Northside Urban Partnership

Article Written by Douglass Dowty of the Post-Standard

Syracuse, NY — The new Spencer Street bridge over Interstate 81 opened at 2:30 p.m. in Syracuse, the state Department of Transportation announced.

“We’re pleased that it was able to reopen on schedule,” said Hank Polech, a DOT spokesman.

The new Court Street bridge over I-81 is scheduled to reopen at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, the DOT said. The ramp from I-690 west to I-81 north reopened earlier today. The I-81 north entrance ramp from Pearl Street remains closed during repaving work.

See the local road report HERE, as given by the Post-Standard.

Come join us for a frightfully good time at the Assisi Center tomorrow night! At this Halloween themed community dinner there will be piñatas, a costume contest, prizes and great food! You’ll be dying to stay!

When: Thursday, October 29
5:30 PM Dinner
6:30 PM Costume Contest & then a showing of the movie: “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”
Where: the Assisi Center, 800 N. Salina St. (entrance is off of Catawba, beyond the ghoulishly green doors)

The Small Business Development Center is now offering FREE business counseling to assist start-up and existing businesses. Green Business Advisor, Frank Raymond Cetera, is available at the offices of the Northside Collaboratory at 800 North Salina St in Syracuse. Office hours are generally between 9 am – 5 pm, but it is best to call ahead or even make an appointment. The SBDC and the Green Business Advisor work with your business to assist you in all of the following areas:

Business plan development & Organizational structures
Cost analysis & Marketing
Financial managment & Financing strategies
Training programs
Research through the SBDC Research Network

In addition, Cetera’s specialty in “Green” business provides additional counseling services that include:

Information on what is a “Green” Business & Developing green business ideas
How to “green” current business operations
Energy use, General operations & Employee and customer relations
Organizational and networking leads and information
Certifying your business as green

Our goal is to provide start-up and existing entrepeneurs with the best information possible to make informed business decisions. This leads to increased productivity and profitability and contributes to the stability and growth of the small business sector and economy. It is a win-win scenario for our community.
We meet with our potential and existing entrepreneurs on a one to one basis to determine needs, answer questions and formulate a plan to achieve goals. Onondaga SBDC services are available to businesses located in our service area of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, southern Oswego, western Madison or northern Cortland counties. Your business must also meet the federal guidelines defining a small business of having fewer than 500 employees and a maximum of $10 million in annual sales.

To read a recent article on the SBDC from the USA Today newspaper, click on the article title link: “Entrepreneurs turn to small business centers for free help”

Are you looking for ways to increase you sales this holiday season? Syracuse First, a local non-profit focused on growing the market share of independent, locally-owned businesses by increasing awareness about the personal and community benefits of choosing local when making purchases, would like to help you do just that by putting together Shop Syracuse week. The event, which will be from November 27 through December 6, will provide increased advertising to participating locally owned and independent businesses on the Northside and throughout Syracuse. Businesses will receive:

Great promotion of your business through the Syracuse First campaign press, advertising in the New Times and Daily Orange, and the Syracuse First website;
An opportunity to participate in all of Syracuse First events;
Increased exposure for your business through customer awareness of “Independent and Locally Owned” businesses;
A retail marketing kit with materials for your business; and
Additional year round benefits and discounts available as a member of Syracuse First should you choose to become a member.

A flier with additional information about Shop Syracuse week benefits for businesses can be found here. The deadline to register is November 12, 2009. Additional information about Syracuse First is available on their website and by downloading this brochure. If you are interested in participating, or have any questions, please contact Jonathan Logan at 473-0926 x313.

If you missed the soggy ceremony for the Freedom Garden Ribbon Cutting, which occurred this past Saturday, you can watch the video footage on News10 Now of the event by clicking here or the image at left. Several community members and community partners were present for the rainy occasion, and the rain failed to dampen anyone’s spirits as they listened to several speakers extending thanks to all involved in the creation of the community park, especially Friar Phil Kelly and Commissioner Fernando Ortiz, both of whom recently passed away. Other community partners included:
 

Franciscan Collaborative Ministries

Northside Neighbors Group

Freedom Garden Steering Committee

City of Syracuse Department of Community Development

Tomorrow’s Neighborhoods Today

Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative

SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry

Appel Osborne

Home HeadQuarters

Northside Collaboratory

Frontier Graphics

Salt City Systems

Wescott Bulb Project

The Home Depot Foundation

The Doble Family

Housing Visions Unlimited

With food provided by:
Wegmans (Pond Street location)
Original Italian Pizza

Written by Maureen Nolan of the Post-Standard

The North Side Learning Center opened its doors for the first time this week and students came pouring in.

Forty adults signed up ahead of time for the center’s English classes and they showed up Tuesday evening, as did 26 walk-ins. Plus children. “As soon as we opened the door, we knew it would be like this, based on the research,” Yusef Soule said.

He is one of six friends who created the center to serve the neighborhood refugee population. They’ve done it, Soule said, with money from their own pockets, help from their families and nothing but volunteer labor.

The center will hold a “grand opening” at 2 p.m. Saturday. It is located at 808 N. McBride St., above the Family Dollar store. That’s within walking distance for much if its target audience, Soule said.

The majority of the students are refugees from Burma, Iraq and Somalia, but, like the sign on the doors says, all are welcome, he said.

The organizers didn’t want to step on toes or duplicate services and researched what the community needed most, he said. English classes topped the list. The center also an academic program for young children who accompany moms to their lessons, and homework help for middle and high school students.

Click HEREto read the full article from the Post-Standard

City of Syracuse – Community Media and Technology Planning Workshops

IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT TV ANYMORE . . . What is your vision for local media in Syracuse — now, and for the next ten years? The City of Syracuse is holding a series of workshops on the future of cable service, community media and technology. The focus group workshops will be conducted by The Buske Group, a nationally recognized public policy consulting firm hired specifically to help the City with the cable franchise process. Come bring your ideas and learn about the opportunity we have right now for the City of Syracuse to provide new technological resources to all communities within Syracuse. The future of media and technology is NOW. Join us at one of the workshops [click here or on the PDF to the left to view the list of workshops], learn and share — and have an impact on our community.

Workshops are FREE and open to the public.
To assure space and refreshments, and assist in planning please RSVP by October 31, noting which workshop you will attend.
Email: amaxwell@cdsyracuse.com
Call: 315-448-4750
Mail: Cable Focus Groups, City of Syracuse Community Development, 201 E. Washington St., Suite 412, Syracuse, N.Y. 13202-1473
Website: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bh4NivVfpcClYLheT7TKSw_3d_3d

Franciscan Collaborative Ministries & the Freedom Garden Steering Committee would like to invite you to the ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Northside’s newest green space!

The Freedom Garden is the culmination of over three years of hard work by a dedicated group of residents, organizations, and institutional partners to replace two blighted homes with a space that offers an opportunity for the neighborhood to celebrate its diversity. The vision for the Freedom Garden began three years ago with Franciscan Collaborative Ministries and Northside residents. Students and faculty from ESF’s landscape architecture program helped to capture this vision on paper. Local landscape architecture firm Appel Osborne lent technical skills to the project and developed plans used to design the park space. Home HeadQuarters helped secure the property and shepherd the construction process, which was completed by AAA Frabrizio Enterprises. Funding was provided through SNI, TNT, and the city’s department of Community Development.
 
When: 12:00pm, October 24, 2009

Where: Corner of North Townsend & Lodi Streets

Light refreshments will be present at noon and attendees will be invited to participate in a bulb planting so the garden will be awash with color next spring. The ribbon cutting will take place at 12:30. View the progress of the Freedom Garden construction by clicking here.

St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center will host American Red Cross Blood drives on Thursday, November 19, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Friday, November 20, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in conference rooms L-100C and D.

To schedule an appointment, contact the Volunteer Office at 448-5186, or send an e-mail to Volunteer1@sjhsyr.org. Walk-ins are also welcome.

St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center (www.sjhsyr.org) is a non-profit, 431-bed hospital and health care network providing services to patients from Onondaga and 15 surrounding counties. Through prevention programs and the latest diagnostic treatment procedures, St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center works with patients to achieve optimum long-term health. An eight-time winner of the National Research Corporation Consumer Choice award, St. Joseph’s is designated a Magnet Hospital for Nursing Excellence by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the highest honor bestowed on a hospital for nursing care. St. Joseph’s is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis. For more information on St. Joseph’s programs and services, call the Resource Line at 315-703-2138 or 1-888-STJOES1.

Those who own or have championed small businesses throughout the country will be celebrated and honored during the 2010 Small Business Week. Although the week is dedicated to all small businesses, the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA) will be recognizing particular businesses and individuals who have stood out. There are quite a few awards, all for different categories– family-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses, young entrepeneurs, and many more. Plus, awards are given to more than just the business owner; people who champion or lend to small businesses will also be recognized.

The SBA is now asking for nominations for the awards. All nominations are due by November 13, 2009. Those doing the nominations are asked to pay particular attention to the details of the instructions. More information from the Syracuse District Office of the SBA can be found here, and a PDF of the nomination guidelines can be found here.