News

Thursday Morning Roundtable (TMR) presented its Meritorious Community Service Award to Margaret Charters at its April 17 meeting. In 1972, TMR established the annual award to present to individuals who make valuable contributions to the community without widespread recognition.

Charters, a longtime TMR member, has served on many boards and committees, including the Cooperative Extension, United Way and the New York State 4-H Foundation.

After her retirement from Syracuse University 18 years ago, Charters began helping the children at Dr. King School boost their reading skills and their love of books. She recruited about 35 adult volunteers who work with a total of 60 students twice a week to help them with reading, including sight word recognition and sounding out words.  The reading program she initiated at Dr. King has inspired two other city schools to establish similar reading programs.

Charters has a doctorate in higher education, but went back to school and earned a master’s degree in literacy education to provide the best possible instruction to the children.

TMR is a weekly civic forum bringing together a mix of community leaders and experts from a variety of fields to learn about public issues and problems. For more information, contact Sandra Barrett, director of Community Programs at University College, at 315-443-4846 or cps@syr.edu.

The May 1 session of the Institute for Retired People (IRP) will feature Casey Crabill, president of Onondaga Community College. Crabill will talk about his first year as president of the college and how OCC will continue to reach out to its students and community.

IRP meets from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Syracuse, 5833 East Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville.  The meeting is open to anyone in the community who is retired or semi-retired.

For more information, visit http://uc.syr.edu/irp, call Colleen at 315-443-4846, or e-mail cmkarlho@syr.edu.

IRP is a community program of University College of Syracuse University, dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning.

 

The Onondaga Citizens League (OCL) released its new study report, “Early Childhood and School Readiness: Creating a Community Where All Children Thrive by Five” at a conference on April 14 at WCNY.

The report, co-chaired by OCL board members Laurie Black of Syracuse 20/20 and Paul Predmore of the Bousquet Holstein law firm, focuses on the importance of early childhood experiences to kindergarten readiness and calls for a community-wide coalition made up of key stakeholders to address early childhood issues from birth to age five in a more strategic, data-driven fashion.

“Our community is already well-equipped and committed to addressing early childhood issues, and as a result of this study process, real progress is already being made in establishing a community coalition that we hope will ensure better coordination and better outcomes for all of our children,” says Predmore.

Over the past year, the study committee convened study sessions with OCL members, representatives of local organizations with an interest in early childhood issues and experts in childhood development and early learning. Study committee members reviewed numerous reports, studies and articles and conducted interviews with other stakeholders and parents involved in local social service and educational programs.

In the final report, they reviewed the early childhood programs and initiatives in Onondaga County and best practices from other communities, in order to make recommendations that will aid in achieving the goal of having all children entering school kindergarten ready. 

The Onondaga Citizens League fosters informed public discourse by identifying and studying critical community issues affecting Central New York, developing recommendations for action, and communicating study findings to interested and affected groups. For more information, or to view the full study, visit http://onondagacitizensleague.org.

The April 17 session of the Institute for Retired People (IRP) will feature Katelyn Wright, executive director of the Greater Syracuse Land Bank. Wright will discuss the 165 dilapidated, decaying, and/or tax delinquent properties that the Land Bank has acquired since its inception in 2013. She will share how the city acquires the properties, how the Land Bank is creating jobs and more.

IRP meets from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Syracuse, 5833 East Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville. The meeting is open to anyone in the community who is retired or semi-retired.

For more information, visit http://uc.syr.edu/irp, call Colleen at 315-443-4846, or e-mail cmkarlho@syr.edu.

IRP is a community program of University College of Syracuse University, dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning.

The April 3 session of the Institute for Retired People (IRP) will feature Ted Fox, director, Rosamond Gifford Zoo and Janet Agostini, president of Friends of the Zoo.

They will discuss the long history of the zoo at Burnet Park and the growth and improvements that have developed over the last 100 years –from the original four-acre facility to the present 43 acres, home to 700 animals.

IRP meets from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Syracuse, 5833 E. Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville.  The meeting is open to anyone in the community who is retired or semi-retired.

For more information, visit http://uc.syr.edu/irp, call Colleen at 315-443-4846, or e-mail cmkarlho@syr.edu.

IRP is a community program of University College of Syracuse University, dedicated to the principle of lifelong learning.