SYRACUSE — The Everson Museum of Art recently appointed new members to its board of trustees and a new employee.

New board members

Anthony Rojas and Ryan Maness recently joined the Everson Museum board of trustees. 

Rojas is a state-registered architect and lead designer for Dalpos Architects and Integrators. He is currently president-elect for the American Institute of Architects – CNY Chapter, and is a steering committee partner for AdaptCNY (formerly 40Below). Rojas was project coordinator for the recently completed Reimagine Place: Immersive Cloud art installation. He was a 40 Under Forty honoree in 2015, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Florida International University in 2007.

Maness is currently a senior research analyst and tax counsel for MultiState Associates. He earned his law degree from Syracuse University in 2009. Maness holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and political science from the University of Illinois.

New marketing and communications manager

The Everson Museum of Art has hired Sara Caliva as its new marketing and communications manager. She is a native of Syracuse and a graduate of Christian Brothers Academy. Caliva has a bachelor’s degree in theatre studies from Niagara University and a master’s degree in arts administration from Drexel University. She is very involved in the arts in Syracuse, having previously served as the producing artistic director of the Syracuse Shakespeare Festival and is currently the director of the Syracuse New Times’ Syracuse Area Live Theatre Awards. 

The Everson Museum of Art, whose roots extend to 1897, says it’s internationally recognized for its collection of ceramics, its pioneering art video collection, and its distinctive structural design by the noted architect I.M. Pei. 

SYRACUSE — Syracuse Community Health Center Inc. (SCHC) and all health centers across New York rely on funding from the federal government “now more than ever” to provide “vital” health care to the communities they serve. That’s according to Leola Rogers, president and CEO of Syracuse Community Health Center.

“We cannot continue our mission to care and provide quality health care to those individuals who may otherwise be excluded from the system without the federal funding currently at risk,” said Rogers.

SCHC is concerned it may have to close three patient centers and lay off health-care workers if a federal grant program isn’t restored.

That’s because a federal-funding program that it depends on expired Sept. 30, and Congressional lawmakers have yet to restore and extend the funding, according to U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.). The Democrat on Jan. 29 visited the SCHC to hold a news conference to discuss the situation. SCHC’s Rogers also spoke. 

Others attending to listen to Schumer’s remarks included representatives from community health centers serving areas that include Cortland, the North Country, Finger Lakes, Northern Oswego County, and the Utica–Rome area.

“You’ve heard all about the budget fights in Washington. One of the main issues we’re fighting for is to fully fund our community health centers. We don’t want to just do it a year at a time,” Schumer told the crowd. 

Without the funding, SCHC would be forced to lay off nearly 75 employees, close three health-care delivery sites, and reduce services by $3.8 million, according to Schumer’s office. The organization employs nearly 260 workers and serves as a primary care provider for more than 30,000 people.

About FQHCs

SCHC and similar facilities across Central New York are known as federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), according to information that the New York City–based Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS) provided at the news conference.

Federally qualified health centers are community-based health-care providers that receive funds from the HRSA health-center program to provide primary-care services in underserved areas, according to the HRSA website.

HRSA, which is short for Health Resources & Services Administration, is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Without Congressional action, New York FQHCs could lose up to $166 million in federal funding, which would lead to closures of health-center sites, layoffs of providers and staff, and a loss of access to primary and preventive care for “millions” of New Yorkers.

Federal FQHC funding comes from two sources that include annual discretionary appropriations and the health centers fund, which expired on Sept. 30, 2017, the end of the most recent federal fiscal year, according to the CHCANYS information. 

The centers use the funding to sustain health-center operations, including helping to “partially” cover the cost of caring for the uninsured, CHCANYS added. 

NEW HARTFORD — The Chamber Alliance of the Mohawk Valley (CAMV) has announced its new slate of officers for 2018. 

Dr. Marianne Buttenschon, president of the Marcy Chamber of Commerce, was elected CAMV president, succeeding Ray Durso, executive director of the Genesis Group, who held the post for three years. 

Michele Smith, representing the Greater Oneida Chamber of Commerce, was elected first VP after serving as second VP last year. 

Scott Mathias, executive director of the New Hartford Chamber of Commerce, was elected to the second VP position.

Jackie Walters, executive director of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce, was elected secretary. 

Bill Gray, of the Rome Area Chamber of Commerce, was re-elected as treasurer for another year.

The Chamber Alliance of the Mohawk Valley says it is an association of independent chambers of commerce and organizations that meets monthly for information sharing, mutual support, advocacy, education, and joint planning. Established in 1997, CAMV’s purpose is to represent and promote the collective interest of the chambers of commerce of the Mohawk Valley — the geographic area which includes, but is not limited to, Oneida, Herkimer, Madison, Otsego, Fulton, and Montgomery counties.

About 2,500 Mohawk Valley businesses, organizations, individuals, and professional firms are represented by the alliance chambers and affiliate partner organizations.