CCE SULLIVAN REIMAGINED: MESSAGE FROM the Executive Director
Hello and happy new year! In reflecting, here at CCE Sullivan we’re feeling really good about 2022. We got families, kids, farmers and food producers back in the swing of things at the Extension Education Center, offering a mix of in person, virtual, and hybrid programming; completed the well overdue installation of our new HVAC units thanks to funding assistance secured by Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther’s office; shored up funding for our Agriculture and Food Systems work; rounded out our Environment and Natural Resources team with a new Horticulture Program Coordinator; expanded the 4-H Youth Development Program to include school and summer camp group programming in animal science and STEM learning; served our neighbors more than 25,000 pounds of food through the Sullivan Fresh Community Cupboard; and had record annual sales through the Sullivan Fresh Farmers’ Markets, Hudson Valley Catskills Welcome Center, and Taste NY projects to keep revenues up for Sullivan County and NYS farm, food, beverage, and gift producers!
If anything good came of COVID, it was the push to REIMAGINE how CCE Sullivan can and should be reaching our constituency. By adopting new infrastructure and technologies, and our traditional boots on the ground outreach, we’re on the road to recovery as a community and as an organization. We finished the year with two clean independent financial audits, a new reserve fund for the first time in my tenure; and having completed the first draft of our next five year strategic planning, to be adopted by the Board of Directors in the first quarter of 2023.
The plan focuses on shoring up operational standards in light of new technology, reimagining and reinvigorating our Program Advisory Committee structure, understanding the impact of our programs through meaningful evaluation frameworks, and continuing to bring research based information and practices from the Land Grant University system to Sullivan County.
Once again we’re taking a breather from the full magazine for the month of January in preparation for our Annual Report to the Community in February. We’re not taking a breather from our education and outreach mission, but we are in fact, taking some time to reflect on our offerings and the factors that drive what we deliver to the community. I encourage you to take a bit of time for yourself, grab a cup of tea or hot cocoa, and peruse this light edition of the Extension Connection.
To close out the year, CCE Sullivan led our annual direct mail fundraising campaigns. With your help we brought in nearly $5,485 in the month of December! With New York State grant reimbursements delayed in the wake of the pandemic, and the waiving of all program fees since March of 2020, regular cash flow is a year round challenge. Your support, along with the annual allocation from the Sullivan County Legislature, is what keeps the wheels turning. I can’t tell you what a relief your support is as we enter a new year. THANK YOU! See you next month as we REIMAGINE Extension in the new year!
YOU! U See e you u next Cheers!
Colleen