Briefs: Rotary scholarship, new orchestra director, more

Ithaca Rotary announces scholarship winner

Fatoumata Alima Fofana (left), a 2022 graduate of Ithaca High School, has received the James L. Gibbs Scholarship awarded by the Rotary Club of Ithaca.

Fofana, who was selected from among three finalists, will attend Clark Atlanta University next year and plans on attending law school. The $1,500 scholarship honors the legacy of former Rotarian James L. Gibbs, the first director of the Southside Community Center who worked to expand job opportunities for African Americans in Ithaca in the mid-20th century.

At Ithaca High School, Fofana was the president of Ithaca’s Rising, Inspiring, Succeeding and Excelling youth (IRISE), a club that works to change the way students of color are treated at the school. Fofana helped IRISE organize the first Student of Color Summit and worked on creating a series of video testimonials of students of color who spoke about the experiences they face at the high school.

Fofana was also a tutor at the Village of Ithaca, an All-American cheerleader, a member of the Student Council and a Youth Council Ambassador for the Ithaca Youth Bureau. She worked her way through high school and held several jobs at local stores and restaurants.

“Throughout high school, Fatou was in a wide range of activities that show her exceptional level of commitment towards human relations and interracial understanding,” said Gail Lyman, chair of the Ithaca Rotary Club Gibbs Scholarship Committee. “In particular, her leadership position as president of IRISE displays her passionate approach to her community along with a strong desire for social justice and reform.”

Ithaca Rotary Club President Mary Kane (right) presented the scholarship to Fofana at the Ithaca High School Senior Award Ceremony in June.

The James L. Gibbs Scholarship was created in 1984 to recognize students who are dedicated to human relations and interracial understanding. Consideration is also given to the applicant’s initiative, academic achievement and leadership in community and school activities.

Ithaca Rotary’s motto is “Service Above Self.” Membership is open to all community members who share in this belief, and new members are accepted year-round.

Ithaca Rotary gathers every Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. for meetings that are open to the public. Additional information about the Ithaca Rotary Club may be found online at ithacarotary.com.

 

Cayuga Chamber Orchestra appoints interim music director

The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra recently announced the appointment of Grant Cooper as interim music director, effective July 1. Cooper will conduct all orchestral series concerts for the 2022-2023 season and will continue as interim music director during the orchestra’s music director search process.

A native of New Zealand, Cooper and his wife returned to the Finger Lakes region a few years ago to be close to their grandchildren.

Ithaca area residents may be familiar with Cooper’s work with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra over the years as guest conductor and composer. He is especially passionate about creating works designed to introduce young audiences to the orchestra and has created a substantial body of works for this purpose, including Rumpelstiltzkin, a Cayuga Chamber Orchestra commission.

Having served as professor of music at Ithaca College from 1993-2003, Cooper is currently a visiting professor at the college, conducting the college orchestra on an interim basis.

Cooper has served as music director or guest conductor of orchestras including the Syracuse Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Houston Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Buffalo Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Syracuse Opera, Kennedy Center Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Malaysian Philharmonic.

He serves as artistic director of the annual Bach and Beyond festival in Fredonia, New York, and as resident conductor of the Eastern Music Festival. Cooper’s extensive catalog of compositions include concert works, a ballet and film score music.

For more information, visit CCOithaca.org or contact the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra at (607) 273-8981 or info@CCOithaca.org

The Cayuga Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1976 and is officially designated “Ithaca’s Orchestra.” Each season includes an Orchestral Series, Chamber Music Series, a Holiday concert, free Family Concerts, and the long-standing Willard Daetsch Youth Outreach Program, which earned the 2015 Yale Distinguished Music Educator award.

In 2017, the orchestra added a Youth Orchestra program for advanced students. In 2019, a new Diversity Career Fellowship program was established to provide opportunities for college students from communities that have been historically underrepresented in classical music.

 

Ithaca signs deal with BlocPower for large-scale electrification

BlocPower, a national climate tech company focused on greening aging urban buildings, recently announced that the City of Ithaca has officially signed a contract empowering BlocPower to manage a first-of-its-kind electrification effort to decarbonize its entire building stock. The contract represents the first large-scale, city-wide building electrification initiative in the U.S. and a major step forward in Ithaca’s plan to become carbon-neutral by 2030 (read more at tinyurl.com/ycglol6a).

The contract was negotiated by Ithaca’s former mayor, Svante Myrick, and signed by current Acting Mayor Laura Lewis, based on the unanimous approval by the city’s Common Council on Nov. 3, and ratification of the RFP results from its Planning and Economic Development Committee on Oct. 20.

BlocPower’s proposal estimates that installing air source heat pumps, paired with supporting energy efficiency upgrades and other building improvements, will cut Ithaca’s estimated 400,000 tons of annual CO2 emissions by 40% and create 400 new green economy construction, technology and management jobs. At the same time, it will make financing green energy upgrades affordable by providing low-cost leases to building owners.

Building owners in the city of Ithaca can begin the process by receiving a free initial project scope and estimate at this webpage: blocpower.io/electrify-ithaca. There will be a launch event July 14.

“Ithaca has demonstrated bold vision and clear leadership in the effort to fight climate change through city-scale decarbonization, and we are incredibly excited to break ground on this historic initiative,” said Donnel Baird, CEO and founder of BlocPower. “We thank former Mayor Myrick, Mayor Lewis, Ithaca’s Common Council and the Planning and Economic Development Committee members for helping us to create a blueprint that has already inspired other cities to pursue their own decarbonization objectives.”

Lewis expressed gratitude for BlocPower’s participation and optimism for what’s to come with Ithaca’s green energy efforts.

“Our partnership with Blocpower serves to demonstrate the power of combining public and private sector capabilities to achieve a common goal,” she said.

 

Cornell recommends targeting purchasing, travel to reduce carbon

Activities beyond campus — such as business air travel, student commutes and purchases of goods like lab equipment — account for more than 60% of Cornell University’s carbon emissions, according to new research that analyzed the university’s greenhouse gas consumption through the lens of the pandemic.

“We used the COVID pandemic opportunity to figure out hotspots of our campus carbon emissions, to identify opportunities for making Cornell greener and carbon-neutral,” said Fengqi You, professor in energy systems engineering at Cornell. “We sought opportunities for improvements.”

You is a senior author of “COVID-19 Impact on an Academic Institution’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory: The Case of Cornell University,” which appears in the forthcoming Journal of Cleaner Production, Aug. 20.

As Cornell has taken steps to reduce carbon dioxide emissions over the past two decades, addressing campus consumption may be the next green frontier. Using Cornell as a case study, the researchers created a framework aimed at helping universities reach their climate goals in the coming years; Cornell seeks to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035.

“Understanding what causes emissions leading to climate change is key to solving climate change,” said senior author Natalie Mahowald, professor in engineering at Cornell and an atmospheric scientist.

Campus greenhouse gas emissions dropped from 463.5 thousand metric tons of carbon dioxide in pre-COVID 2019 to 404.7 thousand metric tons in 2020 at the starting phase of the pandemic, the researchers found. The shutdown also offered new insight into campus’s carbon usage overall.

While energy and managing greenhouse emission is important to sustainability, procurement is becoming a crucial issue in campus management.

The Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability funded the work. Read more at tinyurl.com/24ztaqfo.

 

Ithaca Rotary accepting grant applications

The Rotary Club of Ithaca recently announced that applications are now being accepted for its Community Grants program, which is intended to promote the quality of life in Tompkins County. Rotary intends to fund several smaller grants in full. Small nonprofit organizations are especially encouraged to apply. 2021 grant recipients are not eligible this year so Rotary may support an increasing variety of worthy agencies.

All grant applications must be for projects within Tompkins County. Applicants must be classified as a nonprofit charitable organization under section 501(c)3 of the IRS code or have a fiscal sponsor. The maximum grant award is $1,000. One request per organization.

“We invite proposals for special projects or one-time needs that are not usually supported by your general funding sources,” according to a recent release. “We do not make grants which will be used as part of a larger campaign, nor are funds to be re-granted (no scholarship programs). Grants are not usually made for operating budgets, endowments, individuals or programs needing ongoing support.”

Funds must be expended by May 1 of the following year, without expectation of further support. Proposals not selected for funding by the Ithaca Rotary Club will be shared with the Community Foundation for donor-advised funding consideration.

Proposals are limited to three pages. Submit one copy on the organization’s letterhead by Aug. 5, 2022. Do not include annual reports, newsletters, etc. All materials must be easily scannable for committee review and received in one file.

Include the following information in this order:
1. Legal name of the organization
2. Federal Employer Identification Number
3. Name, address, email and telephone number of the grant contact person
4. Brief description of the organization’s mission
5. Dollar amount requested
6. One-sentence description of the grant need/request
7. Concise needs statement describing the project and its significance to the community
8. Simple project budget
9. Names of the governing body/board and officers (may be extra page attachment)

Awardees will be invited to a check presentation at a Rotary lunch award ceremony in October (date TBA). A one-page final report is required upon completion of the project but no later than May 1, 2023.

Submit your application by email (preferred) to Kelly Buck, community grants co-chair, at kdbskier@gmail.com or by mail to Bob Gravani, community grants co-chair, Ithaca Rotary Club, PO Box 306, Ithaca, NY 14851.

 

County asks for feedback on tourism program

The Arrival to Departure Tourism Training program (A2D) is a hybrid learning program consisting of seven modules available to be completed online at one’s own pace online and a two-hour live class. It is designed to teach participants how important tourism is the area, how to find tourism resources, answer visitor questions in a more engaged way, be an ambassador for Ithaca and Tompkins County and sprinkles in some customer services training.

A2D was launched in early 2019, when it successfully trained 130 front-line hospitality employees in its first year. In March of 2020, the pandemic stalled the momentum created given the unprecedented impact on the local tourism industry. Though live classes went virtual, they saw little participation because businesses had been closed and/or had very few employees and could not spare them for training. This year, the live classes are back, and staff are working on updates.

Visit Ithaca and the Tompkins County Workforce Development Board request community feedback regarding this program. Visit tinyurl.com/22muouhy to submit comment.

 

Airport earns inspection ‘excellent’ for third straight year

Ithaca Tompkins International Airport (ITH) recently announced that after undergoing its required annual certification inspection, it received the highest accolade for the third year in a row.

Airport Director Roxan Noble expressed her gratitude for the airport team’s significant efforts in this accomplishment, saying, “I am deeply proud of what our team has accomplished through their endless dedication to the safety of our airport and would like to take this opportunity to highlight our extraordinary operations crew, who we entrust to meet and surpass the requirements of these mandatory certifications each year.” Noble added, “It is their outstanding care and commitment to our airport and community that have allowed us to receive zero write-ups for the third year in a row.”

Per the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Airport Operating Certificates ensure safety in air transportation, and the FAA is required under 14 CFR Part 139 to issue operating certificates to airports that:
– Provide unscheduled and scheduled air carrier aircraft with more than 30 seats;
– Serve scheduled air carrier operations in aircraft with less than 31 seats but more than nine seats; and
– Are required to receive certification by their FAA administrator

To obtain a certificate, an airport must agree to specific safety and operational standards as well as provide firefighting and rescue equipment, amongst other things. The requirements are dependent on the type of flights available as well as the size of the airport.

Josh Nalley, ITH fire chief and airport deputy director, shared, “I am incredibly proud of what our team has accomplished for the third year in a row. A zero-discrepancy inspection is of the highest level of achievement and wouldn’t be possible without each and every one of our team members. We look forward to continuing to serve our traveling community with exceptional service and holding our airport to the standards we know it can achieve.”

Tompkins County Administrator Lisa Holmes stated, “The zero-discrepancy inspection is a reflection of our committed airport staff and management team. As we continue to grow as an airport, so does the training and exercises of our team to ensure we are always providing successful and consistent safety results. Thank you to our airport staff for their invaluable efforts and for making this accomplishment possible for the third year in a row.”

For more information, contact Maddie Ulrich at madalene@commuiquedesign.com.

 

Community Unity Music Education Program receives employment grant

The Community Unity Music Education Program, or CUMEP for short, is a multicultural performing arts and human rights education program. Established in 2002, CUMEP is a not-for-profit organization that serves children from all communities, but particularly children from inner-city neighborhoods in Ithaca.

Local leaders Fe Nunn, Resana Malone, Harry Smith, Daraisi Marte, Nicole Bethany Onwuka, Cyepress Rite, Maryam Adib, AnneMarie Zwack and CUMEP announced last week that they received an Artist Employment Program (AEP) grant from Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY).

Designed to support employment opportunities for artists, the program is funding 98 collaborations involving a dynamic group of 300 artists employed by community-based organizations, municipalities and tribal governments across New York state. CRNY has awarded a total of $49.9 million in funding to support artists’ salaries and benefits, with an additional $11.7 million in funding provided to the organizations holding employment.

“If we are to truly rebuild our amazing state, we must celebrate artists’ contributions not only to the economy but to what makes us human,” said Creatives Rebuild New York Executive Director Sarah Calderon. “The incredible work being funded through CRNY’s Artist Employment Program underscores the importance of direct support for both individual artists and the organizations that hold their employment.”

Nunn, Malone, Smith, Marte, Bethany Onwuka, Rite, Adib and Zwack will work with Nia Nunn, Ph.D., and CUMEP to lead revolutionary youth performing/visual arts and Black consciousness programming while documenting and packaging curricular frameworks to disseminate widely.

The partnership will yield children’s books, a documentary and a new musical, co-created by the artists and the youth community. The collaboration will receive $1,359,000, including artists’ salaries and benefits. Additional organizations that will be in collaboration with CUMEP include Community Arts Partnership, Southside Community Center and Black Hands Universal.

“Who are We? CUMEP! We’ve been nurturing and cultivating community while raising young leaders in Ithaca, New York through a transformative Black Consciousness curriculum and performance/visual arts for almost 20 years! We are truly honored. And ready!” Nia said.

Artist Employment Program recipients were selected through a two-stage process by a group of 20 external peer reviewers alongside CRNY staff. From an initial pool of over 2,700 written applications, 167 were shortlisted for interviews with reviewers. To view the list of 98 Artist Employment Program participants, visit creativesrebuildny.org/participants/.

For more information about Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program, please visit creativesrebuildny.org.

 

County residents encouraged to take community health survey

What makes a healthy community? The Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD, pictured) wants to know what you think about health in the community in order to develop its next health improvement plan.

For this purpose, TCHD, along with Cayuga Health System (CHS) and other local partners, have released a community health survey that is open to every Tompkins County resident aged 18 and older. Rate the health of your community by accessing the survey online at: bit.ly/TCHDsurvey2022.

The Community Health Survey will be open throughout July. Anyone who completes the survey can enter themselves into a drawing to win a $20 gift card (county employees not eligible). The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and is completely anonymous. Registration for the gift card drawing is not connected to survey responses.

TCHD conducted its first community health survey in March 2019 and received over 1,000 completed surveys. The results of the survey were included in both the Community Health Assessment (CHA) and the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP) that were completed that year. These reports are available on the TCHD website at: tompkinscountyny.gov/health/communityhealthreports.

“We’re asking all Tompkins County residents weigh in on what they believe makes a heathy community,” said Frank Kruppa, Tompkins County public health director. “Your responses will help us identify where there are unmet needs for improving both the physical and mental health of our community. We want to learn what’s lacking and potentially holding people back from achieving their optimum health, and the best way to accomplish that is to simply ask.”

Dr. Martin Stallone, president and CEO of Cayuga Health System, made a similar ask.

“We are always working to improve our services to the community,” he said. “I urge residents to take this opportunity to provide their feedback. It’s critically important that we have input from a wide diversity of our community.”

The CHA and CHIP are required every three years by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) for every county, many of which conduct a similar survey. The basis for these reports is the NYS Prevention Agenda, a set of five health priorities that serve as the blueprint for state and local action to improve the health and well-being of all New Yorkers and to promote health equity in all populations who experience disparities.

Priority Action Plans are further broken out into focus areas, goals, objectives and evidence-based interventions. The priorities include “Prevent Chronic Disease,” “Promote Well-Being and Prevent Substance Use Disorders” and “Promote Healthy Women, Infants and Children.”

The survey questions cover a range of topics, including what makes a healthy community, access to care, food security, physical and mental health, chronic conditions and COVID-19. The survey takes about 10 minutes and can be completed on any mobile device, desktop or laptop computer, or call 2-1-1 (1-877-211-8667) during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and staff will help callers complete the survey.

TCHD’s Community Health Workers will be present throughout the month at our local public libraries and can assist with survey completion as well. Please contact your local library for more information. For paper copies of the survey, call 607-274-6683 during business hours.