Jessica Eldridge ’19 (right) at Pathfinder Village

Pathfinder Village was founded as the first and only community established specifically for individuals with Down syndrome. The mission of Pathfinder Village is to promote a healthy, progressive environment that respects each individual, supporting a life of value and independence for children and adults with Down syndrome and related developmental disabilities.  Recognizing the gifts, talents and abilities of each person they support, the Pathfinder Village community enables individuals with disabilities and their families to envision and to create a “life with meaning.” This includes friendships, independence, community involvement, and the freedom to pursue individual interests and life goals. Read more

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Zakaria Chakrani ’18 at Abraham House

This summer I had the opportunity to intern with the Abraham House in Utica, New York. The organization’s mission is to offer the terminally ill a secure and loving home, free of charge, while providing them physical, emotional, and spiritual support. The Abraham House partners with Hospice and Palliative Care, Inc. to provide their guests a variety of services, including oversight, comprehensive medical care plans, social workers, and bereavement services. The organization continually strives to provide both  compassion and the comfort of a surrogate family to every individual in their care, as well as their families.

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Each year the Upstate Institute recognizes one or more students with our Upstate Institute Award, given to students who have dedicated themselves to supporting our Upstate New York community with outstanding service and scholarship.  We are proud to award the 2017 Upstate Institute Award to Chelsea Mohr!  Chelsea is a senior Sociology major and Film and Media Studies minor who has provided research support to Madison County’s Community Action Partnership (CAP), an organization coordinating a range of social service resources to area residents.  Chelsea first began her work with CAP though Associate Professor of Sociology Janel Benson‘s course on Community Based Research during the Spring 2016 semester, where the class worked with CAP to assess the results of a mentoring program pairing adult mentors with youth ages 8-16.   Chelsea then continued this work during Summer 2016 through a research position (again supervised by Prof Benson) that partnered with CAP to assess the long-term impact of their mentoring program, by contacting alumni of the program, now in their late teens and twenties.  The results of Chelsea’s research demonstrated the effectiveness of the program, and, in turn, Chelsea and Prof Benson brought this research back to campus earlier this term, where they hosted a well-attended workshop for Colgate students about best practices for mentorship.

Congratulations to Chelsea!  And a big thank you to Prof Benson for your support and to CAP for your partnership on these projects.

Chelsea Mohr ’17 (l), winner of the 2017 Upstate Institute Award, with Professor Chris Henke, Faculty Director of the Upstate Institute.

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Dr. Andy Pattison, this year’s Burke Chair of Regional Studies, was busy during Colgate’s celebration of Earth Day and the 13 Days of Green that led up to it.  Dr. Pattison hosted two events, including a presentation and Q&A session with Dr. Cameron Brick of the Department of Psychology at Hamilton College (on April 11) and a panel of community members and students engaged through his course on local climate change planning (on April 21).

Drs. Pattison and Brick (seated at table in center) discuss the topic, “Why We Know What to Do and Still Fail to Protect the Environment,” in Donovan’s Pub.

Chris Rossi (standing left) discusses collaborative work with students from Dr. Pattison’s (standing right) course on local climate change planning in the ALANA Center.

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The Upstate Institute has extended the deadline for applications for the 2017 Summer Field School from Colgate students. Students now have until Friday, March 24 to submit an application for this summer’s fellowships. Applications are available here, along with a list of the projects that will be funded this summer.

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Chelsea Mohr, a senior sociology major, and Professor Janel Benson recently co-facilitated a brownbag on effective mentoring at the Max Shacknai COVE. Several campus volunteer organizations attended the workshop, which asked participants to explore their volunteer group’s assumptions about the role of a mentor and how they could improve their outreach and effectiveness. The session was informed by Upstate Institute supported research projects on effective mentoring conducted last year in Professor Benson’s Community-Based Participatory Research Course and Chelsea Mohr’s student-initiated summer research.

Professor Janel Benson (left) and Chelsea Mohr ’17 at the COVE.

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This post includes a list of the political leadership for the Village and Town of Hamilton, Madison County, and our State and Federal representatives, all the way up to the President.  We hope that this will serve as a useful reference for students, staff, faculty, and community members who wish to contact their elected officials.  Our thanks to Bruce Moseley, Colgate’s Associate Director of Corporate, Foundation, and Government Relations, for his help compiling this list. (Last revised December 2016.)

Want to keep up with news from the different levels of government listed here?  The list includes links to the websites for each office, with news, meeting information, policy proposals, and other information.  In addition you can reference the Federal Congressional Quarterly Roll Call for news at the national level and the New York State of Politics blog for the state.  Want to contact one of your elected officials?  We include contact information for many of them, below, and you can also consult this wiki for tips on how to call, write to, email, or visit an elected leader.

VILLAGE OF HAMILTON

• Mayor

Robert McVaugh (no party)

• Board of Trustees

Ruthann Loveless (D)

Russ Lura (no party)

Jen Servedio (D)

Sean Nevison (D)

TOWN OF HAMILTON

• Town Supervisor (budget officer, chair of the town council and representative to the County Board of Supervisors)

Eve Ann Shwartz (D)

• Town Council

Suzanne Collins (D)

Peter Darby (D)

David Holcomb (R)

Chris Rossi (D)

MADISON COUNTY

• Madison County Board of Supervisors (20 members – one from each of the 16 towns and four from the City of Oneida)

John M. Becker (R), Chair

NEW YORK STATE

• Governor

Andrew M. Cuomo (D)

• New York State Senate

David Valesky (D), 53^rd District

• New York State Assembly

William “Bill” Magee (D), 121^st District

U.S. FEDERAL

• President

Barack Obama (D) until 1/20/17

Donald Trump (R) starting 1/20/17

• United States Senate

Charles Schumer (D)

Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

• United States House of Representatives (New York 22^nd District)

Richard Hanna (R), through 12/31/16

Claudia Tenney (R), as of 1/1/17

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Contributed by Jeffrey Marr, ’18

Jeffrey Marr ’18 at Hudson Headwaters Health Network, Warrensburg, NY

This summer I had the opportunity to work as an intern with Hudson Headwaters Health Network through the Upstate Institute’s Field School. Hudson Headwaters is a large non-profit health network in the Adirondack region that covers an area of around 5,000 square miles and serves a population of around 80,000 people. Hudson Headwaters provides comprehensive and coordinated healthcare services to this population including primary care, urgent care and specialty services. In doing so, it seeks to provide each person with access to quality preventative care to ensure that they, and the population as a whole, are as healthy as possible. Hudson Headwaters serves a rural area that is at risk of being under-served by the healthcare system. While Hudson Headwaters serves a heterogeneous patient population, many of its patients are low-income and are at risk of falling through the cracks. To combat this, Hudson Headwaters provides millions of dollars worth of uncompensated care and pharmacy discounts every year. Read more

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Contributed by Ashlea Raemer ’18

Ashlea Raemer ’18

Madison County is home to one of the strongest agricultural communities in New York with agriculture being the base of the county’s economy. In 2005 this community created the Madison County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Plan that cited four main goals, one of which was agriculture economic development. This led to the creation of the Agriculture Economic Development (AED) program in 2006 when the county funded the AED specialist position, housed out of Madison County Cornell Cooperative Extension, and created the Agriculture Advisory Committee to serve as directors for the AED program. The AED program focuses on marketing Madison County agriculture, assisting farmers, and attracting new farmers to the area.

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Jordan Henderson ’17 at NAHOF

This post was written by Jordan Henderson ’17

The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF), located in Peterboro, NY, honors antislavery abolitionists, their work to end slavery, and the legacy of that struggle, and strives to complete the second and ongoing abolition– the moral conviction to end racism. Members of the museum have been doing great work in their community and the surrounding areas for about a decade now. I have been working directly under Dot Willsey, the former President of the cabinet here at the museum. The main tasks that I have been charged with this summer include hosting the museum on a daily basis, attending a few weekend events, and collecting and analyzing data regarding visitors’ experiences and motivations to commit to the “Second Abolition,” the eradication of racism.

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