Niskayuna native elected president of The New York Bar Foundation | People

A Niskayuna native has been elected president of The New York Bar Foundation.

Cristine Cioffi was elected president and according to a statement, the foundation was awarded $1.24 million in law-related grants to 70 organizations statewide.

Cioffi said, her goals as president are to raise the Foundation’s visibility among attorneys and the public, provide grants in all 62 New York counties, strengthen youth courts and respond to the changing need for foundation services.

"In the last two years, there were many, many requests for grants that were designed to either prevent bankruptcies, prevent foreclosures or help people who were experiencing serious economic problems gain access to legal services," said Cioffi in a statement. "Ideally, as the economy recovers, the need for those kinds of services will decline, allowing us to direct grant money to other areas of need."

Cioffi is president and partner of Cioffi, Slezak & Wildgrube and practices primarily in the fields of estate planning, administration and elder law. She also served 10 years as a Schenectady County legislator, including two years as minority leader and is a past president of the Schenectady County Bar Association. Below are grants the Bar Foundation awarded in 2011.

BAR FOUNDATION GRANTS 2011

In 2011, the Bar Foundation awarded $1.24 million in grants, scholarships and fellowships to nearly 70 organizations, including:

Albany-Capital District

Albany County Bar Association, Albany; Bethlehem Youth Court, Inc., Delmar; Council for the Prevention of Alcohol and Substance Abuse, Hudson Falls; Empire Justice Center, Albany; In Our Own Voices, Inc., Albany; Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, Albany; New York State Defenders Association, Inc., Albany; Prisoners' Legal Services of New York, Albany; Service, New York; Workers' Rights Law Center of New York, Inc., Kingston.

Central and Western New York

CASA of the Southern Tier, Inc., Corning; Farmworker Legal Services of New York, Inc., Rochester; Gay Men's Health Crisis, New York; Genesee County CASA for Children, Batavia; Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Inc., Buffalo; Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, Inc., Utica; Legal Aid Society of Rochester, Inc., Rochester; Legal Assistance of Western New York, Inc., Geneva; Legal Services for the Elderly, Disabled or Disadvantaged of Western New York, Inc. Buffalo; Lifespan of Greater Rochester, Inc., Rochester; Partnership for Ontario County, Canandaigua; Syracuse University, Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, Syracuse; The Center for Youth Services, Inc., Rochester.

Long Island

Hillside Children's Foundation, Morris; Huntington Youth Bureau Youth Development Research Institute, Inc., Huntington; Mercy Haven, Inc., Islip Terrace; Nassau County Bar Association, Inc., Mineola; Nassau/Suffolk Law Services Committee, Inc., Hempstead.

New York City, Lower Hudson Valley

Brennan Center for Justice, New York; The Bronx Defenders, Bronx; The Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project, Inc., Brooklyn; Center for Court Innovation/Fund for the City of New York, New York; Center for Family Representation, New York; Edwin Gould Services for Children & Families, Brooklyn; Goddard Riverside Community Center, New York; Housing Court Answers, New York; inMotion Inc., New York; LatinoJustice PRLDEF, New York; Lawyers for Children, New York; Legal Action Center, New York; Legal Aid Society, Kew Gardens; Legal Aid Society, New York; Legal Services New York City, New York; Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, New York; Mental Health Association of Westchester, Inc., Tarrytown; MFY Legal Services, Inc., New York; MinKwon Center for Community Action, Flushing; My Sisters' Place, Inc., White Plains; National Center for Law & Economic Justice, New York; Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, New York; New York Civil Liberties Union, New York; New York County Lawyers' Association, New York; New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Inc., New York; New York Legal Assistance Group, New York; Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, New York; Partnership for Children's Rights, New York; Partnership for the Homeless, New York; Pro Bono Net, Inc., New York; Queens County Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project, Jamaica; Safe Horizon, Inc., New York; Selfhelp Community Services, Inc., New York; The Door - A Center of Alternatives, Inc., New York; The National Network to End Domestic Violence, New York; Volunteers of Legal Services, New York.

Out of State

University of Pennsylvania Law School, Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition, Philadelphia, Pa.; Vermont Immigration and Asylum Advocates, Burlington, Vt.