The first Long Island Sound Sustainable and Resilient Communities Workshop was held in 2022. Credit: Sara Powell/NYSG

Contacts:

Elizabeth Hornstein, Sustainable and Resilient Communities Specialist, Suffolk County, E: eeh78@cornell.edu, Phone: (631) 632-8730

Sarah Schaefer-Brown, Sustainable and Resilient Communities Specialist, Nassau County, E: scs292@cornell.edu, Phone: (516) 832-2591

Sara Powell, Sustainable and Resilient Communities Specialist, Westchester County, E: slp285@cornell.edu, Phone: (914) 285-4620

NYSG Sustainable and Resilient Communities Extension Professionals have created a new foundation for focusing shared interest in building the resilience of Long Island Sound communities

Stony Brook, NY, March 23, 2023 - The Long Island Sound Study (LISS), a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-funded program created to protect and restore Long Island Sound, identifies Sustainable and Resilient Communities (SRC) as one of four themes in its Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. A regional Long Island Sound (LIS) needs assessment conducted by the New York Sea Grant (NYSG) SRC Extension Professionals found that communities need help identifying relevant sustainability and resiliency tools as well as funding opportunities.

In 2022, the NYSG SRC Extension Professionals organized the first Long Island Sound Sustainable and Resilient Communities Workshop to help LIS communities learn more about opportunities to increase resilience to climate change and other environmental threats. The workshop was held virtually on December 1, 2022. The agenda included interactive sessions to learn about the findings and recommendations of the LIS regional needs assessment, the newly released Long Island Sound Resilience Grant Writing Assistance Program, and tips for success with LIS-focused funding opportunities. Concurrent breakout sessions highlighted partner efforts related to shoreline planning and implementation, using green infrastructure for stormwater management, sustainable climate planning for relocation, and new sustainability and resilience tools available in both New York and Connecticut.

This workshop provided 260 attendees with valuable opportunities to network, share, and learn from individual on-the-ground experiences. The workshop was recorded and is available to the public online, with additional resources and links from each session. Future training programs and annual workshops will be developed based on workshop evaluations, the findings of the regional needs assessment, and feedback from Long Island Sound communities.

This inaugural event has created a new foundation for empowering sustainable and resilient Long Island Sound communities.

Partners: 

• Connecticut Sea Grant 
• Cornell Cooperative Extension Westchester County 
• Cornell Cooperative Extension Nassau County 
• Stony Brook University

Funding: 

• Long Island Sound Study 
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.