Adirondack Diversity Initiative reaches for more inclusion

Chris Brock, Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.
·4 min read

Feb. 9—SARANAC LAKE — Ten years ago this summer, civil rights leaders, community activists, social scientists and various groups got together in the Essex County "High Peaks" town of Newcomb with a lofty vision: the need to broaden diversity in race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity among the Adirondack Park's residents and visitors.

Keynote speaker for the event, held at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, was Amy Godine, author of "The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier." At that August 2014 forum, she discussed how historic accounts of life in the Adirondack Park have affected its diversity as well as public perceptions of who belongs there.

A year later, in 2015, the Adirondack Diversity Initiative was formed and began its work toward making the Adirondacks a more welcoming and inclusive place. It conducted "longitudinal demographic" and economic research to better understand areas like population decline, regional employment dynamics, school enrollment decline, along with national trends pertaining to shifting demographics; data that provided ADI with a more holistic understanding of what is occurring in both the Adirondack Park and throughout the United States.

Since 2015, ADI has designed and directed many outreach programs, including:

—Establishing formal alliances with nearly two dozen leading organizations in the Adirondack region.

—Building a strong advisory network from outside the Park, including recognized experts on diversity.

—Consulting on marketing and outreach to minorities and the LGBTQ+ community.

—Holding multiple diversity workshops and education sessions.

—Creating a bi-directional youth exchange program.

—Establishing an annual symposium.

In 2019, the ADI received state funding and hired Nicole Hylton-Patterson as its inaugural director. It was no longer an all-volunteer group. The Adirondack North Country Association was nominated by the ADI core team and selected by the state to oversee the grant and the program. ADI is based at ANCA's Saranac Lake office. Hylton-Patterson served until October 2022, when she accepted a job with another nonprofit in Brooklyn. Last week, Tiffany Rea-Fisher celebrated her one-year anniversary as ADI's director.

"It behoves us not only on an economic level, but on a humanitarian level to make sure that people are able to come to the Adirondacks, not feel alienated by the Adirondacks and to be able to enjoy nature," Rea-Fisher said on Wednesday. "It's a right."

Rea-Fisher said that one of the newest programs at ADI that staff is excited about is its Welcoming & Belonging Microcredential program, presented in partnership with North Country Community College. A pilot program was held in 2021 and registration for launch, in spring, will open soon. The program is designed to provide local businesses, chambers of commerce and community groups with foundational knowledge and best practices for creating spaces that are inclusive and respectful of diverse staff and clientele.

"A lot of people say, 'I want to be able to welcome new people in my door. I want to diversify my workforce, but I don't know how,'" Rea-Fisher said. "This is a course to help do that."

The ADI looks at challenges related to diversity and then focuses on solutions, in five areas: education, commerce and economy, recreation, environmental justice and public policy/interest.

Other notable ADI programs are its Community Policing Initiative, and its emerging stewards program. The stewards program facilitates the Alternate Spring Break for college students, among other initiatives.

"We partner with some of the camps around the area and put together activities so they (college students) can get to experience parts of the Adirondacks, because I feel a lot of times, especially when schools are recruiting kids, they talk about the beauty and the awe and all the things you can do in the Adirondacks, but they don't actually get exposure to that," Rea-Fisher said.

That particular program is part of one overall ADI goal.

"We need the next generation to care about this place so that the funding keeps coming here so it can continue to be this gem in our state," Rea-Fisher said. "If they don't know about it, they're scared about it, or they feel like they won't be welcomed here, that does a disservice to us as a whole, as Adirondackers."