Legislature Supports Downtown Community Outreach Worker ProgramThe Legislature confirmed the County's financial support for a joint program to provide a Community Outreach Worker for the Ithaca downtown area. By unanimous vote (Legislator Martha Robertson and Nate Shinagawa excused), the Legislature appropriated $20,000 for that purpose from the Contingent Fund , set aside last fall as part of the County's 2015 budget process, as part of a partnership involving the City of Ithaca, the Downtown Ithaca Alliance (DIA), and Family and Children's Service.
The Community Outreach Worker Program, the result of months of thoughtful study by a joint working group, is recommended to address the needs, concerns, and wishes of the many stakeholders in the downtown area, to effectively provide and promote continually positive and inclusive experiences for those living, working, and visiting Ithaca's downtown area, and to promote a welcoming, inclusive, accessible, and tolerant downtown atmosphere enjoyable to everyone. The program target area is the State Street/MLK corridor extending to Meadow Street, and including the Ithaca Commons and Cayuga Street from the Library through DeWitt Park.