeds raised benefit the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund (HGSF), which is an organization that helps Greeley graduates fund their post-secondary education. Competing teams were comprised of families, students, members of the community and faculty. There are no restrictions on who can participate, all are welcome.

There were two energized and playful four-feet-tall bumble bees buzzing around, generating enthusiasm. There were balloons, refreshments and prizes. A row of tables crossed the middle of the gymnasium floor displaying white boards, markers and bumble bee-shaped erasers for each team. Two feet in front of these tables were chairs facing the contestants; they were seats for the judges. Behind the contestants was a single microphone for the word pronouncer and a projection screen for the words to be displayed. Along the back wall was an animated crowd cheering in the stands.

The Horace Greeley Spelling Bee showcased students working together to create a fun and inclusive event with the goal of helping their fellow students pay for college.

The Hip Bees (L-R): Beth Reilly, Annalise Curtin & Lisa Bisceglia
PHOTOS BY SABRA STAUDENMAIER

The over 60 teams were distinguished and recognizable in their cleverly themed costumes such as The Bee Gees, The Hip Bees, The Vocabulary Vampires and many more. The building excitement suddenly gave way to silence as a pause for the national anthem marked the official start of the competition. Finally, the 9th annual HGSF Spelling Bee was underway.

The event was divided into rounds. Representatives from the School Faculty competed first, followed by competitors from the Middle School level, the High School level and then the Community. Lastly, there was a championship round between the winners from all competing levels to determine who would earn the ultimate prize of the trophy and winning title.

Hmm (L-R): Helen Harrison, Maria Sanderleaf & Michelle Ramahlo

Words were called out by the pronouncer, then written on white boards by the contestants. Judges held up green or red cards to indicate if the word was spelled correctly or not. At the end of each round the judges would display a number to show how many words each team spelled right. Ties moved onto a sudden death elimination. Prizes, such as bee themed water bottles and stuffed animals, were given to the winners of each section and awarded to teams with the best costumes.

As the closing round drew to completion, the tension in the gym heightened. The pronouncer’s voice called over the microphone with a final “Boards Up!” The two remaining contestants raised their white boards, but only one showed the word “CATARRH” spelled correctly. The 9th Annual Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund Spelling Bee was over. Team Hmm, a trio of Chappaqua teachers and previous winners Helen Harrison, Michelle Ramahlo and Maria Sanderleaf, was awarded the coveted trophy and the title of Queen Bees.

The Spelling Bee requires skill to win; “effervescent”, “bourgeoisie” and “cayenne” are not easy words. But this event is about so much more than determining who is the best speller. The competition was ultimately created in support of a cause close to our town’s heart: education. Seth Berk, a second-year competitor who doesn’t consider himself a particularly skilled speller, remarked that he was “very happy to humble himself in support of the Horace Greeley Scholarship Fund; a great cause.” In total, over $22,000 was raised, making it the most successful Bee to date.

Ironically, the HGSF Annual Spelling Bee can be summarized with a word that is not difficult to spell: “Community”.

Congratulations to the participants and the winners and especially to the SHARE students who did an un“bee”lievable job organizing this very special event.

Spotlight on Lila and DeWitt Wallace: Chappaqua’s 20th Century Powerhouse Couple of Modern Media

December 2, 2018 by Dana Y. Wu

2019 marks the 80th anniversary of the Reader’s Digest headquarters in Chappaqua. Lila Bell Acheson Wallace and her husband, Dewitt Wallace were co-founders, co-editors and true partners in their powerhouse media business enterprises for generations, which included the enormously successful magazine, condensed books, direct mail-order books, trade/retail books, children’s books, music and international editions.

They started Reader’s Digest in 1922 with borrowed money and no subscriptions. Within a year of the Digest’s launch from their apartment in Greenwich Village, the Wallaces moved the company office to a garage in Pleasantville but quickly spread to 14 different overflowing offices throughout the village as circulation surpassed one million by 1935. In the late 1930s, they acquired 80 rolling acres of woodlands in Chappaqua to establish the headquarters’ campus but retained “Pleasantville” for its postal address as they liked the name of the town. Visible for miles around when it opened in 1939, the original three-story red-brick structure, had a white cupola featuring a carillon and four flying Pegasus sculptures, symbolizing writers’ inspiration.

Lila Wallace oversaw every aspect of the interior and exterior construction of the headquarters, which was modeled after buildings in Colonial Williamsburg, with the intention of creating a beautiful campus for their growing workforce and rapidly expanding publishing business. She felt that a positive and stimulating environment was important for employees. With her patrician style and love of culture and arts, Lila chose to display her valuable collection of Impressionist art in the headquarters’ hallways, offices, conference rooms and cafeteria.

“Lila Wallace was a huge supporter of the natural world. The property had its own apple orchard, and employees could take home as many apples as they wanted. We were also able to rent, for $10 a year, a fenced-in garden plot up at the top of the property, with free water. Many of us spent our lunch hours up there tending our gardens.” – Mara van Fleet, Former Readers Digest employee

“Rather than just surrounding themselves with all this great art in their Bedford home, High Winds, they shared it with employees by lining the halls and principal rooms on the first floor of the office building accessible to all every day,” remembers Ellis Cousens, a Bedford resident who was a Finance Director at the headquarters in the 1990s.

Former Reader’s Digest senior editor and Chappaqua resident, Suzanne Chazin, recalls, “Lila’s office had French glass doors and a Modigliani right outside. It felt amazing to work in the office that had been hers. And Dewitt’s office was the editor in chief’s office when I was there so I was in it all the time for editorial meetings. I remember the Chagall on the wall.” Chazin continues, “For the people who were there, it was daily life. Now, it seems sort of amazing but we were around this decor every day, with all this art on the walls that you could just walk up to.”

The photos were displayed on panels at the New Castle Historical Society.

Creating charming “outside rooms” with clipped hedges, neat lawns and flower beds was as important to Lila as the antiques and art collection within the buildings and as the back-cover artwork that she selected for each issue. Chappaqua author and illustrator Mara van Fleet, who joined the Reader’s Digest art department in 1999, remembers. ” Cousens adds, “During my time there, many employees maintained vegetable gardens, designated by Lila, behind the auditorium towards Cowdin Lane. She instituted early Friday closure during spring and summer with the explicit intent to give employees several hours of paid time off to tend their gardens, either at the Digest or at home.

While Reader’s Digest publications may be looked upon as a conservative repository of American values, the company had progressive employee policies, including five day work weeks and vacation days, liberal pension plans, life-insurance policies, profit-sharing plans and even a program to encourage employees to volunteer in community organizations. Although the Wallaces did not have children, they ran their internationally successful media company with a family feel that included free trips to Williamsburg, VA (which the Wallaces helped to restore) and free turkeys at Thanksgiving.

Long after they retired in 1973, employees still felt the couple’s nurturing touch. Jennifer Bancroft Payne, a Chappaqua resident, remembers how her father, Norman Bancroft, said that “he always felt like family rather than an employee” at Reader’s Digest. As van Fleet attests, “It was really one of the last old-fashioned companies where you felt you like you like working with your large extended family. Everyone walked down the halls with smiles on their faces and genuine warmth.”

Today, along Reader’s Digest Road, Chappaqua Crossing’s transformation of the former headquarters’ grounds has been stark. However, the new development’s “incomparable array of amenities designed to create a work environment that is both enjoyable and efficient” fittingly continues the Wallace’s original idea of providing many perks for employees on the campus. “Employees of the publication were treated to a large dining hall, gym facilities, a laundry room, a garage onsite for repairs, and even a small medical office where they had MKMG dermatologists come in for free skin screenings.” says van Fleet. “There was even a subsidized company store with different vendors who came every day.”

In our age of 24/7 news and media, podcasts, Netflix and Youtube, it may be hard to imagine the expansive influence that DeWitt Wallace’s original idea of a magazine with diverse content aimed “to interest and at the same time to widen one’s outlook, to increase one’s appreciation of things and people in the world” had on our global, popular culture. Golda Meir praised Reader’s Digest as “A publication which helps its huge public understand the complex issues of our time.” Pushing for legislation and social reform, Reader’s Digest had a way of presenting complex medical issues in an understandable form and its top articles were on drinking and driving, tobacco/smoking, sex education, drugs and on taboo subjects such as sexually transmitted diseases (1930s), birth control (1960s), pornography (1970s) and AIDS (1980s).

With a worldwide readership with over a 100 million subscribers in 163 countries, 48 editions and 19 languages at its height, the Wallaces sent their optimism around the world through Reader’s Digest’s humorous articles, innovative features and inspiring stories. Chazin recalls how Reader’s Digest was content-driven when she wanted to write about Dr. Barry Marshall who had “discovered a potential cure for ulcers back when ulcers were considered incurable. He was a very controversial figure but Reader’s Digest ran the the piece. When Dr. Marshall won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2005, he thanked Reader’s Digest as being one of the very first publications to spread his ideas far and wide.”

The philanthropic programs that Wallaces started have brought benefits to our community, the nation and the world. Much of their fortune went to establishing four private foundations, which then merged into the DeWitt Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund. Early in the 2000s, the funds sold the last of their Reader’s Digest stock and merged into a single national philanthropy with a name reflecting its roots: The Wallace Foundation. With assets of about $1.5 billion in 2015, The Wallace Foundation still stays true to Lila and DeWitt Wallace’s passions for education, youth development and the arts.

Greeley Grad Pursues Startup Dreams as a Venture for America Fellow

December 2, 2018 by Amy Kelley

Horace Greeley graduate Grant Steinhauer finished up at Tufts last spring, and instead of taking the corporate route, he landed a fellowship with Venture for America, a nonprofit that trains young entrepreneurs, and works for a startup in New Orleans. “I did the whole corporate internship thing where you feel like a cog in a machine,” Steinhauer said. “And I felt that wasn’t really for me.”

Looking for something “more impactful,” he wandered by a Venture for America booth at a career fair and was prompted to do a little research. He liked what he learned, and applied for a fellowship.

College students apply to Venture for America and go through an interview process like that for any job. “When you get accepted they connect you with startups around the country that are in cities in need of economic revitalization,” Steinhauer explained, such as San Antonio, New Orleans, Baltimore, Cleveland and Detroit. “It’s like an online dating program.”

Each fellow posts a profile with a resume and can indicate interest in factors such as location, size, and field of interest. Startups can then make job offers to fellows that look like good fits. “Technically you’re not guaranteed a job, but there are more startups than fellows,” Steinhauer said.

Fellows then attend a five-week training camp in Detroit over the summer, which besides job preparation, enables the fellows to get to know each other. That helps when it comes to moving to new cities. “Venture for America doesn’t actually help you find housing,” Steinhauer said, explaining that getting to know the 14 other fellows heading to New Orleans meant he had many potential roommates. “I moved to New Orleans with 14 friends.”

That sense of community extends to fellows from other years, who offer a helping hand to newer fellows when they can. The startups are required to pay a minimum salary, which is generally less than what a motivated ambitious college grad would make at, say, a standard corporate career-ladder starting position. But myriad benefits accrue to each fellow that may prove more beneficial on a long-term basis than more money.

First of all, at a startup, “you do everything,” Steinhauer said. Instead of developing a more narrow expertise at a first job, Venture for America fellows experience a broad range of responsibilities. Secondly, the natural ending point of the two-year commitment means that the fellows can be assured of a built-in opportunity to “pivot,” or make a career change. The two years provide “a great organic cutoff,” Steinhauer said. “I didn’t want to become complacent.”

Steinhauer works in New Orleans at Maverick VR, a virtual reality company that helps other companies provide virtual reality experiences at an array of corporate events and trade shows.

Another benefit of a Venture for America fellowship is that if Steinhauer wants to form his own startup after his time at Maverick VR, Venture for America will help him with that, too, through a program they offer fellows called the VFA Accelerator, which gives fellows starting businesses four months in Detroit to work, have access to advisors, and even pitch to investors.

There are a disproportionate amount of Greeley kids who do Venture for America after college. I would be very surprised if there was higher representation from any other high school.

“There are tons of fellow-founded companies,” Steinhauer said. They include Ash & Eire, a fashion company focused on clothing for men 5’8” and under; Aiva, which helps real estate agents with their leads; Cooperative Capital, a private equity fund that helps people pool money for community-focused investments; and The Spoke, which enables users to “search and store recommendations from friends and influencers. ”In this way, Venture for America hopes to have a long term impact on the economies of the cities to which they send fellows.

(As a side note, Venture for America founder Andrew Yang’s ambitions for our country don’t stop there. He’s running for President and already has a website up promoting his campaign to secure the Democratic nomination in 2020. His policies include a universal basic income and Medicare for all. “He’s getting support from young people because he’s very very progressive,” Steinhauer said.)

When he got involved with Venture for America, Steinhauer had an interesting realization. “There are a disproportionate amount of Greeley kids who do Venture for America after college,” Steinhauer said, adding that while he doesn’t have hard statistics on the percentage of participation by Horace Greeley graduates, it seems to him that there are a surprising number, especially since Venture for America recruits from colleges, not high schools. “I would be very surprised if there was higher representation from any other high school.”

Steinhauer said the environment in Chappaqua “creates a really tight-knit sense of community and I consider Chappaqua a really close town.” In this way, he said, growing up in Chappaqua prepares youngsters for the startup environment. In both places, community is key, and being surrounded by hard workers helps each person do his or her best.“You can get a lot of stuff done if you’re surrounded by great people and hard workers,” he said.