"Yes We Can" Community Center Opens 

After a decade of hard work and shared goals, the dream of a community center in New Cassel has finally come to fruition. The Town of North Hempstead "Yes We Can" Community Center opened at 141 Garden Street in New Cassel earlier this month in a festive ceremony that drew together longtime residents, community leaders, government officials, and various youth of New Cassel.

The state-of-the art, $26 million facility will serve several purposes including as a recreation center with two NBA-size basketball courts, a fitness center, game room, dance and television studios; as an official government resource; and as an emergency response unit with a 311 call center stationed in the building.

Plans to build the youth center emerged in 2002, when along with community and political leaders of The Unified New Cassel Community Revitalization Corporation and the Town of North Hempstead, Sustainable Long Island facilitated the community planning process, "Seeking a Shared Vision for New Cassel." Nearly 1000 residents, property owners, businesses, and community activists participated, learned more about new processes for community revitalization, and together articulated a clear, concise plan for New Cassel. Over a decade later, New Cassel is reenergized and has experienced a rebirth with this project leading the way.

Read more about the Community Center here and on Sustainable Long Island's blog.

Volunteer at Local Farmers' Markets

The days/times vary by each market (see below). Those interested can call Sustainable Long Island at 516-873-0230 and ask to speak with Erin or Janice. You may also email your interest in volunteering to info@sustainableli.org.

Volunteers needed:

Flanders | 10am-2pm | Saturdays through October 13th

Freeport | 11am-3pm | Saturdays through October 27th

Wyandanch | 1pm-4pm | Saturdays through October 27th

North Bellport | 11am-4pm | Saturdays through October 27th

Roosevelt | 11am-3pm | Sundays through October 28th

New Cassel | 11am-3pm | Saturdays through November 17th

In addition, Flanders Farm Fresh Food Market will be hosting a special "Kids Day" on Saturday, September 22nd, during normal market hours. "Kids Day" will include fun-filled activities, such as face painting, exciting games, fun contests, and more. Bring the whole family to David W. Crohan Center at 655 Flanders Road on September 22nd and support local food, farms, and fun!

Shop Smart. Do Good!

Lord & Taylor will be hosting Shop Smart. Do Good! - an exclusive day filled with special savings at their Manhasset (Tuesday, October 2nd) and Garden City (Tuesday, October 30th) stores. As part of the celebration, Lord & Taylor is giving Sustainable Long Island an opportunity to raise thousands of dollars toward advancing sustainability across Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Sustainable Long Island is one of several non-profit groups participating in the sale of $5 admission tickets to Lord & Taylor's Shop Smart. Do Good! event. Sustainable Long Island retains all the proceeds from our ticket sales. With each purchase of a ticket, you receive:

• Two 25% bonus coupons!
• A 15% savings pass to be used all day long on regular and sale-priced merchandise storewide!
• Opportunity to win great prices!
• Also, if you sign up for a new Lord & Taylor credit account, you will receive an additional 15% off all of the day's purchases, on top of the coupon or savings pass savings!
• Current cardholders will receive an additional 10% off all day long!

Vacant Land in Cities Could Provide Important Social and Ecological Benefits

Excerpts from Timon McPhearson's article on repurposing vacant lots into community assets

Walk through any major city and you'll see vacant land. These are the weed lots, garbage strewn undeveloped spaces, and high crime areas that most urban residents consider blights on the neighborhood. In some cases, neighbors have organized to transform these spaces into community amenities such as shared garden spaces, but all too often these lots persist as unrecognized opportunities for urban improvement. In densely populated cities with sometimes few opportunities for new park or green space development, small vacant lots could provide green relief, especially in low-income areas with reduced access to urban parkland.

And yet, few cities are taking advantage of these underutilized spaces to improve urban biodiversity and provide additional ecosystem services. What's even more surprising is the vast amount of urban land that is categorized as vacant. Here is what we know:  Local and regional urban ecosystems provide important services that urban residents rely on for daily living. For example, ecosystems can supply clean water, produce food, absorb air pollution, mitigate urban heat, provide opportunity for recreation, decrease crime, and more.

To improve the quality and quantity of ecosystem services that cities can reliably depend on, and given the financial difficulties most cities are facing, we need to find the low cost investment/high rate of return urban spaces where urban biodiversity and ecosystem services can be improved. These have to be spaces where people can interact with people (a component of ecosystems) and where people can interact with other components of ecosystems (air, soil, water, plants, animals).  

Read the full article by Timon McPhearson, Assistant Professor at The New School, New York, on The Nature of Cities website.

Invest in Elmont Scholarship 

Invest in Elmont Award

The Elmont Chamber of Commerce has announced the Invest in Elmont $5,000 Scholarship opportunity. This opportunity is an entrepreneurial program where Juniors and Seniors in the Sewanhaka Central High School District create business ideas and write business plans on how they would "Invest in Elmont". The winner of the competition receives a $5,000 scholarship. Click here for the application form. You can also send an email to investinelmont@gmail.com or call Invest in Elmont at (516) 362-6450 for more details.

New Water Quality Portal Available 

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) have launched a new Water Quality Portal for discovery and acquisition of water-quality data. Technological advances and continuing collaboration over the past 10 years have made it possible to bring together discrete chemical, physical, and microbiological data from USGS's National Water Information System Web Interface (NWISWeb) and USEPA's modern Storage and Retrieval Data Warehouse (STORET) into one common Portal. Improved access to water-quality information, such as provided by the Portal, can lead to better informed water-quality management and policy decisions at all levels.
 
The Portal provides a single, user-friendly web interface showing where water-quality information is available from federal, state, tribal and other partners. It greatly reduces time and effort required to discover, evaluate, acquire, compile, and format discrete water-quality data and information. The Portal is unique in that it provides scientists, policy-makers, and the public with a single web interface to query data stored in the modern STORET and NWISWeb systems.  
 
Data can be identified and acquired based on state, county, watershed, site(s) and by authoritative data source. Future enhancements planned for the Portal in the near term include a data mapper to further simplify data discovery and acquisition. 

Click to access the Water Quality Portal today!

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These challenging economic times have magnified the problems we Long Islanders face each and every day. With our leaders warning us of tougher times to come, thinking regionally and acting locally is urgent. It is in all of our best interests to stay engaged and do what we can together to build a more sustainable Long Island.

Please consider making a tax-deductible gift to Sustainable Long Island that will help support our ongoing, and future work within your Long Island communities; while helping advance economic development, environmental health, and social equity!