Jessika Bond and Emily La speak with Joe Salzone of 607 News Now about the recent expansion of the Sustainable Finger Lakes Neighborhood Mini-Grant program. Applications for grants between $150 and $750 are open until September 1 for residents from Steuben, Chemung, and Tioga Counties. Interested applicants should reach out to Sasha@sustainablefingerlakes.org to request an…
New York State Senator Kristen Gonzalez (SD-59), Chair of the Senate Committee on Internet and Technology and sponsor of the Responsible Data Center Development Act (S.10642), will be embarking on the New York Fights AI Data Centers statewide tour from August 22 to August 30. The Senator will be visiting 13 sites with active or…
Sustainable Finger Lakes recently awarded Dundee Central School a mini-grant to help create The Highland Hub. This space provides free apparel, school supplies, and essential personal items for their students. Check out the full article at The Observer.
In a recent interview with Rochester Beacon, Gay Nicholson, President of Sustainable Finger Lakes, discussed the organization’s concerns surrounding the proposed Lake Hawkeye AI data center in Lansing and the broader implications for New York communities. The proposal has sparked significant public response, with more than 20,000 people signing a petition urging the Lansing Town…
Sustainable Finger Lakes (SFLX) is pleased to announce the hiring of Jessika Bond as its new Deputy Director. Bond holds a Master of Public Administration from Western Carolina University, a bachelor’s degree in History and Anthropology from UNC Asheville, a certificate in sustainable zoning and land use from UNC SOG, and a Certificate in Rural…
Gay Nicholson of Sustainable Finger Lakes, alongside other leaders from local organizations, delivered a petition opposing TeraWulf’s proposed data center on Cayuga Lake. The organizers also raised concerns regarding long-term impacts on water use, air quality, and future electric system reliability. Read the full announcement from the Ithaca Voice here. See below for other media…
Cayuga Climate Action received an award from the Neighborhood Mini-Grant program to support expenses for their annual Styrofoam drop-off and recycling event. This group is also the first organization to receive a grant in Cayuga County. Upcoming grant cycles will now expand to Tompkins, Cortland, and Cayuga counties. Read the full article from The Citizen…
Sustainable Finger Lakes awarded five grants through its Neighborhood Mini-Grant program for citizen-led projects that support resource sharing, community building, and waste reduction initiatives. The Spring 2026 Awardees and the projects their grants will support are listed below: For complete project descriptions, please visit our site at: https://sustainablefingerlakes.org/neighborhood-mini-grant-program-seneca-keuka/ Read the full staff report from Finger Lakes…
In the article, Gay Nicholson responds to how decisions to implement AI data centers in small towns are often made by volunteer planning boards who may not have the time to fully learn about the details of the projects. “We were all making the point that these deep-pocket billionaire developers target rural small towns, and…
The state Legislature just passed a bill that would place a 12-month freeze on permits for data centers. If the governor signs it, it would be the first statewide moratorium in the nation. By Lauren Dalban June 4, 2026 This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate,…
Sustainable Finger Lakes held a webinar on April 8, 2026, “Reducing Wildfire Risk in a Changing Climate”, in response to how wildfires are becoming an increasing threat to public health in the Finger Lakes region. Our panelists of experts shared their insights. The full webinar can be viewed here. For more resources, visit our event…
Lodi Food 4 All received a mini-grant from us this past fall as part of our Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program pilot in Seneca, Yates, and Schuyler counties! They used the grant to purchase carts to allow their patrons to navigate the pantry more easily. Check it out here: Lodi Food 4 All received a mini-grant from…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: ITHACA, NY—March 19, 2026— Do you have an idea for a project to make your community more sustainable, resilient, or inclusive? Need a little help in covering the costs? Sustainable Finger Lakes is accepting applications for our Spring 2026 round of Neighborhood Mini-Grants in Tompkins County. An application deadline for Schuyler,…
Sustainable Finger Lakes is a community-based organization whose mission is to promote the long-term well-being of our region by integrating social equity, economic vitality, ecological stewardship, and shared responsibility. Sustainable Finger Lakes is seeking its next leader for our 22 year-old nonprofit based in Ithaca, NY in the beautiful Finger Lakes Region. We are looking for…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: ITHACA, NY—February 24, 2026— Across the country, local communities are organizing to protest plans for massive AI data centers in their neighborhoods that drive up electricity prices for everyone, threaten water supplies and disrupt lives. New York needs to get ahead of the problem by imposing a temporary moratorium on…
The Sustainable Finger Lakes Neighborhood Mini-Grants program recently awarded the Dundee Library $450 to create a collection of basic medical equipment. These tools will be useful to lend out to patients for use at their homes. This, alongside other local and regional grants, has contributed to the library’s mission of improving community needs, especially for…
Sustainable Finger Lakes signed a letter objecting to Governor Kathy Hochul’s environmental policy decisions, including the reversal of previous regulatory actions. Among the decisions cited in the letter are those directly affecting the Finger Lakes Region, such as granting Greenidge Generation crypto mining operation in Yates County a five-year air permit. This letter was signed…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: ITHACA, NY—November 18, 2025— Sustainable Finger Lakes is announcing updates for Neighborhood Mini-Grant projects awarded last year, including Danby Food and Drink’s new shade sails, an air-quality monitoring research project by an Ithaca High School student and the Bike Seat Lending Library hosted in Bike Walk Tompkins. The full stories,…
Sustainable Finger Lakes (SFLX) is expanding its Neighborhood Mini‑Grant Program into Schuyler, Yates, and Seneca counties and has welcomed three new community representatives to its grant review council. The council members include Alex Andrasik from Yates County, Theresa Lahr from Seneca County, and Emma Malnoske from Schuyler County. The program, which has supported grassroots projects…
Local environmental groups and community members are raising concerns about a proposal to repurpose the former Cayuga Power Plant site in Lansing, New York, into a large‑scale data center operated by TeraWulf. Gay Nicholson of Sustainable Finger Lakes cautions that short-term benefits, such as increased property tax revenue and construction jobs generated, will not translate…
Tompkins Weekly, 9-10-25, by Emily La When conversations about climate change make headlines, it tends to be dominated by national or global voices, overlooking perspectives closer to home. Not only can this lead to feeling overwhelmed when it comes to taking climate action, but a 2022 Pew Research study found that some Americans also discredit…
From the Digital Team at FingerLakes 1 The Finger Lakes Region is a hidden gem when it comes to sustainable living. With its breathtaking landscapes and rich agricultural heritage, we’re witnessing a surge in eco-conscious practices that not only benefit the environment but also enhance our quality of life. From local farms adopting organic methods…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sustainable Finger Lakes Brings Grassroots Funding Opportunities to Keuka and Seneca Watersheds July 3, 2025 — Sustainable Finger Lakes (SFLX), a community-based organization dedicated to promoting sustainability initiatives across the Finger Lakes Region, is excited to announce the expansion of its successful Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program as part of a broader regional initiative…
Are you concerned about your carbon footprint? Well, what if you could make up for some of the emissions you generate through travel or heating your home or a business practice that burns fossil fuels. That’s where carbon offsets come in. And one organization in Upstate New York is using those carbon offset payments to…
Sustainable Finger Lakes was mentioned in the Tompkins Chamber newsletter: the Chambergram. See the Chambergram here. SFLX has supports local action by weaving together social equity, economic vitality, and environmental stewardship. Our longest-running initiative, launched in 2008, the Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program, has awarded 241 grants totaling $98,000 to grassroots sustainability projects in Tompkins County. This…
Join Community Foundation of Tompkins County for a powerful conversation about what it means to build a sustainable and just future right here in our community. In this edition of their Let’s Talk series, they’re partnering with Sustainable Finger Lakes to explore local solutions to the climate crisis, share green living tips, and highlight the bold…
We are all sustained by shared spaces, resources, and services in our communities, and everyone – individuals, community groups, organizations, and more – can help to sustain them. Our April 2025 round of Neighborhood Mini-Grants will support initiatives to grow and improve systems of food sharing, bicycle infrastructure, local plastic reuse, and community spaces in…
There were many booths set up for the event, ranging from compost education to children’s entertainment and sustainability efforts in the Ithaca community. At the Sustainable Finger Lakes table, Emily La, communications and outreach coordinator for Sustainable Finger Lakes, said it is nice to see like-minded people at the event who care about the same efforts as them. …
Ithaca’s second annual Earth Day Festival promoted action against climate change on Saturday. Many Cornell students tabled at the event — including Nicole Collins ’25, an intern for Sustainable Finger Lakes and former weather editor for The Sun. Collins discussed the organization’s climate action initiatives, like funding grants to place environmentally-friendly energy solutions into homes and their Finger…
A pilot initiative in Ithaca, New York has been helping landlords and tenants transition rental homes away from fossil fuel heating toward all‑electric systems, such as heat pumps. The Clean Energy and Equity Pilot was run by Sustainable Finger Lakes with funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). It assisted…
Sustainable Finger Lakes has been addressing the twin issues of climate change and income inequality for over two decades. Their Finger Lakes Climate Fund (FLCF) might be one of the oldest local carbon offset programs in the nation and is unique in its approach of using offset donations to fund grants to lower-income folks to pay for clean energy improvements to their homes. In recent years they have won several grants that let them expand their support to income-eligible families wanting to transition from fossil fuel heating to electric heat pumps.
Check out the most recent Philanthropy edition from Alyssa Celotto, which features programs from Sustainable Finger Lakes.
Craig Riecke has been a dedicated donor of the Sustainable Finger Lakes (SFLX) Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program for over a decade. He first came to Central New York as a VISTA volunteer and immediately fell in love with the region’s natural beauty and diverse landscapes. “People usually think of New York as just the city, but…
(Ithaca Times, 2-20-25, by Matt Dougherty) ITHACA, N.Y. — Sustainable Finger Lakes is tackling energy inefficiency and climate vulnerabilities in Tompkins County through an innovative heat pump pilot program for mobile homes. The initiative is funded by $522,000 from the Tompkins County Community Recovery Fund and seeks to retrofit mobile homes with energy-efficient heat…
Check out the most recent newsletter from Cayuga Lake Watershed Network, which features an article written by a previous Sustainable Finger Lakes staff member. https://www.cayugalake.org/wp-content/uploads/2024-i34-CLWN-NN-WEB-1.pdf
Pictured here: Colleen’s sheep in the snow at Rocky Top Farm. The Colleen and Dan Gloster-Gray household is the 25th recipient awarded funding as part of the Tompkins County Mobile Home Energy Upgrades Pilot, administered by Sustainable Finger Lakes (SFLX). The couple are long-time residents of Groton where Colleen continues her mother’s legacy at Rocky…
Biking can be beneficial for personal health and environmental sustainability, yet simple inconveniences – like a flat tire – can easily discourage people from getting out on two wheels. In 2021, Claire Dehm recognized this barrier and saw an opportunity to empower women cyclists with practical skills. With the help of the Neighborhood Mini-Grant Program…
Sustainable Finger Lakes (SFLX) is excited to partner with WE ACT as their Community Voices representative for the NY Southern Tier in a groundbreaking initiative. Funded by the EPA, this program brings critical technical assistance to environmental justice organizations across New York and New Jersey. WE ACT is a long-established leader in environmental justice based…
(Tompkins Weekly, 11-6-24, by Kevin L. Smith) James Dannic has lived in the town of Newfield his entire life. Dannic has lived in a mobile home with his son for the past three years. The home, however, gets too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer for the Dannics. Dannic uses propane…
(Tompkins Weekly, 9-11-24, by Jaime Cone Hughes) In 2022, when Florencia Ardon purchased the northeast Ithaca duplex on Briarwood Drive that she had called home as a renter for 10 years, she received some disheartening news from the home inspector: the building’s two water heaters would soon need to be replaced. It made Ardon anxious…
Original article by Dave Rollo, originally published by CASSE, Resilience The Finger Lakes region of western New York State is distinguished by a series of long and narrow glacial valleys, dammed by moraine, that now contain lakes. Glacial scouring created some of the deepest lakes in North America, including Seneca, Cayuga, and Skaneateles lakes. These spectacular…
In October 2023, Sustainable Finger Lakes awarded the Dryden Middle/High School Sustainability Club a Neighborhood Mini-Grant to equip the Dryden Middle School and Dryden High School cafeterias with reusable metal utensils, ending the use and disposal of 5,000 plastic utensils each month. On May 6, 2024, regional news service Spectrum News 1 aired a video…
Original Article from Lea Webb, The New York State Senate (Binghamton, NY) – On April 30th, 2024, Senator Lea Webb hosted her inaugural Earth Month Reception at the State Office Building in Binghamton where she honored a distinguished group of individuals, organizations, and small businesses for their unwavering dedication to sustainability and environmental stewardship. The event…
(Tompkins Weekly, 3-13-24, by Sasha Paris) Humans and “the environment” that sustains us are not separate. Environmental damage, economic inequity, and social injustice are interwoven in many ways, and their solutions must be as well. This is the philosophy of Sustainable Finger Lakes, carried out in our work, including our Neighborhood Mini-Grant program. Since 2008,…
(Tompkins Weekly, 12-13-23, by Kevin Smith) When Dryden High School junior Peter Nydam and his peers were trying to figure out how many utensils the school uses on a regular basis, the number was steep but not surprising. Working with Megan Munson, the school district’s food service director, students of the Dryden Central School District’s…
(Credit for this article belongs to Caitlin Hayes at the Cornell Chronicle. Nov 9th 2023) Congratulations and thanks go out to current intern Kris, featured in a recent article in the Cornell Chronicle! Check out the story below to hear about his contributions to the community. Low- to moderate-income renters have been largely left out…
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…
Original article by Siri Chilukuri, Grist We like to denigrate manufactured housing, but new units are better for the environment. About 22 million Americans live in mobile homes or manufactured housing, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and as the housing crisis continues to worsen in places like Arizona, California, and New York, that number could go up. But…
Original article by Siri Chilukuri, Grist The upstate New York city would be one of the first in the country to tackle the energy woes of affordable housing. This story was supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Technically, Holly Hutchinson lives in Ithaca, New York, a university town in the Fingers Lakes region in the…
(Tompkins Weekly, 5-10-23, by Holly Hutchinson) As someone who lives in a mobile home in Tompkins County, I have a feeling for what my fellow mobile home dwellers here experience. Our homes are affordable and may be the only home ownership option for us in the county. They are often attractive inside and homey. They can use up…
(Tompkins Weekly, 4-12-23, by Guillermo Metz) Last year, across the US, electricity production from renewables surpassed coal for the first time, and clean energy is one of the fastest-growing sectors in NY State, with more than 24,000 jobs added since 2015. At the same time, the latest international climate change study reminds us just how…
Engineers Without Borders, a Cornell University project team, created an app for the Finger Lakes Climate Fund! Read more about it in this Tompkins Weekly article: https://www.tompkinsweekly.com/…/cornell-project-team…/
(Tompkins Weekly, 3-8-2023, by Cathleen Banford) Recently, some folks met in downtown Ithaca to generate conversations centered on regional biological regeneration. Plans are underway to gather again, bringing local organizations into the conversation. Ithaca was just one stop of several for Joe Brewer and his partner Penny Heiple, who host webinars based on developing regional…
(Ithaca Times, Staff Report, 1-9-2023) 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…
Original Article by Zoë Freer-Hessler, The Ithaca Voice ITHACA, N.Y.—Sustainable Tompkins has created a Sustainable Finger Lakes Map that provides an interactive interface for those interested in learning about the local sustainability movement. Across the Finger Lakes region, people are trying to relocalize the economy and make local governance systems more fair and democratic while protecting the…
Tompkins Weekly July 11, 2011. By Nicole Pion This December, the board and staff at Sustainable Tompkins began our first membership program in our seven year history. We wanted to give our supporters a space to connect with one another and with our community as a whole. Historically, Sustainable Tompkins has done a lot of…
Tompkins Weekly June 13, 2011. By Gay Nicholson. Energy security and climate protection are interwoven global issues with highly local solutions. We need to reduce fossil fuel use across the board in order to slow global warming and strengthen our local economy, and that means taking responsibility for our own fossil carbon emissions while making…
Tompkins Weekly – January 24, 2011 By Gay Nicholson Ph.D. Our County has set a goal of 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. We are doing this out of a sense of mutual responsibility to do right by future generations. But we are also doing this because we believe it protects the interests…