News
May 29, 2025Rising Leaders Build, Unveil Sustainable Community Gardens
Leadership Capital Region, a group of 43 of the area’s rising leaders, unveiled a revitalized community garden for Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region today. The garden supports Trinity Alliance’s immediate and long-lasting promise to make healthy food accessible to everyone in Albany’s underserved communities.
Participants from the leadership program performed every aspect of the project from clearing land to pouring soil, assembling 20 beds, planting vegetables, and raising $30,000 in community support. Program members include leaders who represent the Albany Med Health System; Bond, Schoeneck and King; Broadview FCU; CDPHP; Highmark; KeyBank; GE Vernova; M&T Bank; New York State; Northeast Shared Services; Plug Power; Proctors Collaborative; The Pride Center of the Capital Region; Whiteman Osterman & Hanna; and numerous organizations with deep roots in our area.
“We are grateful to Leadership Capital Region for supporting Trinity Alliance of the Capital Region for its annual class project,” Trinity Alliance CEO Daquetta P. Jones-Johnson said. “The class not only raised all the funds and bought products to refurbish our Arbor Hill Center Community Garden but also did all the actual dirty work! It’s this type of hands-on partnership that allows our community and Trinity to blossom.”
Leadership Capital Region, an initiative of the Capital Region Chamber, brings emerging professionals together to strengthen their connection and devotion to the Capital Region. This occurs through sessions immersed in topics that impact and differentiate our area, such as community and political engagement; economic development; education; health care; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and arts and culture. An annual community service project capstones the program.
2025 class member Zachary Malison, managing principal at architecture, engineering, and construction firm CSArch, said, “Our work to build these gardens has shown us that connection to the community is fundamental to good leadership. We can make more meaningful contributions the closer we understand what the people of our region need. Through Leadership Capital Region, we are empowered to elevate our professional impact with the same spirit of collaboration and connectedness.”
“This project demonstrates the very best of community and that we are, in fact, a regional neighborhood,” said Capital Region Chamber President and CEO Mark Eagan. “It is much more than two organizations partnering together. It is civic-minded leaders recognizing that we all have a role in our collective success. The members of our class who built these gardens for Trinity Alliance demonstrate the strength that is formed from working together and making a difference.”
Since the program began nearly 40 years ago, more than 1,300 area leaders have graduated from Leadership Capital Region and have gone on to hold influential roles in all sectors of our communities. Each year’s class project is determined after identifying key issues in our region, a call for proposals, and a vote among program participants. Trinity Alliance’s proposal supported class priorities of empowering underserved young people; promoting mental health and wellness; and addressing immediate and systemic challenges of poverty.
