In 1945, she established the National Scholarship Service and Fund for Negro Students (NSSFNS), an association committed to placing African Americans in institutions of higher education.

[4] After graduation from Smith in 1945, Schwartz sought to address the extremely low number of African American students at the college.

The organization petitioned colleges and universities to open their doors to African American applicants, and matched qualified students with available scholarship money.

In 1962, Schwartz contacted the presidents of several colleges, and a handful of them became the board of directors of Catalyst, Inc., a new organization that she hoped would address the issues she and others had experienced as businesswomen and mothers.

At the time, Catalyst's mission was "to bring to our country's needs the unused capacities of educated women who want to combine family and work.

It sparked a heated debate after The New York Times ridiculed Schwartz's idea, dubbing it the "Mommy Track.