The Better Housing  Better Communities
Education Initiative

The Initiative's final report is now available.  To view, click here.  Note: the attached .pdf file does not contain attachments.  Please contact us if you would like them mailed or emailed to you.

Modeled on similar initiatives in Minnesota, Illinois, and Pennsylvania, the Better Housing
-› Better Communities Education Initiative is a program created to address the need for more homes within reach for low to moderate-income families, individuals, and persons who are elderly and disabled throughout Tompkins County. It accomplishes this by educating the towns and communities of Tompkins County about this need. The Education Initiative has three components:

Community Education
 We hope that increasing the communities' knowledge about homes within reach will lead to a greater awareness about the positive effects they can have on a neighborhood. Through education, we will address the myths and fearful perceptions that prevent new homes from being built. We hope to start communities thinking about how homes within reach can fit in their neighborhoods. This year, we are scheduling ten presentations in the towns of Lansing, Newfield, Dryden, Groton, and Danby. Click here to see a schedule of our community education workshops. Through these sessions, we intend to identify and build a group of housing advocates who are willing to continue promoting homes within reach.  

Training sessions for Municipal Officials
Building or securing more homes within reach is a long complicated process, with many bumps along the way. Our training sessions allow municipal officials from all over Tompkins County to network and learn from experts how they can best bring more homes within reach to their towns and villages. 

Media Campaign
A person needs to hear or see something at least three times before they remember it. Our current media campaign theme asks “Hasn’t the workforce earned a home within reach?” Through billboards, bus, print, and radio advertisements, we hope that in time the people of Tompkins County will respond with a resounding “Yes!”