Project Spotlight 

A successful 2010 4-H Youth Fair for Onondaga County was held on Friday, July 30th through Sunday, August 1st, at the New York State Fairgrounds. This annual event offered our 4-H youth the opportunity to compete for an opportunity to represent Onondaga County at the New York State Fair.

Approximately 85 4-H youth entered dairy, horse, dog and arts & crafts competitions. The co-hosted On-Wego Holstein Show and Onondaga County 4-H Dairy Show took center stage Friday in the Cattle Barn with 16 4-H youth exhibiting 27 cows. An informal and fun Dog Show ran Friday evening and our 4-H Horse Show followed on Saturday and Sunday in the Coliseum. This competition showcased 63 4-H English and Western riders, and the Arts & Crafts Show displayed hand crafted items throughout the weekend.

Brandon Roth, from news channel CNY Central, visited the Different Shade of Green program and spoke with CCE Onondaga staff member David Marr about the green-focused, workforce readiness program. The segment aired during CNY Central’s evening newscast on Monday, August 9, 2010. Click here to view the coverage.

Congratulations to Joni and Al Dominy of Fayetteville, NY! Joni and Al completed the online stormwater survey, conducted by the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board, and won a 55 gallon rain barrel donated by Onondaga County Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Visit the CNYRPDB's website at http://www.cnyrpdb.org/stormwater/ for more information.



Al Dominy takes possession of his new rain barrel from Jessi Lyons, Cornell University Cooperation Extension of Onondaga County Resource Educator.

On July 31st CCE Onondaga trained 25 citizens to be Rain Barrel Building Instructors. Each instructor will be training at least 10 others to build rain barrels for Water Quality Awareness Weekend September 25 -26. We received support from Onondaga County Department of Environmental Health and Save the Rain.

  

Unemployed low-income vets are getting back on the job thanks to a new program, A Different Shade of Green. But, despite proven success, its future is uncertain due to its dependency on Federal stimulus dollars. WRVO's Ryan Morden profiles one vet who got his life back in order.

Visit this link to read and hear the complete story.

On Friday, May 28, at The Atrium, 2 Clinton Square, Syracuse, NY, Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County hosted United States Senator Gillibrand for a press event. We were requested to host the Senator for this event because our Different Shade of Green job training program for veterans is an example of the kinds of programs that are now receiving attention at the federal level as a strategy to reintegrate returning veterans into the workforce and to take advantage of their service-related training and experiences in the process.

The Senator discussed bi-partisan legislation that has been introduced in both houses of Congress: the Veterans Employment Act of 2010. The Act, as proposed, does the following:

•Establishes a Veteran Business Center Program within the Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide critical entrepreneurial training and counseling to veterans.

•Expands the Post-9/11 GI Bill to allow returning veterans to use the benefit for apprenticeship and worker training programs that will help them acquire the skills they need to find stable, family-wage jobs in their communities.

•Creates pilot programs to test ways transitioning service members can build on the technical skills learned in the military and better market those skills in the civilian workforce.

•Establishes a Veterans Conservation Corps Grant Program and a Veterans Energy/Green Jobs Grant Program to connect veterans with the green jobs market of the future.

The Veterans Employment Act also takes steps to make current job assistance programs work better for veterans. Specifically, it:

•Examines the expansion of the National Guard Employment Enhancement Project (NGEEP), which would provide transition assistance to National Guard members.

•Requires the Department of Defense and the Department of Labor Veterans Employment and Training Service to examine the Transition Assistance Program for active duty servicemembers and recommend how to update and upgrade the program to meet the needs of today’s veterans.

The legislation is sponsored by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Companion legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA).

Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County will participate in this year’s Leadership Greater Syracuse “Discover CNY” Class Day, on Wednesday, May 12th, with Executive Director Anastasia Urtz engaging in a panel discussion about Agriculture and the local food supply chain in Central New York.

“One of our current areas of applied research and outreach interest within Cornell University Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County is the local food supply chain, specifically the relationship between the local food economy and local food security,” says Urtz. “Central New York currently offers some of the richest and most productive farmland in the northeast and some of the starkest rural and urban "food deserts" as well. Reconnecting the food supply chain, diversifying production to meet the needs of growing ethnic communities, and expanding overall food production and processing to serve a growing global market has the potential to restore economic vibrancy to CNY's rural and urban communities, protect natural resources, and create jobs. Currently, the federal government is making several hundred million dollars available across the US to support local food system development. We are working with numerous community and university collaborators to secure a portion of this money for the CNY regional food system.”

The panel discussion will take place at Abbott Farms, 3275 Cold Springs Rd., Baldwinsville, NY 13027 from approximately 9:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. and is entitled Discover CNY Agriculture. There will also be a tour of Abbott Farms offered, beginning at 8:15 a.m.

The panel participants are: Anastasia Urtz, Executive Director, Cornell University Cooperative Extension Onondaga County; Mark Bitz, Principal, CNY Crops, LLC; and Jamie Edelstein, Co-Owner, Wyllie Fox Farm. The goal of this session is for the LGS Class of 2010 to gain some different perspectives on the agriculture industry here in Central New York.

Extension educators work with local farmers in Skaneateles to reduce pest damage to crops while also using fewer dangerious pesticides, which run off into the watershed of the lake - the source of drinking water for the City of Syracuse.