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tc_seal120Legislature Accepts Federal Grant for Solid Waste Management Division

The Legislature, by unanimous vote (Legislator Will Burbank was absent), accepted a $29,500 “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle-Rebuy in Schools Grant” awarded by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to the Solid Waste Management Division.  The grant, which involves a $3,000 local match of cash and in-kind services, will support a pilot program to strengthen “4Rs” practices in Tompkins County schools.

O.U.R.S. Teen & ‘Tween Leadership Council Recognized as Distinguished Youth

Participants in a Dryden youth leadership program serving those living in local mobile home parks are recognized as this month’s Tompkins County Distinguished Youth.  The O.U.R.S (Opportunity Understanding Respect Success) Teen and ‘Tween Leadership Council works with Cornell University volunteer mentors (Y.O.U.R.S. – Youth Outreach Undergraduates Reshaping Success) to build life skills, a Dryden Youth Services program affiliated with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County.  The council members are specifically recognized for the Hanshaw Village Community Build Project which, through a grant-funded joint effort involving the park landlord, parents and guardians, and tenants, improved green space behind tenants’ mailboxes into a  safe and beautiful play and gathering area. 

Over four weekends, the youth-led project constructed and installed two picnic tables, benches, a shelter, a homemade tire swing, and a geo-dome climber.  The letter of nomination from program manager Julie Neumann notes the project “has built relationships across diversity, developed skills, and beautified their home.”  The Distinguished Youth Award is cosponsored by A&B Awards and Engraving, Bangs Ambulance Service, Purity Ice Cream, and Cayuga Radio Group.

Among other business:

  • Five people addressed the Legislature under Privilege of the Floor urging that the County’s matching funds to support municipal youth development programs be preserved as part of the 2011 budget, three of them young people who told Legislators how those programs have benefited them.
  • Caroline Town Supervisor Don Barber, Chair of the Tompkins County Council of Governments, told Legislators municipal officials have begun discussing how they could respond to elimination of County youth program funding.  While he said some larger municipalities believe they could go it alone, Barber cautioned that would not be an option for Caroline and other smaller municipalities.  Barber urged that the County and municipalities work together to develop a plan to transition from the current approach to what is found workable to support the programs in the future.  And he noted that the destiny of local youth programs is actually a byproduct of the State’s funding priorities, which badly need to be changed.
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