TRR photo by David Hulse Members of the Eldred/Town of Highland Sullivan First group, from the left : Lucille Zimmermann, Bob Burrow, Barbara Pratti, Bob Skibinski, Roseanne and Gabriella Paolini are pictured with the program Achievement Awards the group received at Sullivan First’s 7th annual winter forum on January 18. Other Achievement Awards went to Bob Buckles of Monticello, Phil Coombe II and Phyllis Moore of Grahamsville, founder Sandra Gerry, and Neversink Supervisor Georgianna Lepke. (Click for larger image)

Sullivan First gathers and the stakes go up

By DAVID HULSE

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY — The morning may have featured sub-zero temperatures, but there was summertime thinking going on at Sullivan County Community College on January 18 as volunteers from around Sullivan County gathered for the 7th annual Sullivan First Winter Forum.

Some 200 volunteers were thinking of the spring beautification grants they hope to win and of the new $50,000, one-time-only New York State grant provided through Assemblyman Jacob Gunther.

Keynote speaker, Kenneth Reardon, Cornell University assistant professor for city and regional planning told them they are part of a “tsunami” wave of interest in grassroots development going on around the country.

Reardon also explained the importance of strong community organization when a potentially dominant new force like casino gambling enters an area. He spoke of good and bad experiences in other communities.

In Atlantic City, religious leaders who had funded a study warning of negative impacts to the community, essentially were bought off by large casino donations. The community’s organization failed and Atlantic City suffered, he said.

But in the poor community of East St. Louis, Illinois, religious traditions held up and a strong community organization gained from the influx of outside money and development interests.

“I learned Baptists don’t go to casinos,” he said.

And there is no rest to be expected for organizers, he told them.

“Community organizations either grow or die. You have to integrate new people,” he said.

He also predicted that areas with casinos would lose their exclusivity in the next ten years or so as the economy forces more and more state governments to resort to gaming for needed revenues.

“You’ll need to diversify. Sullivan County is on the edge of the world’s largest metropolitan area. You will diversify,” he predicted.

The Renaissance grant program and the “Golden Feather”

Sullivan First volunteers have been working to beautify the county since 1996, but the past two years have added a new dimension since Sandra Gerry, spouse of Bethel Performing Arts Center developer Alan Gerry, instituted the Sullivan Renaissance grants competition program. The idea came to Gerry as she toured Europe and saw the pride local residents took in their communities.

During the first year of Renaissance funding applicants put some $200,000 into projects around the county, not including volunteer labor. Last year, that figure was reported as almost a half million dollars.

A new gold ring, added this year, is the “Golden Feather Award for Outstanding Performance.”

The Golden Feather is a $50,000 grant, funded by a one-time state appropriation, which will go to an applicant with more than one year of participation, who has the best record of planning, development, maintenance and community involvement.

Sullivan Renaissance, the Beaverkill Foundation, a Gerry family foundation, and corporate sponsors will provide $30,000 in seed money and $55,000 to be awarded among the top nine in the three categories.

In March after this season’s grant applications are evaluated, seed-money grants of $1,000 each will be distributed to winning applicants.

The program concludes in August, when awards are announced at Bethel’s Fall Harvest Market.

Grant applications will be accepted through March 5.

For more information and applications, call 845/295-2445.