May 24, 2018
Joseph Benincasa, President & CEO
The state of The Actors Fund is good. Our financials are sound and so are our services to the community. The approved Strategic Plan will serve as an important guide as we move forward to better serve our friends and colleagues.
The Actors Fund is well-regarded by rating agencies like Charity Navigator and our governance represents best practices for non-profit organizations. The programs and services we offer reflect serious assessments and input from the community to which we are dedicated. I pledge, on behalf of the entire staff of The Actors Fund, to live up to your expectations in being the preeminent human services organization for our community.
As we all know, The Fund helps everyone in the performing arts and entertainment community. And a key strength is our commitment to meeting the changing needs of our community. For instance, because people in our community are less likely to have health insurance, we created programs to help people secure health insurance and receive quality health care. For the past year we have partnered with the world class Mount Sinai Medical System to create primary and urgent health care designed specifically for the needs and flexible schedules of our community.
In our early days, providing housing for seniors was a priority. Today, providing affordable housing has expanded to serving not only seniors, but also low-income working professionals, people living with HIV/AIDS or a disability.
Last Friday, we formally opened The Waldman Living Room, a center for seniors at The Dorothy Ross Friedman, our 31 story residence on West 57th Street and Tenth Avenue, as part of our efforts to better serve seniors. Last fall, we dedicated The Mark O’Donnell Theater at The Actors Fund Arts Center at The Schermerhorn in Brooklyn with underlying support for our Addiction and Recovery program.
At this time next year we will have completed the current expansion and modernization of the Nursing Home and Assisted Living Facility. Last fall saw the opening of The Shubert Pavilion, a 25 bed center for recovery from illness or surgery and 14 assisted living rooms. And, construction is underway on The Friedman Pavilion. This two-story building will offer a newly created 20 bed memory care unit, seven assisted living rooms, a new medical suite, arts studio, dining room, bistro and a garden designed for residents with memory challenges.
In East Hollywood, we are moving forward to build The Hollywood Arts Collective to include affordable artist housing, space for community-based arts organizations, as well as street-level retail, gallery, theater arts/rehearsal space, offices and an outdoor amphitheater.
The Fund’s highly successful Looking Ahead program in Los Angeles serves the unique issues facing children and teens that work in our field. We are launching an east coast Looking Ahead right here in New York City this fall. One of the key features will be a lounge named for Paul Libin, a dedicated Trustee, an iconic leader and strong voice for theater, on Broadway and Off, who served as President of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS for 25 years.
Housing, health care and an impressive array of social services and financial assistance programs are inspired and faithful to our mission.
Accomplishing all this requires an incredibly talented, professional and dedicated staff, which we have.
And then, of course, there is all of you, the Trustees of The Actors Fund, led by our Chairman, Brian Stokes Mitchell. We cannot say enough about how fortunate we are to enjoy your leadership and support.