Healty Ulster grant

An item from the Shawangunk Journal:

Imagine your child coming home from school and grabbing an apple or some carrot sticks from the fridge. You just picked up the produce from the Ulster County "veggie mobile" that swung through town earlier that day. Or instead of driving, you ride your bicycle down newly created bike lanes on your way to the library.

Those scenarios will hopefully become a reality as part of a $1.01 million grant award for the Creating Healthy Places to Live, Work and Play (CHP) initiative. The initiative will focus on three areas in Ulster County: the greater Ellenville community, Phoenicia and the city of Kingston. It came about through a partnership between Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and the Ulster County Department of Health.


County and CCE officials announced the grant award at a press conference Friday morning at Ellenville Public Library & Museum. They included Ulster County Executive Mike Hein, Interim CHP Coordinator Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Ulster County Public Health Director Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, and CCEUC Executive Director Lydia Reidy.


Competitive Grant
Zaczkiewicz said the three communities were chosen for their diversity from a demographic perspective. "Kingston is a small city, Ellenville is a village and Phoenicia is a hamlet," he said, offering a unique chance to measure the impact of the program's success.

The grant is one of only 22 in the state, and earning it was a very competitive process including the metropolitan New York area and Long Island, Zaczkiewicz noted.


Hein said he is excited to see the program begin in the area for three reasons: "It's a wonderful opportunity to work with Cornell Cooperative Extension, an opportunity to impact public health, and most importantly an opportunity to make families' lives better."