Over the past four weeks over 25 residents attended a series of three community-building workshops. The workshops were attended by over five generations of local residents. The first workshop was held March 14 at Farmingdale Village Hall and was called Discover Your Community.

Residents were introduced to grass roots community building, community circles and the concepts of community land trusts. The goal of this workshop was to inspire the residents to become more aware of the power of civic cooperation for the greater good of the entire community. The concept of community land trusts was discussed; a CLT is a not-for-profit membership corporation. A local CLT exists to promote community development on land owned by the community group; this concept has been used successfully around the country for over 30 years. There are two such CLTs being established in Suffolk County and the potential for establishing three now exists in Nassau County. The 2005 Long Island Index was discussed in the context of Long Island's dynamic growth over the past 50 years; however due to that growth we are now faced with serious issues largely due to urban sprawl. The LI Index surveyed many LIers and highlighted the four issues that most concerned Long Island residents as follows:

First was property taxes with the cost of education consuming over 63 percent of the tax dollar and the fact that LI sends more money to Albany and Washington DC than it receives back in state and federal aid. Second was traffic congestion. Third was the lack of open space, Nassau County is 98 percent developed (Farmingdale Village has but 1.2 percent of open space available) Fourth was the lack of affordable housing, there has been a decade long shift in those 18-25 leaving LI, as our young people struggle to buy a home and can't they will continue leave causing businesses to look for new talent and the economy to suffer. This workshop was hosted by the Alliance for Stronger Communities and led by New Directions Executive Director Robert Mulvey. Participants from the workshop were challenged to get more involved and become part of finding future solutions for sustainable growth. As a part of finding solutions the Farmingdale group will be reaching out over the next few months to residents from the surrounding communities.

The next two workshops focused on intergenerational concepts and the potential benefits of planned programs. What are intergenerational programs? They are activities that increase cooperation, interaction or exchange between any two generations. These programs purposefully bring together people of different age groups in ongoing, mutually beneficial, planned activities that are designed to achieve specific goals for all the age groups. The two-part series for intergenerational concepts was held at the Hardscrabble Senior Apartment Complex located on Main Street in Farmingdale. The residents who attended represented many generations. The discussion began with myths and misconceptions, facts and strategies and the need for forming links to strengthen a community. The residents split up into smaller working groups to explore and discuss the perceived needs of young people, the needs of older residents and how many generations could contribute to each other's needs. There were a number of common themes that emerged; young people could help older residents with some basic chores and tasks, older people could mentor young people and offer a sense of community and world history. Perhaps the most interesting need that could benefit all age groups was the need for a common space and/or a community center. That thought was agreed to by almost everyone attending. These workshops were also hosted by the Alliance for Stronger Communities and led by Intergenerational Strategies CEO Paul Arfin.

Our goal in hosting these workshops was to generate some new thinking toward how we view our community. Long Island is one of our nation's first suburbs, Nassau County is 98 percent developed, we are at a point where we need to step back and plan for the best future redevelopment of our limited resources. Our organization, Alliance for Stronger Communities, was established by community residents to focus on promoting intergenerational opportunities that support services for youth, teen, family and senior members of our community. As community members our vision is to focus on 'prevention rather than rework' to help improve the health of a community. "A vision is a dream, a plan is only a plan, however to focus a vision with a shared plan can rally people and the resources that will lead to more positive change in a community."

The value of intergenerational programs in our community could create reciprocal benefits to the generations involved and the community alike. Plans are being developed to mobilize more residents to become informed and involved in village/community, town, county and school issues that concern and affect us all.

Our core team continues to work to establish strategic partnerships and alliances to further our vision. Toward that goal we continue to seek people interested in contributing to the progress and success of our programs. For more information and how you can help contact: Chuck Gosline, ASC exec. director at 346-7411.

Chuck Gosline