our mission

Our mission is to advance the Roosevelt legacy and support the National Park Service in conserving and enhancing the lands and buildings associated with the Roosevelt family on four sites in Hyde Park, the 32nd President’s home.

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.”

FACING THE FUTURE

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Hyde Park Foundation began life in 2012 as the Roosevelt Vanderbilt Conservancy, a New York-based 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation. In 2018, New York State recognized the Conservancy’s change-of-name to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Hyde Park Foundation.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Ina A Car

Our mission is to advance the Roosevelt legacy and support the National Park Service in conserving and enhancing the lands and buildings associated with the Roosevelt family on four sites in Hyde Park, the 32nd President’s home. They include FDR’s homes, Springwood and Top Cottage; Eleanor Roosevelt’s home, Val-Kill; and the former Vanderbilt estate, which for its historic significance and scenic beauty, FDR established as a National Historic Site in 1939.

A non-membership organization, the Foundation is governed by a board of directors who believe that immersion in the natural world that FDR knew as he grew up in the Hudson River Valley reveals an exciting opportunity. The land that ingrained in the future President the respect for nature that characterized so many programs of his New Deal has the potential to serve as a teaching laboratory for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come to Hyde Park annually. By presenting educational programs that use the landscapes of Roosevelt’s childhood and recreate some of the innovative, always practical, projects that he introduced, the Foundation seeks to transform a presidential memorial into a future-oriented demonstration of practical, scalable conservation. Doing so will give tangible expression to key elements of Franklin Roosevelt’s character: his intense pragmatism and his focus on the future. Today, the Foundation is committed to working with the National Park Service to build this future-focused “teaching laboratory” at Hyde Park.

We’re committed to imbuing this presidential memorial with a forward-looking legacy

CAITLYN GERMINARO is a Human Services professional whose passion is supporting and advocating for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Caitlyn is a Senior Program Coordinator for a non-profit organization serving people with disabilities and partnering with communities across the Mid-Hudson Valley. In 2022, Caitlyn received a CP State Annual Conference Staff Recognition Award. She also received the 2023 Leadership Dutchess Community Advocate Award and is a graduate of the Leadership Dutchess program. Caitlyn holds a BS from the College of Saint Rose and an MS from Walden University. A golfer, gardener, and sunset enthusiast, she lives in Red Hook, NY, with her husband and their two dogs.

DAVID SCHWARTZ Born in 1951, David grew up in New York City. In 1972, he received his B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance. Following graduation, David began his career with Mikasa, a leader in the Tableware and Housewares industry – first in sales, then in management and as a company principal. Following the company’s initial public offering on the NYSE, David retired from the firm in 1996 and has since made his livelihood as a private investor. Recently, he’s become an active member of the Hudson Valley Start-up Fund, an Investment group that seeks to enable a stronger business ecosystem for entrepreneurs in the Hudson Valley region.

David lives at “Windridge”, a 130 acre former dairy farm (now mostly forested), in Hyde Park, New York. The land adjoins the Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site.

David serves on the Boards of several Hudson Valley non-profits, including the Children’s Home of Poughkeepsie, the Vassar Haiti Project, and the Mid-Hudson chapter of Mensa.

FDR Hyde Park Foundation Symbol

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