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| Associate Executive Director |
An almost 30-year veteran of the 92nd Street Y, Associate Executive Director Helaine Geismar Katz is responsible for the development and execution of the internationally known cultural and community center's roughly 5,000 annual offerings—the product of the over 30 distinct programs in the arts, education, Jewish culture, early-childhood education and family life, community service, and health and fitness. These programs, which include lectures, concerts, dance performances, literary readings and other audience events as well as a multitude of classes and workshops, serve 300,000 people each year, from newborns to centenarians. Founded in 1874, the Y has a budget of $46 million, a full-time staff of over 300, and three facilities.
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Helaine Geismar Katz was instrumental in creating the 92nd Street Y as it exists today. During the 1990s, she developed the now-famous lecture series, which presents leaders in virtually every field; referring to the series, The New York Times has called Mrs. Katz "the quintessential New Yorker behind that quintessential New York institution." Among her other innovations are the groundbreaking Parenting Center she launched in 1978 to help new and expectant parents manage their responsibilities; the Nesher Program for Children with Developmental Disabilities, one of the first such efforts to recognize the unique needs of this population; the now 12-program-strong Camp Program; and the Singles and Personal Growth Programs, which offer hundreds of workshops each year. Altogether, during the 1990s and under Mrs. Katz's leadership, these programs grew to 20 full-time professionals from three and 200 part-time professionals from six. The programs' budget rose to $3,000,000 from $300,000.
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Following the reorganization of the 92nd Street Y in the early 1990s, Mrs. Katz became the first director of the Charles Simon Center for Adult Life & Learning, one of what are now eight programming divisions. Her responsibilities included oversight of the programs already under her management as well as of the Y's Buttenwieser Library, the 300-bed de Hirsch Residence, and the 60+ program for older adults.
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Before joining the 92nd Street Y in 1977 to oversee children's and adult programs as director of what was then the Group Services Department, Helaine Geismar Katz directed a model program for severely and profoundly mentally retarded children, led a two-year study on special education in New York City and was a consultant on services for the disabled. She has held many leadership positions in both the Jewish communal professional field and the community serving the disabled. Her advocacy for the disabled includes serving for eight years at the request of Governors Carey and Cuomo as president of the Board of Visitors of the Manhattan Developmental Center.
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Helaine Geismar Katz received a B.A. in Speech Pathology and Audiology from Syracuse University and an M.A. in Speech Pathology from Columbia University. She has studied in the post-graduate Judaic studies program at New York's Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. A fourth-generation Manhattanite, Mrs. Katz lives in New York with her husband and two sons.
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© 2008 92nd Street Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association
All Rights Reserved. |
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