Alex Rodriguez of Save the Sound speaks at the community discussion held in Mount Vernon on November 11, 2023. Credit: NYSG/J. Perez-Viscasillas

Contacts: 

Jimena Perez-Viscasillas, NYSG Long Island Sound Study Outreach Coordinator, E: jbp255@cornell.edu, P: (631) 824-4906

Lillit (Lilli) Genovesi, NYSG Long Island Sound Outreach Coordinator, NYC, E: Lillit.Genovesi@cornell.edu, P: (718) 874-0120

This environmental justice needs assessment, conducted by NYSG and Long Island Sound Study (LISS) partners,  will help shape future environmental programming and resources to be more useful, relevant, and accessible to underserved populations

Stony Brook, NY, March 25, 2024 - More than 23 million people live within 50 miles of Long Island Sound, the large waterbody between Long Island and Connecticut, but access to its resources has historically been limited for many minority or low-income populations.

New York Sea Grant, in partnership with the social science research firm Responsive Management, worked with a team of partners across New York and Connecticut to conduct an Environmental Justice Needs Assessment to better connect with local underserved communities and explore issues, challenges, and barriers they face related to their environment. The process included conversations with community leaders, community dinners and discussions held across the region, on-site engagement through tabling at libraries, and a survey questionnaire.

This assessment wrapped up in December 2023; its results will be shared widely to help shape local projects and ensure they meet the needs of vulnerable communities. The results are also expected to contribute to a revision process for the Sound’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan, a document which dictates how projects and funding are prioritized around the Sound. Moreover, this project facilitated connections between local groups, the Long Island Sound Study (LISS) estuary program, and the Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund—two major sources of funding and educational resources—and, as a result, new opportunities are on the horizon.

This formal assessment process serves as a significant first step towards addressing environmental disparities in the Long Island Sound region.

Project Partners:

• Connecticut Sea Grant 
• CTDEEP 
• Save the Sound
• Responsive Management (contractor) 
• Environmental Leaders of Color
• Junta for Progressive Action 
• Restore America’s Estuaries

Funding: 

• Long Island Sound Study


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly.