BANKING ON VOLUNTEERS

More than 120 KeyBank employees in Westchester, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Ulster and Putnam counties and New York City, recently joined their teammates across the nation in leaving their offices to volunteer for local nonprofits during Neighbors Make the Difference Day, one of KeyBank’s most visible community volunteer initiatives. The companywide day of service is a long-standing annual event that demonstrates KeyBank’s commitment to helping its neighbors and communities thrive. Nationally, KeyBank closed the majority of its branches at noon to enable an estimated 4,000 teammates to complete more than 500 projects with nonprofits amounting to over 16,000 community service hours in a single day.

The projects completed by employees in

Bank Continues To Grow

Orange County Bancorp Inc., parent company of Orange Bank & Trust Co. and Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. (HVIA) recently announced it has been added to the Russell 2000â Index, one of the most widely watched stock market indexes comprised of 2,000 small-cap U.S. companies.

The recognition represents a significant milestone in the company’s 131-year history, reflecting its continued growth and reputation as an important contributor to New York’s Hudson Valley small-business economy. The last full year ending Dec. 31, 2022, was the company’s most successful on record, with

$24.4 million in earnings representing a $3.1 million or 14.4%, increase over 2021. The bank also grew its loan portfolio $278 million or 21.5% during the period to $1.6 billion, and saw total deposits reach approximately $2.0 billion both as of year-end 2022.

Widely regarded as the Hudson Valley’s premier financial institution for commercial lending, business banking and wealth management services, the bank has more than $2.4 billion in assets and plays a vital role in spurring region-defining real estate projects operating from 15 offices across New York’s Orange, Rockland, Westchester and Bronx counties.

Key’s Hudson Valley/Metro New York market included Friends of Karen, North Salem; Green Chimneys Children Services, Brewster; Mohonk Preserve, Gardner; Needle Youth Mission Outreach, Poughkeepsie; New Horizons Resources, Pleasant Valley; ReTHINK Food, New York City; Sparrow’s Nest of the Hudson Valley, Wappingers Falls; Stamford Senior Center, Stamford, Connecticut;

The Bowery Mission, New York City: The Brookside School – The Arc Mid-Hudson, Cottlekill;

Town of Walkill Boys and Girls Club, Circleville; United Way of Dutchess-Orange Region, Poughkeepsie;

United Way of Westchester and Putnam, White Plains; Village of Red Hook Police Department, Red Hook; and West Street Child Care Learning Center Inc., Spring Valley.

ADDRESSING INCREASED CLIMATE-CHANGE-RELATED HAZARDS

Since communities across New York state face intensifying climate-change-related hazards, including dangerous floods, the New York State Senate and Assembly have now passed a bill, which will protect shorelines and environment from these threats. The bill sponsored by State Senator Shelley B. Mayer and Assemblyman Steve Otis passed both legislative bodies. The bill, if signed by the Governor, will require the Department of Environmental Conservation to encourage the use of nature-based solutions as the preferred approach for stabilizing tidal shorelines in the oversight and regulatory decisions of the agency.

Nature-based solutions, or living shorelines, are shoreline management techniques that are supported or inspired by nature or natural processes and functions and are designed to mimic natural shorelines, improving the resilience of shorelines and communities.

The bill was inspired by the work of Save the Sound and Riverkeeper, two major advocacy organizations confronting the impacts of climate change on water bodies and inland areas.

“Living shoreline principles are vital to improving coastal resilience, reducing flood impacts, preventing shoreline erosion and protecting natural habitats…,” said Otis.