Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy

Louisa Lee Schuyler began her organizing work when she was 23. As the Civil War began in April 1861, her father, George Lee Schuyler, co-organized the Union Defense Committee to provide emergency funds for the war effort. Two thousand women volunteered for the new Women’s Central Association of Relief to coordinate relief efforts; as a result, in June 1861 President Lincoln approved the civilian U.S. Sanitary Commission to provide some oversight (its leadership included Frederick Law Olmsted as executive secretary), while WCAR continued as an independent auxiliary. Louisa Lee Schuyler became WCAR's leader, chairing publicity and reaching out to volunteers in multiple cities. Other WCAR leaders were Julia Kean (wife of Hamilton Fish), Gertrude Stevens (daughter of banker John Austin Stevens, a president of the National Bank of Commerce in New York, a predecessor of J.P. Morgan & Co.), and Mary Morris Hamilton (Schuyler's aunt). Schuyler founded the State Charities Aid Association on 11 May 1872. The name, suggested by Frederick Law Olmsted reflected the mission of encouraging philanthropists to assist charities in the state of New York. As a private charity, the Association was distinct from New York's State Board of Charities, which founded the Charity Organization Society of the City of New York. Nonetheless, these organizations did work together. Three years after the founding, Gertrude Stevens Rice (now also known as Mrs. William Bordman Rice) joined the organization and remained involved for 51 years until her death. By 1887, there were branches of the Association in most New York counties, The organization inspected state facilities, In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Association was known for its work in relation to tuberculosis. It educated the public about tuberculosis at county fairs and public meetings. During the campaign more than 11 million Red Cross seals and the regional cities were challenge the city of Troy, the perennial winner, however, the city's resident were spurred on by the challenge to by even more seals. In May 1922, the Association celebrated its 50-year anniversary. In 2022, the organization celebrated its 150th anniversary. == Leadership ==

Nineteenth-century presidents of the board included Schuyler and Joseph Hodges Choate. George Folger Canfield became president of the board in 1899. Future U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt was an early board member, as were Theodore William Dwight, Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles Loring Brace, William Cullen Bryant, Grace Dodge, Joseph Hodges Choate, Josephine Shaw Lowell, Gertrude Stevens Rice, and Julia Kean (wife of Hamilton Fish). In 1915, recognizing Schuyler's 40 years of charitable work, Columbia University bestowed upon her an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. The SCAA had multiple connections to Columbia Law, as Canfield was at the time a law professor there; Roosevelt had attended the law school without graduating and had similarly been given an honorary LL.D. in 1899; and Dwight, who had died in 1892, had founded the law school in 1858. Kate Breslin has served as Schuyler Center's President and CEO since August 2010. == Early Work ==

Early on, the Association sought to end one New York county's "remnant of the barbarous system of farming out the care of the poor to the lowest bidder," as Schuyler wrote. "The abuses connected with this practice can well be imagined. Through the exertions of our visiting committee, this system was speedily and completely abolished." The change was made in 1875. In 1881, the Right of Entrance Law gave SCAA the right to inspect state facilities. In 1909, the Insanity Law was consolidated in chapter 27 of the Consolidated Laws of New York. In 1907, the Association began campaigning to stop the spread of tuberculosis. In 1908, the Association wrote recommendations for building new hospitals. == Current ==

In the 1990s, the Association lobbied the state for an earned income tax credit, lowering taxes for the working poor. The Association also tried to lobby the state to increase the minimum wage, with less success. Schuyler Center is a trusted leader in advocating for policy solutions that address child poverty and its related hardships, including spearheading the New York State Child Poverty Reduction Act and its implementation, advocating for a robust state child tax credit, championing universal child care in the state budget, advocating for a family-centered child welfare system, and supporting state investments that support child and family wellbeing. Since 2018, Schuyler Center has published the annual State of New York's Children Data Book, which shares state and county-level data in the areas of child care, child poverty, food insecurity, child health, oral health, and child welfare. Schuyler Center's policy experts are frequently interviewed by state, local, and national media outlets for insights on policy related to child wellbeing. Schuyler Center houses and leads several campaigns, including Medicaid Matters New York, the Empire State Campaign for Child Care, New York Can End Child Poverty, and the Child and Family Wellbeing Action Network. == References ==