Sustainable Long Island
October 2015
Sustainable Long Island Newsletter
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For all Sustainable Long Island news! 
In This Issue
Sustainable Long Island Awarded $40,000 from Citi Foundation
Long Beach TD Trees Planting
Complete Streets Focus Group Meeting
High School Fellowship 2014-2015 Recap
3rd Annual Sustainability All-Star Awards
Board of Directors
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Sustainable Long Island Awarded $40,000 from Citi Foundation
Ongoing Long Beach post-Sandy recovery 

Sustainable Long Island announced it has been awarded a $40,000 grant from the Citi Foundation in support of the nonprofit organization's recovery and resiliency efforts throughout the City of Long Beach. This ongoing program aims to strengthen Long Beach small businesses and their workforce through a variety of economic, environmental, and marketing programs.

Thanks to the Citi Foundation's generous funding, the City of Long Beach will continue to become a stronger, more resilient community with a more vibrant workforce, renewed economic activity, and thriving local businesses that are better prepared to weather future storms. We believe this partnership between the City, the Citi Foundation, and Sustainable Long Island is key to the long-term economic and environmental sustainability of the City of Long Beach.

"Both Sustainable Long Island and the Citi Foundation continue to show their unwavering support and tireless efforts on a host of different initiatives throughout the City of Long Beach, and they clearly share the City Council's vision for supporting local business," said Jack Schnirman, City of Long Beach Manager. "We look forward to working together and partnering on projects that have helped build our Long Beach back stronger, smarter, and safer in the years following Superstorm Sandy."

Sustainable Long Island will offer small business support services, such as small business planning, business succession and job skills training, marketing and promotion guidance, environmental sustainability projects, and continued recovery initiatives throughout the City.

Sustainable Long Island's continued efforts will include working directly with the City of Long Beach's Economic Development Department, the City Manager's office, the Chamber of Commerce, and many local community groups. Working with small businesses, Sustainable Long Island will:
  • Conduct small business seminars to assist business owners.
  • Provide job development and skills training for up to 30 Long Beach residents to assist them in retaining employment or re-entering the local workforce.
  • Continue to develop marketing efforts to promote Long Beach in order to ensure year-round sustainability for small businesses, such as working with the City on the creation of a walking tour map/guide and awarding small businesses mini marketing grants.
  • Host two environmental literacy and empowerment training sessions focusing on environmental justice issues.
Since Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, small businesses have still been struggling to survive in the City of Long Beach. According to a report conducted by the House Committee on Small Business, after Superstorm Sandy the Small Business Administration turned down 76% of businesses who applied for loans and had a three fold increase in processing times for those businesses that were approved. These delays have had long-lasting repercussions in Long Beach as small businesses, most of which have annual revenues of $1,000,000 or less, have been struggling to remain open, thrive, and retain jobs in the City of Long Beach.
 
Just last week, the City of Long Beach and Sustainable Long Island hosted a Small Business Support Expo at the Martin Luther King Center offering resources to new and existing businesses, as well as those thinking of starting a business. Areas of focus included finance, marketing, capacity building, and overall business development.

Along with resource tables, a panel was also held with representatives from the NYS Small Business Development Center, the NY-NJ Port Authority, and local small businesses. The panel discussed entrepreneurship strategies, access to capital, and opportunities for New York State Minority/Woman Business Enterprise and Federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprises.  
 
Long Beach TD Trees Planting
Helping green the community 

As part of the City of Long Beach's effort to replant thousands of trees that were toppled or damaged as a result of Superstorm Sandy, Sustainable Long Island worked with volunteers from TD Bank and the City of Long Beach's Department of Public Works on October 14, 2015 planting 31 trees along JJ Evans Blvd. in the North Park community.
The trees and location were selected in coordination with the City and are in conformance with the City's Tree Replanting Master Plan. Planting these trees helps absorb and filter stormwater, while also cleaning the air, providing fresh oxygen, cooling the street, and conserving energy.

City Manager Jack Schnirman, Department of Public Works Commissioner Jim Lacarruba, and TD Bank's Lisa Holland were on hand to kick off the planting. This effort would have not been possible without the generous support of TD Bank and the City's Department of Public Works who staged the trees and materials for the volunteers.
 
Complete Streets Focus Group Meeting
Creating an action plan of implementable health and wellness strategies in Wyandanch

Sustainable Long Island recently held a Complete Streets Focus Group Meeting, with an emphasis on health and wellness, at the Wyandanch Senior Nutrition Center. Sustainable Long Island has been working in partnership with the Long Island Health Collaborative (LIHC) and the Town of Babylon Office of Downtown regarding the development of a Complete Streets Action Plan for Wyandanch and the identification of Complete Streets related projects.

Our particular focus has been on the reduction of chronic disease through an increase in walking. During the meeting, Sustainable Long Island's Director of Programs Ann Fangmann gave an overview of the Complete Streets initiative with the LIHC and presented the Wyandanch Complete Streets Action Plan for feedback.
Participants then assembled into break out groups and provided feedback on signage templates and walking loops, took a walking survey and provided input on other community strategies. The focus group was well attended with over 30 stakeholders from the Wyandanch community, Town, and LIHC representatives. Sustainable Long Island will be processing the feedback from the focus group and moving forward with the Town and LIHC to implement Complete Streets strategies, with a focus on health and wellness in Wyandanch moving forward.

Complete Streets are designed with everyone in mind. They allow for safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and public transit users, no matter the age and ability. Complete Streets integrate people and place into the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of transportation networks.

 
Walkable Community and Safe Streets Forum
Sustainable Long Island also participated in a Walkable Community and Safe Streets Forum on October 22nd hosted by The Three Village Community Trust & Sidewalks For Safety. Panelists included:
  • Ann Fangmann, AICP, Director of Programs, Sustainable Long Island
  • Nancy McLinskey, M.D. Neurologist at Stony Brook
  • Roger Thompson, PhD, Professor of Writing & Rhetoric, Stony Brook University

The goal of the panel was to provoke a civic dialogue about the difficult problem of making a suburb safe for people of all ages to walk more.

 

The panel was a part of the Three Village Community Trust's "Join The Conversation" series where each conversation is a learning opportunity in preparation for a larger community-based planning effort forming in the future. 

High School Fellowship 2014-2015 Recap
Sixth year of program comes to a close 

Sustainable Long Island's High School Fellowship Program recently concluded its sixth year of engaging young adults in planning for the future. The focus of this year's High School Fellowship was resource management, water quality, energy conservation, and "greener living," as well as additional sustainable development issues. Over the summer of 2015 - the last few months of this year's program - Fellows enjoyed a variety of field trips and guest speaker presentations that introduced them to a variety of sustainability topics.
 
The Fellows began their "green" field trip series with a visit to Level Solar, which provided a firsthand look into the solar power industry. The students traveled to the facility, located in Ronkonkoma, where they met with market analyst Zack Grey, who gave a PowerPoint presentation on solar power and facilitated a discussion about the benefits of solar power versus the use of fossil fuels, coal, and natural gas and the resulting carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. He then led them on an hour-long tour of the facility and shared some career advice and spoke about his role and involvement at the company.
 
On another trip, the fellows visited Covanta, Long Island's largest Energy-from-Waste facility, which provides environmentally safe municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal. The students were led on a tour by facility staff, who described how the facility processes 2,505 tons of municipal solid waste per day; how the power generated is then sold to the Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSEG), providing electricity to homes across Long Island, and how Covanta's belief in responsible stewardship of the environment is essential for business efficiency and success.
 
The Fellows also had the opportunity to hear from several guest speakers, addressing issues from clean drinking water, to recycling on Long Island, to environmental resource management and energy conservation. Students heard from:
  • Stony Brook University students from the department of Environmental Design, Policy and Planning and their advisor, Donovan Finn, PhD.
  • Erin Reilley, Chief Sustainability Officer (Town of North Hempstead)
  • Jordan Christensen (Citizens Campaign for the Environment)
  • David Viana (Baldwin Civic Association) 
In preparation for their work at the youth-staffed farmers' markets this year, the Fellows attended training workshops in Nassau and Suffolk where they learned about numerous farms on Long Island and small business management, including customer service, promotion, marketing, safe food handling, cash handling, and the importance of proper nutrition. Each weekend in July, the Fellows worked with the youth staff at one of Sustainable Long Island's partner farmers' markets, under supervision of a Market Manager, to gain hands-on experience in all aspects of market operations, including stocking and setting up the market, operating the cash registers, and interacting with community members and customers. The Fellows' work at the markets helped enhance their understanding of what it means to support local/regional farmers, and food equity issues, such as increasing access to fresh, affordable, healthy food.
 
Read more here... 
 
3rd Annual Sustainability All-Star Awards
Leadership in sustainability 
 
By now you may know that this December 2, 2015, Sustainable Long Island will be hosting the 3rd Annual Sustainability Awards at the Chateau at Coindre Hall in Huntington, NY. Our honorees include Kleiman Wealth Management of UBS Financial Services and Bedell Cellars with CEO Trent Preszler. 

Why Kleiman Wealth Management?

Similar to how Sustainable Long Island proudly promotes the use of resources in a way that does not negatively impact the future, Kleiman Wealth Management Group shows its clients how protecting their assets today can preserve their legacy tomorrow. Backed by the global capabilities of UBS, Kleiman Wealth Management is committed to sustainable investing and corporate responsibility, while offering personal investment management, customized lending solutions, and timely estate planning. Kleiman Wealth Management Group has shifted the idea of "doing no harm" to "doing good," while helping clients and stakeholders invest in a proactive, sustainable manner.
 
Why Bedell Cellars?
Bedell Cellars stands at the forefront of creativity and excellence in the modern American wine industry and is widely regarded as the benchmark winery in the Eastern U.S. Their 80 acre estate is certified sustainable, adhering to 200 sustainable farming best practices that help protect our land and water resources. CEO Trent Preszler has also led the charge as a founding member of the Long Island Sustainable Winegrowing organization, which provides licenses and education for Long Island vineyards that ensure a safer and healthier environment and workplace.

Don't miss out - register today!
You can secure your spot and register today - tickets are $100 per person. For more information, contact Scott Woodson at 516-873-0230 or [email protected].

 
Thank you to our current sponsors! 
 
 
 
 
 
Citi 
 
Gloria and Dick Grafer
 
 
Together we can build a more
sustainable Long Island

 

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!

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Sincerely,

The Board and Staff of Sustainable Long Island