What a Collab can take on

Examples of community questions a Collab can take on.

If you are not sure what issues or topics would be good for a Collab, here are some examples to give you some ideas. None of them are scheduled, and nobody has brought them forward yet. They are here so you can picture what a Collab looks like before you start one of your own.

Each one lists the kinds of organizations that might stand behind each to serve as a potential sponsor. That is the step where most people get stuck, so we have tried to make it easier to know which door to knock on.

Five things to check before you start.

A group of people share it. Not one person, one house or one business, but rather a neighborhood, a school, a whole town.
It is still open. There is a real issue that exists and the decision or direction is still left to settle.
You can say what a good ending looks like. Not the answer, but what you would want in your hands when the workshop is over.
The people who could act on it would come. If we asked, they would show up to participate in the Collab.
An organization will stand behind it. Secured a sponsor, or you are willing to go find one, with our help.

Every example below is written the same way the form asks for it: the issue, what you could leave with, who might sponsor it, and who should be there. If you can fill in those four, you are most of the way to bringing one forward.

Main Street and Making a Living

For questions about local business, jobs, and the places we shop and eat.

What kinds of businesses do we want, and where should they go?

Most people in Cornwall say they want more local business. Agreeing on what kind, and where, is harder. It is easier to work that out before a specific proposal is on the table than after one shows up. This Collab is about the bigger picture, not any one project.

What you could leave with: A shared picture of the kinds of business people would welcome, the places that make sense for them, and the trade-offs people are willing to accept to get there.
Who might sponsor it: Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce
Town Board
Village Board
a business association
Who should be there: Business owners and landlords. Residents who live near the likely spots. Someone who knows the zoning and the tax numbers. The boards and the Chamber, who could act on what comes out.

Keeping storefronts full

An empty window hurts the whole block. Shop owners, landlords, shoppers and the people who live nearby each see a different piece of why a storefront sits empty, and what might bring someone in.

What you could leave with: A short list of things the Town or Village, the Chamber and property owners could each try, and who would do what.
Who might sponsor it: Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce
Town Board
Village Board
a business association
Who should be there: Shop owners and landlords. People who shop downtown, and people who used to. Someone who knows commercial rents and the local rules. The Chamber and the boards.

Busy weekends: parking, traffic and visitors

Visitors are good for business. They also fill the parking spots and the side streets. The people who live on those streets and the people who run shops on them often want different things from the same Saturday.

What you could leave with: Options for handling the busiest days, what each would cost, and who would carry each one out.
Who might sponsor it: Village Board
Town Board
Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce
a neighborhood association
Who should be there: Residents on the busiest streets. Business owners. Someone who can speak for visitors. Police and highway staff who know the numbers. The boards that set parking and traffic rules.

Land, Homes and Shared Places

For questions about growth, housing, open space, and the places we all use.

Where large solar should and should not go

Clean energy has wide support. So do open fields, good views and farmland. Deciding where large solar belongs is a real trade-off, and it is easier to work out once, for the whole town, than one site at a time.

What you could leave with: A set of shared principles for where solar fits, with places people see as a good fit, a poor fit, and still unsure.
Who might sponsor it: Town Board
a municipal conservation or environmental committee
a local environmental nonprofit
Who should be there: Landowners and farmers. Neighbors of open land. Someone who knows energy and the state rules. The Town Board and planning staff.

Homes for every stage of life

Young people who grew up here want to stay. Older neighbors want to downsize without leaving town. Both depend on what kind of homes exist here and what kind the rules allow.

What you could leave with: A clear picture of who is having trouble finding a home in Cornwall, and the options worth a closer look, with what each would cost.
Who might sponsor it: Town Board
Village Board
a faith community
a senior or civic group
a housing nonprofit
Who should be there: Renters, young adults and older residents. Local builders. Someone who knows the housing and zoning facts. The boards that write the rules.

Putting the Comprehensive Plan to work

The Town has finished updating its Comprehensive Plan. The next question for any plan is what comes first. A Collab can help sort which recommendations to start on, and who picks up each one.

What you could leave with: A short, ranked list of first steps, with who could own each one and what it would need.
Who might sponsor it: Town Board
the Planning Board or a committee the Town names
Who should be there: People who took part in the plan’s surveys and workshops. Department heads. The Town Board.

Schools, Kids and Families

For questions about young people, their schools, and the families around them.

Things for teenagers to do

Ask teenagers what there is to do in Cornwall after school or on a Friday night, and you will get an honest answer. Parents, coaches, faith groups and the school each run something. Nobody sees the whole picture.

What you could leave with: What teens say they want, what already exists, where the gaps are, and who could fill them.
Who might sponsor it: a parent or student organization
Cornwall Central School District
a faith community
a youth or service group
the Town’s recreation program
Who should be there: Teenagers first, and more than one or two of them. Parents. Coaches and youth leaders. School and recreation staff.

Phones and screens: what families and schools can agree on

Parents, teachers and students all have strong feelings about phones, and a lot of common ground underneath them. A Collab can find where people line up before a rule gets written.

What you could leave with: Shared goals, and a set of options for school and home, with what each would ask of families and staff.
Who might sponsor it: a parent or student organization
Cornwall Central School District or one of its committees
Who should be there: Students, parents and teachers. Someone who knows the research. School leaders and the Board of Education.

What the community values most, before the district plans ahead

A budget vote is not something a Collab takes on. But long before any budget is drafted, a school district has to decide what matters most over the next several years. That is a question the whole community has a stake in.

What you could leave with: The community’s priorities in order, with the trade-offs named.
Who might sponsor it: Cornwall Central School District Board of Education
a district committee
a parent organization
Who should be there: Parents and students. Teachers. Taxpayers without children in school, and older residents. District finance staff. The Board of Education.

Safety, Health and Getting Around

For questions about getting where we need to go, and looking out for each other.

Walking and biking safely, especially to school

Everyone has a corner they worry about. Fixing it usually means sorting out who owns the road, because the Town, the Village, the County and the State each own different ones.

What you could leave with: The spots people worry about most, possible fixes ranked by cost and effort, and who owns each road.
Who might sponsor it: Village Board
Town Board
Cornwall Central School District
a parent organization
a neighborhood association
Who should be there: Parents, walkers, cyclists and older residents. Police, highway staff and the school’s transportation office. The boards, plus County or State contacts if their roads are involved.

Keeping enough volunteers in fire and ambulance service

Volunteer emergency services depend on people giving hours they often do not have. Why people join, why they stay and why they leave are questions worth asking in the open.

What you could leave with: Ideas for finding and keeping volunteers, with what each would cost and who would carry it out.
Who might sponsor it: a fire company
the ambulance corps
Town Board
Village Board
Who should be there: Current and former volunteers, and their families. Employers who let people leave work to respond. Chiefs and officers. The boards that fund the service.

Ready for the next big storm

When the power goes out or the water rises, the hardest part is reaching the people who cannot easily reach out: older neighbors, people living alone, people without a car.

What you could leave with: A simple plan for checking on neighbors who need help: who keeps the list, who knocks on doors, and where people can go.
Who might sponsor it: Town Board
Village Board
a faith community
a senior group
a civic or service group
Who should be there: Older residents and caregivers. Faith and service groups. Emergency, fire, police and highway staff. The boards.

Belonging and Community Life

For questions about how we welcome each other, look after each other, and keep good things going.

Helping new neighbors feel at home

People who just moved here and people whose families have been here for generations often want the same thing: to know each other. It rarely happens by accident.

What you could leave with: A few simple ways local groups could welcome new people, and who would run each one.
Who might sponsor it: a faith community
a civic or service group
the library
a neighborhood association
Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce
Who should be there: Newcomers and longtime residents, together. People who run local groups, clubs and congregations. The library.

Growing older in Cornwall

Most people want to stay in their own home and their own town as they get older. Whether they can depends on rides, help around the house, and having people nearby.

What you could leave with: What older residents need to stay, what already exists, what is missing, and who could fill the gaps.
Who might sponsor it: a senior group
a faith community
Town Board
a health or caregiving nonprofit
Who should be there: Older residents and the people who care for them. Faith and service groups. Health and transportation providers. The Town.

Too many good causes, too few volunteers

Cornwall has a lot of groups doing good work, often on the same weekends and with the same handful of volunteers. A Collab can bring them together to work out what they could share.

What you could leave with: Ways groups could share volunteers, calendars or space, and an agreement to try one of them.
Who might sponsor it: two or more nonprofits together
a service club
a faith community
Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce
Who should be there: Leaders and volunteers from several groups. People who used to volunteer and stopped. Anyone who books space in town.

How We Work Together

For questions about how residents and local government work with each other.

Town and Village: what could we share?

Two local governments serve one community. Some services might work better shared, and some might work better apart. A Collab can lay out the options and the real costs, and leave the decisions where they belong.

What you could leave with: A short list of services worth a closer look, with the savings, the risks, and what residents would notice.
Who might sponsor it: Town Board and Village Board, together
Who should be there: Residents of the Village and of the Town outside it. Department heads from both. Both boards.

How residents and local government keep in touch

Meeting notices, websites, newsletters, social media, the local paper. People miss things that matter to them, and the people trying to reach them feel that too.

What you could leave with: What residents actually read and trust, and a way of sharing news that both sides can live with.
Who might sponsor it: Town Board
Village Board
Cornwall Central School District
the library
Who should be there: Residents of every age, including people who do not use social media. Clerks and staff who post the news. The local paper. The boards.

Filling the seats on volunteer boards and committees

Local boards and committees run on residents who give their evenings. Many have open seats. Finding out why people say no, and what would make yes easier, is worth an evening of its own.

What you could leave with: The reasons people hold back, changes that would make it easier to serve, and a plan to try them.
Who might sponsor it: Town Board
Village Board
Cornwall Central School District
a nonprofit with its own board
Who should be there: People who serve now, people who have served, and people who have thought about it and decided not to. The clerks who keep the rosters. The boards that appoint.

Not quite a Collab, and how to make it one

Sometimes the Collab is hiding inside something else.

A lot of what people bring us is close. Here is what usually needs to change.

What sometimes comes in

Why it does not fit as it is

The Collab inside it

What sometimes comes in: “Stop the project on that road.”
Why it does not fit as it is: One application has its own process, and a Collab is not an appeal of it.
The Collab inside it: “What do we want to see along that stretch of road in general?” Best asked before the next proposal arrives.

What sometimes comes in: “My street never gets plowed first.”
Why it does not fit as it is: One street, one complaint. Start with a call to the highway department.
The Collab inside it: If many streets share it: “How should plowing order be decided, and how should people find out?”

What sometimes comes in: “The board should replace ___.”
Why it does not fit as it is: A complaint about a named person.
The Collab inside it: None. If the real problem is how a service works, bring the service, not the person.

What sometimes comes in: “Get people to vote yes on the school budget.”
Why it does not fit as it is: A ballot question.
The Collab inside it: “What should the district put first over the next several years?” (See Category 3.)

What sometimes comes in: “Help us show the community our plan is right.”
Why it does not fit as it is: The answer is already decided.
The Collab inside it: Bring the question your plan was trying to answer, and be ready to land somewhere new.

Finding the right sponsor

Who to ask first.

If your issue touches more than one of these, start with the one closest to it. If you are not sure, start the form anyway and tell us. Finding the right door is part of what we do.

If your issue is mostly about…

Start by asking…

Roads, land, zoning or services in the Town, outside the Village: The Town Board, or the Town committee that works on it

Streets, rules or services inside the Village of Cornwall-on-Hudson: The Village Board, or the Village committee that works on it

Students and schools: Cornwall Central School District, its Board of Education, or a parent organization

Local business and jobs: Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, or a business association

Neighbors looking after each other, belonging, older residents: A faith community, a civic or service group, or a local nonprofit

One neighborhood: A neighborhood or homeowner association

Not sure whether it is Town or Village: Ask us. Plenty of people are not sure.

Political parties, party committees, campaigns and PACs cannot sponsor an issue. Anyone who belongs to any party is welcome to bring one forward and welcome in any Collab.

Have something that does not look like any of these?

Good. Bring it anyway. These examples are a starting point, not a fence.

Start a Collab