Pitney Meadows Community Farm has received a three-year grant from The Hortense and Louis Rubin Community Health Fund of The Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region to expand its Food as Medicine: Clinical program with Saratoga Community Health Center.

The partners plan to scale the Nutrition Rx program and further integrate locally grown produce into patient care. The collaboration is entering its seventh year.

Over the next three years, the program is expected to grow from 20 to 40 to 80 participants per year across Saratoga Community Health Center and the Saratoga Backstretch Clinic.

Patients receive weekly prescription produce boxes during a six-month growing season, nutrition education in a group setting and ongoing support. Participants complete pre- and post-program assessments to track changes in food access, health outcomes and behavior.

“This is a turning point for how healthcare shows up for people in our community,” said Brooke McConnell, Executive Director of Pitney Meadows Community Farm. “Over the past seven years, our partnership with Dr. Rodriguez and CHC has proven that when you connect people to fresh, nourishing, local food, health outcomes change. Now, we have the opportunity to scale that work… embedding food not as a supplement, but as a fundamental part of care and overall wellness.

By Rod Bacon

Empire State University was founded with the mission of providing adult student-centered education. 

As New York State’s only online public university, it has graduated 105,000 alumni since it was established as a college in 1971. Currently, there are 18,500 students enrolled from all 50 states. The youngest graduate is 19 and the oldest is 83. The school is growing at 10 percent per year.

According to President Lisa Vollendorf, Ph.D., there are significant challenges facing education today that are addressed by the school. She said there is a lot of questioning around whether there is true value to a college degree. 

“There is a whole generation who have accumulated a lot of debt going to college and are having a difficult time paying down that debt,” she said. 

In addition, there are about 42 million Americans with some college but no credential, meaning they took some college at some point but never graduated. 

“Those two things together have created real challenges in the eyes of the public and policy makers around the true value of college and what the investment should be in college on the part of taxpayers,” she said.

Dr. Vollendorf emphasized that these challenges were not created by Empire State or institutions like it. Undergraduate tuition is less than $7,500 and credit is awarded for prior learning.

“Empire has a long tradition of being committed to full transferability,” she said. “One of the things that happens in education is people attend one college and transfer to another but a lot of the time more than forty percent of credits aren’t transferable. We award up to ninety-three transfer credits.” 

By Carol Ann Conover

Veronica Agama did not arrive in the Capital Region with investors, a business plan or a commercial lease. She arrived with a laundry cart loaded with empanadas, a portable frying pan and a customer base she had built one weekend at a time in a Queens park during the height of the pandemic. Four years later, her company, Viva Empanadas, operates two locations in the Albany area and is preparing to open a third in Saratoga Springs at 26 Congress St., inside Congress Plaza.

Agama, who immigrated to New York City from Ecuador at 18 and spent more than a decade working in restaurant kitchens — from an Argentine steakhouse in Queens to fine dining near Bryant Park in Manhattan — launched Viva Empanadas when COVID-19 shuttered the restaurant industry and left her without income and with two young sons to support. What began as a way to generate extra cash evolved, within a few years, into a multilocation restaurant business that has earned support from city officials and economic development organizations.

“Viva Empanadas is my dream,” Agama said at her Albany grand opening in August 2024. “It was years in the making. I wanted to bring all Latin flavors together under one beautiful roof with an offering that everybody can experience no matter the type of diet restrictions, the circumstance, the budget.”

The brand’s growth has been methodical. Agama first established herself at the Galleria 7 Market in Latham, where she built a following for her empanadas — each variety distinguished not only by its filling but by its dough. A corn-crusted Colombian-style empanada, a cassava-dough version that is both gluten-free and vegan, a plantain-crust offering layered with cheese: The menu reflects Agama’s years of working alongside cooks from Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Peru and Ecuador, and her conviction that Latin cuisine, in its full range, deserves a dedicated showcase.

By Paul Post

World-class racing and top-flight entertainment are on tap, providing a significant economic boost when the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival returns to Saratoga for the third and final time.

The 158th edition of the historic Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes highlights five days of racing from Wednesday, June 3, to Sunday, June 7.

But plenty of off-track fun is planned, too, as the band Fitz and the Tantrums headlines a free Belmont on Broadway concert with special guest Vertical Horizon, from 7 to 10 p.m. in downtown Saratoga Springs.

“Belmont on Broadway has really become the heartbeat of the week,” Discover Saratoga President Darryl Leggieri said. “It brings a critical mass of people downtown, creates energy for our businesses and showcases the very best of Saratoga Springs. It’s a perfect example of how tourism and community pride come together to create real economic impact. It also shows the world that Saratoga can deliver a world-class experience, and our community shows up in a big way to make it happen.”

Los Angeles-based Fitz and the Tantrums bring a vibrant, feel-good sound rooted in indie pop and neo-soul, known for high-energy, horn-heavy hits such as “MoneyGrabber,” “Out of My League” and “HandClap.” With dual lead vocals and a dynamic stage presence, they’ve become a staple on major festival circuits, delivering an upbeat, danceable experience that resonates with a wide audience.

Vertical Horizon, formed in Washington, D.C., is a multiplatinum alternative rock band known for its late-1990s and early-2000s hits, including the chart-topping “Everything You Want.” Blending alternative rock, pop rock and acoustic elements, its music has remained popular with fans who grew up with that era, while still delivering high-energy live performances today.

By Rod Bacon

One of the area’s premier photographers has relocated to downtown Saratoga Springs.

Tom Stock, owner of Stock Studios Photography, continues to provide clients with exceptional images from his new studio in the Shannon-Rose Design building at 65 Clinton Street after selling his building on West Street.

“I have the whole second floor,” he said. “It is exactly the same size as the main studio area of the building we just sold. It’s everything I could have asked for.” 

For 35 years, Stock has been offering a wide range of services that include architectural, advertising, food, product, portraits/lifestyle, and aerial photography.

Locally, he has worked with all of the hospitals, banks, and law firms in the Capital District, as well as many area architects and building contractors. He has also provided images for the New York State Department of Health and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

He noted that he has worked with Saratoga Hospital’s marketing department for 30 years, shooting everything from staff portraits to operations.