ST Events

Photo by Caroline Grass

Ithaca College publication Ithaca Week showcased the Sustainable Finger Lakes Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program in an article by Caroline Grass, featuring interviews with Neighborhood Mini-Grant Coordinator Sasha Paris and the recipients of two April 2023 grants supporting native botany education at the Marshy Garden Project and the Lansing Center Trail. This program has benefited people throughout Tompkins County to an incalculable degree since it began in 2008, and is in dire need of new supporters.

For the full article, visit https://www.ithacaweek-ic.com/mini-grant-program-helps-grassro

Do you have an idea for a project to make our community more sustainable, resilient, or inclusive? Need a little help in covering the costs? Sustainable Finger Lakes is accepting applications for our fall 2023/winter 2024 round of Neighborhood Mini-Grants.

The Sustainable Finger Lakes Neighborhood Mini-Grant program supports initiatives improving environmental sustainability, equity, and environmental, economic, and social justice in Tompkins County. Since it began in 2008, it has awarded more than $85,000 in 221 grants to innovative grassroots projects throughout the county.

Grants range from $150 to $750 and support initiatives promoting sustainable food systems, alternative transportation, waste reduction/reuse, energy conservation/fossil fuel use reduction, and environmental education, and addressing social and economic inequality.

Proposals are reviewed biannually by a team of community members. The program is sponsored by NYSEG, Craig Riecke, and local donors.

Individuals, organizations, and neighborhood groups are welcome to apply, as are local microbusinesses seeking to green their operations or extend their products or services to low-income clientele. Priority is given to new and/or small entities with relatively few sources of support.

Successful initiatives supported by Neighborhood Mini-Grants in recent years include the founding of the Freeville Farmers Market, establishment of the Finger Lakes Toy Library, creation of the Project Abundance neighborhood garden in Ithaca, restoration of a disused and overgrown trail in Dryden, and bicycle maintenance education workshops in Ithaca.

Applications must be received on or before October 1, 2023. To request an application form, or if you have questions, please call (607) 272-1720 or email sasha@sustainablefingerlakes.org.

From staple foods to bicycling infrastructure to botany education, small locally-based initiatives can help to meet the needs and improve the lives of people in rural areas. In April 2023, Sustainable Finger Lakes awarded a total of $2,500 in four Neighborhood Mini-Grants supporting such projects across Tompkins County.

Artist/ecologist Ash Ferlito and ecological landscape designer Brandon Hoak have created and maintained the Marshy Garden, a habitat restoration project and educational venue at The Soil Factory south of Ithaca. This year, they seek to increase the garden’s biodiversity and habitat value, along with expanding the on-site array of educational programming for college students and the public. A Neighborhood Mini-Grant will support their purchase of native plants for this purpose from Grow Wild Nursery in Brooktondale.

The organization Friends of the Lansing Center Trail will install informational plant identification signs in the native plant garden near the entrance to the popular Lansing Center Trail in the Town of Lansing, aiming to educate trail visitors and encourage gardening with native plants. A Neighborhood Mini-Grant will contribute to the purchase of these signs.

The organization Groton Community Cupboard, formerly Groton Food Providers, runs a food pantry serving a large and growing need for food assistance in an area without a full grocery store. They are moving the food pantry to a new location, which will need renovation, and striving to maintain operation during the transition. A Neighborhood Mini-Grant will help to pay the expenses of this endeavor.

Dryden resident Kate McKee will install bike racks at four small businesses throughout the Village of Dryden to facilitate local bicycle travel. A Neighborhood Mini-Grant will pay for the racks, along with chains and locks.

The Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program provides seed money to diverse initiatives to build environmental, economic, and social resilience and well-being in Tompkins County. The program is sponsored by NYSEG, Craig Riecke, and local donors. The next deadline for the Mini-Grant program will be October 1, 2023. To request an application or learn more, email sasha@sustainablefingerlakes.org.

Contact: Holly Hutchinson, Project Coordinator, 607-272-1720, holly@sustainablefingerlakes.org

50 low-to-moderate income mobile home owners in Tompkins County will receive support to upgrade their homes with high efficiency heat pumps as part of a Sustainable Finger Lakes pilot program funded by a Tompkins Community Recovery Fund grant.

Location: Tompkins County, New York

Affordable housing and an equitable transition to clean energy just got a boost from a new program launched by Sustainable Finger Lakes (SFLX). The ‘Electrify Tompkins! Energy and Equity for Lower-Income Mobile Homes’ pilot project will provide support to 50 low-to-moderate income (LMI) mobile home owners in Tompkins County to upgrade their homes with high efficiency heat pumps and larger capacity electric panels. Qualified mobile home owners will also receive assistance in accessing incentives for completing insulation and air sealing to assure their homes meet strong efficiency standards prior to the installation of the heat pumps.

Thirty percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in New York State come from buildings. As our state and county move towards clean energy, residents who are low-to-moderate income could be left behind if additional support is not available to help them transition to high-efficiency electric heating and cooling.

Read the rest of this entry »

Check out Sustainable Finger Lakes’ Signs of Sustainability article in Tompkins Weekly, which discusses how the Finger Lakes Climate Fund, our LMI rental project, and our upcoming mobile home project will contribute to New York’s climate goals: https://www.tompkinsweekly.com/articles/signs-of-sustainability-climate-

resilience-with-a-little-help-from-our-friends/

We made it to the home page of Tompkins Weekly – take a look at the article about our heat pump pilot! https://www.tompkinsweekly.com/articles/affordable-heat-pump-project-launched/

(Ithaca, NY)

Ithaca’s Green New Deal just got an extra boost toward its climate goals. Sustainable Finger Lakes has been awarded a performance-based grant through the Innovative Market Strategies program at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to support the installation of high-efficiency heat pumps in 100 lower-income rental units in the City and Town of Ithaca. The Innovative Market Strategies program is a competitive program that provides targeted funding to support promising approaches to building decarbonization that prioritize solutions for disadvantaged communities.

The heat pump pilot has been designed to address the “split incentive” barrier to making energy efficiency improvements in rental properties. When homeowners invest in efficiency measures, they are the direct beneficiaries, and energy savings can help cover the cost of the improvements. When tenants pay the energy bills and landlords pay for the improvements, there is less motivation to invest in efficiency.

“Of course, with climate change snapping at our heels, society has to move beyond zero sum thinking and find equitable solutions that work for everyone,” said Gay Nicholson, President of Sustainable Finger Lakes (SFLX). Dr. Nicholson has worked for three decades on climate change and has focused on making sure low-to-moderate income (LMI) households are not left behind in the transition to clean energy. In 2010, she launched the Finger Lakes Climate Fund, a local carbon offset program which provides a platform for taking responsibility for travel and building carbon emissions by dispensing offset dollars in grants to LMI families to pay for insulation, air sealing, and replacing fossil fuel systems with heat pumps. To date, the Climate Fund has made 82 grants worth over $138,000 to LMI families in 10 counties, keeping almost 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide out of our atmosphere. Previously, NYSERDA awarded SFLX a two-year $250,000 grant to subsidize heat pump installations in LMI homes in Tompkins and Chemung Counties.

Read the rest of this entry »