Strategic Plan Adirondack North Country Association(ANCA)

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Strategic Plan 2006-2010

Adopted March 16, 2006

The Adirondack North Country Association Board of Directors developed the Strategic Plan 2006-2010 beginning in 2005 and concluding in early 2006. The plan consists of the following sections:

1. A Profile of the Adirondack North Country Association
2. Fifty-Plus Years of Service
3. Establishing, Maintaining and Building on Partnerships
4. Regional Issues and Opportunities/ ANCA’s Role as an Advocate and a Provider of Services and Programs
5. Challenges and Opportunities

Adirondack North Country Association Board of Directors:

John Bartow, NYS Tug Hill Commission
Richard R. Bird, Adirondack Estates, Inc.
Dale G. Brown, City National Bank
Richard Burns, Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation
Greg Caito, IBM
Donald L. Caldera, Country Business Services
Paul M. Cantwell, Cantwell and Cantwell, Attorneys
Peter J. Cayan, Past SUNY-Utica President
Maureen Donovan, Warren County EDC
Stephen M. Erman, Adirondack Park Agency
Eugene T. Falvo, Falvo Manufacturing Co, Inc.
Bruce A. Ferguson, Washington County
H. John Hosley, Hoss’s of Long Lake, Inc.
Brad Jackson, Franklin County IDA
John C. Kiechle, The Philadelphia Grass Company
Chip Kiefer, Central Adirondack Association
Jonathan P. MacAbee, The Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks
Ronald M. Ofner, Marketing Consultant
Kenneth W. Parker, Warren County
William F. Peters, Lewis County
Dean and Donna Pohl, Raquette Lake Navigation
J.R. Risley, Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages, Town of Inlet
Jorga Sanders, Sanders Realty and Property Management
Arnie Talgo, New York Power Authority

1) A PROFILE OF THE ADIRONDACK NORTH COUNTRY ASSOCIATION:

Mission Statement:

The Adirondack North Country Association is a non-governmental organization committed to improving the standard of living, economic opportunities, and quality of life for the people of the fourteen county ANCA regions. ANCA considers itself a “Regional Economic Catalyst.” ANCA works to unify the energies of North Country agencies, NGOs, communities, businesses and institutions. Its efforts strengthen the region’s economy through private and public sector initiatives which create and retain jobs, increase goods and services sold in the region, and market agricultural, sustainable resources, crafts and other products produced in the region. ANCA’s concern for economic development is matched by an equally strong commitment to preserve the natural environment, support educational, cultural and historic assets, advance the quality of life within the region, and enhance the well being of the state as a whole.

ANCA One-Sentence Description:

The Adirondack North Country Association strengthens the economy and quality of life in the 14 counties of northern New York through informed, open debate and advocacy on issues critical to the regional economy and through region-wide action on projects in community development, working landscapes, human services, the arts and tourism.

ANCA…Committed to economically viable communities and an improved rural quality of life.

ANCA Service Area:

The fourteen-county Adirondack North Country Region includes the counties north of the Mohawk River, between Lake Ontario and Lake Champlain, and northward to the Canadian border. The service area includes the 6 million acre Adirondack Park, the Tug Hill Plateau in the west, and the Champlain, St. Lawrence and Mohawk valleys. The Adirondack North Country includes the following counties:

Essex, Franklin, Clinton, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, Oneida, Hamilton, Herkimer, Fulton, Saratoga, Washington, Warren

2) FIFTY-PLUS YEARS OF SERVICES:

2005 marked 51 years ANCA has played a key role in creating jobs and enhancing the quality of life throughout the 14 counties of Northern New York. From advocacy for the Adirondack Northway, to providing technical assistance for wood products businesses, from implementing the North Country’s network of scenic byways, to partner in the revitalization of the Adirondack railway, by working with government and business ANCA has helped in the creation and retention of thousands of jobs in the region.

Following ANCA’s incorporation in 1954 the organization operated for thirty-one years with a combination of private and municipal contributions enabling the Association to provide travel and tourism information about highway touring, fishing and historic sites and to be a regional advocate. Beginning in the mid-eighties the Association benefited from an investment of funding from the New York State. Public and private funding over the next two decades has enabled ANCA to provide a wide range of services and programs. An outline of funding from the mid-eighties to the present is attached as Appendix A.

ANCA has worked as a regional advocate to address regional issues and opportunities and simultaneously works to administer funding to provide direct services and programs. Program activity in ANCA includes a comprehensive agenda that impacts a wide range of businesses, communities, and individuals throughout the region. Current work activity has been focused in the following areas:

AGRICULTURE: To build upon and expand the region’s agricultural economy ANCA has worked to enhance the stability, growth and profitability of agriculture producers within the ANCA region.

NATURAL RESOURCES: To retain existing jobs, create new jobs, and promote value-added processing in the forest industry ANCA has provided technical assistance to small and medium sized wood products businesses. In addition ANCA, in partnership with NYSDEC, has provided land stewardship and forest management assistance to communities impacted by the 1998 Ice Storm.

TOURISM: To provide recreational corridors and regional byway planning and promotion as a strong component of community planning, ANCA has worked to diversify and strengthen the tourism economy. ANCA has presented the Adirondack North Country as a premier destination with unique cultural, recreational, scenic, historic and artistic attractions.

ENTERPRISE AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: To work as a catalyst for regional economic development through direct involvement with new projects, ventures and community based planning and enterprise development, ANCA has made economic development support a cornerstone of ANCA’ regional and local community assistance efforts.

SERVICES AND CULTURE: To provide support to projects throughout the region in the promotion and development of education, the arts and health services, ANCA has worked to inventory and promote the region’s valuable service and cultural resources.

A detailed profile of ANCA’s past work program is attached as Appendix B.

3) ESTABLISHING, MAINTAINING AND BUILDING ON PARTNERSHIPS

:
ANCA establishes, maintains and builds partnerships with a wide range of state and federal organizations and businesses by managing funding contracts, building organizational capacity, and providing outreach and electronic communications. A profile of ANCA’s work in these areas is presented in Appendix C and includes the following information:

1) Organizational and Business Partners
2) Federal and State Agency Partnerships
3) Organizational Capacity
4) Organizational Outreach
5) Electronic Communications

4) REGIONAL ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES/ANCA’S ROLE AS AN ADVOCATE AND A PROVIDER OF SERVICES AND PROGRAMS:

ANCA’s Board of Directors has identified a number of different regional issues and opportunities that have direct application to local community planning and which in combination impact all of ANCA’s direct program areas. The organization will focus on the following six broad strategies over the next four years:

1) Enterprise and Economic Development
2) Quality of Life
3) Culture and Tourism
4) Working Landscapes
5) Capacity Development
6) Regions and Subregions

Detailed descriptions of ANCA’s goals as an advocate and a provider of services and programs are as follows:

1) Enterprise and Economic Development – Ensuring that ANCA and its partners will work on issues that strengthen the entrepreneurs and businesses of the region’s economy through programs in marketing, crafts industry development, entrepreneurial support and training, workforce development, infrastructure (sewer, water, transportation and communications). While ANCA may have some direct duties (e.g. Scenic Byways) we will also help our partners meet the unique needs of the North Country (e.g. working with Department of Labor on workforce development).

ANCA is committed to advocate for the concerted action necessary to address the quality of road conditions and road infrastructure improvements, such as the Rooftop Highway, throughout the Adirondack North Country region. ANCA advocacy draws upon a rich tradition of addressing road infrastructure needs and ANCA’s role as an advocate for the Adirondack Northway and initiator of the scenic byways. ANCA encourages more timely and consistent upgrades from the NYS Department of Transportation that include addressing shoulder width for other transportation uses such as bicycling. ANCA has administered more than $5M of federal highway funding to support communities in the planning and marketing of New York’s State Byways and to improve the tourism economy that is reliant on the region’s transportation network.
ANCA is committed to the advocacy necessary to address the technological infrastructure and required improvements that are necessary to support information exchanges, high-speed internet access and broadband improvements.

ANCA is committed to the development of product branding that supports a wide range of products produced in the region including craft, wood, and agriculture while simultaneously marketing the Adirondack North Country as a special travel destination that is open to visitors through a unique network of travel corridors known as byways. ANCA has worked with various local organizations such as the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, Adirondack Harvest based in Essex County, and Lewis County Cooperative Extension to address product branding and distribution.

ANCA is committed to helping communities within the region develop the necessary sewer and water infrastructure to support community development that is consistent with keeping rural character and is essential in the economic viability of hamlets, villages and cities throughout the region.

ANCA is committed to the energy sector and to reliable energy, conservation strategies and renewal energy sources as an important component of the region’s economic viability.

2) Quality of Life – Helping to ensure that the most valuable resource of the region—its people—have the best possible quality of life for current residents and future generations by working on—protecting the region’s rural character, advancing education into “life long learning,” creating affordable housing, sustaining the region’s health care services and access to health care, and achieving reliable and sustainable energy for the region.

ANCA is committed to advocate for the concerted action necessary to address affordable housing through the use of tax credits (as proposed by Senator Little in 2005) for homebuyers in hamlet and low density areas in the Adirondack Park, and to support the efforts of housing and community development providers in their efforts to access NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal, USDA Rural Development, Small Cities and New York Main Street funding for the benefit of current and potential homeowners in the region. (ANCA was the NGO applicant for the Village of Saranac Lake in their successful application for $200,000 in Main Street funding for façade improvements in Saranac Lake).

Sustaining the rural character and quality of life in the region.

Achieving life-long learning to not only support primary and secondary education but workforce development and senior learning experiences.

ANCA is committed to working with the four-year universities and the community colleges in the region.

3) Culture and Tourism – Building upon the region’s cultural heritage and tourism as an economy through—corridor development (e.g. Scenic Byways, Blueway Trails, heritage trails, recreational trails), historic preservation, promotion of arts and crafts in partnership with a wide range of organizations.

ANCA is committed to the planning and marketing of the region’s recreational corridors, Byways and Blueways to benefit communities and provide unique interpretive material, information and destinations for travelers and residents.

ANCA is committed to building the region’s creative economy through development and promotion of the arts and crafts through a wide range of strategies including business development, product marketing and product branding.

ANCA is committed to the maintenance and promotion of the region’s cultural heritage and to ensuring that product development, marketing and interpretation of the region reflects the region’s rich history.

ANCA is committed to supporting the planning, enhancement and promotion of the region’s diverse communities.

4) Working Landscapes – ANCA will focus on using the wealth of the region’s “green infrastructure” for the economic and environmental benefits it provides. The region’s working landscapes are the heart of the regional economy, whether it is the agriculture or forest products industries, or the wilderness landscape and its draw of tourism for recreation. The region’s green infrastructure as much defines the region as does other physical infrastructure (sewer, water, roads, schools, health care facilities, etc.) and we need to plan for, manage and sustain the use of the region’s green infrastructure no less than we do for our built infrastructure. It, too, underlies the economy of the region.

ANCA is committed to the advocacy necessary for the maintenance of air and water quality that contribute to the natural resource based assets of the region’s open space, diverse forested and agricultural landscape, and quality communities.

ANCA is committed to advocating for the control of invasive plants and animals and has partnered with the Adirondack Nature Conservancy on an exciting project to control invasives.

ANCA is committed to supporting the use of conservation easements that not only ensure that the rural and natural landscape of the region is conserved, but that working landscapes contribute to the region’s economy.

ANCA is committed to working with agricultural producers and farmers to ensure that agriculture continues to contribute significantly to the region’s economy.

5) Capacity Development – The region is the most rural, remote and least populated region in New York State. We have a limited amount of volunteerism to support the local government, NGOs and employment needs demanded by the region. ANCA, with appropriate resources and through its partnership network, will advance local government training and technical assistance, non-profit development and training and employment training to help meet the region’s needs.

ANCA is committed to providing the information networking that is a vital service to businesses and communities throughout the region. ANCA maintains a wide-range of business, organizational and municipal databases and has a history of sharing information to assist organizations and businesses in email, network, meeting setup, and buyer/seller contacts.

ANCA is committed to the advocacy necessary to provide community and economic development planning services throughout the Adirondack North Country region including both within and outside the Adirondack Park. ANCA believes coordination with the Adirondack Association of Towns and Villages is necessary to ensure that communities throughout the Adirondack Park receive the benefits of economic development planning services.

6) Regions and Subregions: The Adirondack North Country is a series of subregions (e.g. Adirondack Park, Tug Hill, Lake Champlain and the Lake Champlain Basin, St. Lawrence, Upper-Hudson and Mohawk River valleys) and larger regions (e.g. Northern Forest, Great Lakes). Collaborating both within the region and to a limited extent beyond the region will increase success of the organization and leverage additional resources for our economy and people.

ANCA is committed to the advocacy necessary to maintain a dialogue about the future of the Northern Forest while simultaneously exploring the potential for increased federal funding across the Northern Forest that will support community-based initiatives in New York.

ANCA is committed to work with other Great Lakes regions in New York as well as with other Great Lakes states to ensure that communities in New York’s Great Lakes basin get their fair share of Great Lakes restoration resources.

5) CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES:

ANCA’s COMMITMENT TO ACTION:

ANCA has traditionally benefited from public and private funding contributions. ANCA’s Board of Directors is committed to securing additional funding resources to provide economic development services that continue to leverage New York State’s funding. ANCA’s fifty-two year history of providing services and programs throughout the Adirondack North Country has been built from the tremendous volunteer contributions of countless members who have been committed to a vision of working together to build economic prosperity and quality communities. Their vision has been strengthened over the years through New York State’s funding support and additional federal grants and private contributions. ANCA’s Board of Directors is committed to securing and leveraging funding resources that result in an action agenda that will benefit the people, economy and quality of life of the region.

In today’s economic climate our communities are at the forefront of economic, social and cultural change. Changes in land ownership, combined with the loss of manufacturing jobs, point to the need for bold, new strategies in planning for and developing programs for our future. The reality of life in our communities calls for action now for ANCA to work with New York State to secure our region’s ability to continue to respond to community threats and opportunities. The continuation of ANCA’s partnership with New York State, combined with ANCA’s ability to leverage additional private and public funding, will have a positive impact on ANCA’s regional community and economic development services.

A REGIONAL DIALOGUE ACROSS THE NORTHERN FOREST:

In addition to ANCA’s services and program in the Adirondack North Country and commitment to Northern New York, ANCA has developed working partnerships across the Northern Forest region of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. These partnerships have included the following work activities:

ANCA’s involvement in the New York Advisory Committee to the Northern Forest Lands Council work a decade ago.

ANCA’s work in the late-nineties with the Northern Forest Center on projects such as the Northern Forest Wealth Index: Exploring a Deeper Meaning of Wealth.

ANCA’s sponsorship of the Northern Forest Center’s three Leadership Exchanges (Dartmouth College 2002; University of Vermont 2003; Plymouth State University 2005) that convened regional leaders.

ANCA’s recognition of the “east-west” connection, combined with the national stature that was generated by the commitment of the four-state governors to the Council’s previous work, provided a strong connection for ANCA to address the potential for new community and entrepreneurial initiatives.

ANCA’s partnership with projects such as Handmade in the Northern Forest and the Northern Forest Canoe Trail which benefit from strong regional collaboration and planning.

ANCA’s 2004/05 involvement in the Ten-Year Review of the Northern Forest Lands Council study which enabled ANCA to provide a community perspective to the North East Foresters Association (NEFA) in their assessment of the Council’s work.

ANCA’s advocacy with NEFA for a coordinating entity and regional capacity; a regional economic assessment and strategy; and a sustained commitment of federal funding to support economic and community development across the Northern Forest.

ANCA believes the future economic viability of the region lies within our ability to build on the national recognition generated by the Northern Forest Lands Council study more than a decade ago that resulted in tremendous benefits in land conservation and stewardship. We believe the time is now for us to do similar work for the benefit of our rural communities and economies.