The history of Sunnyside Center begins with the bequest of Mrs. Mary Agnes Burton, who willed the present property to the Sisters of Charity. At that time the Sisters ran the St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum for Girls. Around 1925 it was decided to use this property as a summer home for the girls. A swimming pool and a large dormitory was erected and the summer program was successfully carried out for the next ten years. Around 1935 the orphanage closed and the property remained unused until 1949 when the pastor of St. Patrick's, a neighborhood Catholic church, obtained permission from the Sisters to use the property as a summer day camp for the local children, Soon afterwards the Sisters gave the property to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany.

In 1960, Bishop Broderick of the Roman Catholic Diocese placed the operation of Sunnyside under the direction of the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz, stipulating that they do social work within the neighborhood and continue the summer camp. This program was successfully carried out until 1979, when the Sisters were transferred back to their headquarters in Kansas.

With the Sisters' departure, Sunnyside's lay Board of Directors asked the diocese for help in staffing the 1980-81 year. As a result, three people from the Diocesan Volunteer Service Corps were assigned to Sunnyside. Sister Mary Theresa Ryan, formerly of Catholic Family Services, became director and established a drop in Center for children to come after school. In 1982, Sister Francis was assigned as director and established a food pantry and thrift shop as part of Sunnyside's programs.

With the departure of Sister Francis, Sister Claudette Harris was appointed as Executive Director of Sunnyside. From 1983 to 2006, many renovations have taken place --refurbishing of the inside of all three buildings, outside renovations, new heating systems, a new creative playground, new pool deck, new bathrooms and a new pavilion with changing rooms. These renovations have enabled the expansion of many new programs for children and families in need. During Sister Claudette's 21 year tenure at Sunnyside Center an on site day care center for 3, 4 and 5 year olds was been established. The Sunnyside Center After School Program (registered by New York State), now includes tutoring, mentoring, and computer programs, arts & crafts, and homework assistance. Sunnyside Center will continue to expand its services to the community of Troy, NY as long as our funds continue to support us.

In 2003 an addition was added to the daycare program for infants and toddlers. The building was named The Sister Claudette Harris Child Development Center, after its Executive Director.

Sunnyside Center, Inc. is a non-profit child care agency of Catholic Charities having served the children of Troy since 1925. Sunnyside is located in an urban community in North Troy (EDC and 1990 Census Tract #404) and serves Troy's highest crime afflicted, drug infested, domestic violence and poverty-rated neighborhoods. It is the sole provider of services to a most disenfranchised population of our community.

More recently these neighborhoods have experienced high rates of poverty, unemployment, and public assistance utilization. One-third of the population living below the poverty level, compared to 17.2% in the City overall. Unemployment exceeds 12% and 18% of the households received public assistance. Income levels are low: the per capita income for these neighborhoods is $9,080 - about three-quarters of the per capita for the City of Troy.

The educational attainment levels of residents of North Central and downtown Troy are the lowest among the Albany, Schenectady and Troy enterprise neighborhoods. Only 57.1% of residents aged 25 and over have a high school diploma and 18.6% did not advance beyond the ninth grade.

The profile of the participants we serve are as follows:

Over 65% of the families are known to Protective Services, Juvenile Probation, Family Court and the Justice System; Over 85% of the children in our program are from minority groups; Over 96% fall within the poverty level; Over 80% of the participants we served are involved in one or more of the following: substance abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence and crime During the past year, the center has provided servces to 3,654 individuals. These services included mentoring, tutoring, food pantry, after school program, summer program, emergency asisstance and day care. The center is a high risk youth project, which incorporates family services as well ,with a broad range of revention and intervention strategies. The target population is still growing in these neighborhoods and the demands for services are increasing. However, funding is becoming more and more competitive and a great deal of energy is used to find available resources.

Our programs are greatly needed because it is one of the only options that give children and families a chance to break free of bonds of poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence. Our program gives hop. Therefore, our goal is to continue the current programs, to expand current level of services, to continue to collaborate with schools, other agencies and families by offering positive and logical choices for "keeping children safe" to provide alternatives to negative and dangerous behavior, and to focus on additional ancillary support services for this community as needed.

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