October 24, 2023

Olmsted City Gets $338,000 Federal Grant

Olmsted City was one of only 28 applicants (and one of only five non-governmental organizations) in New York State to be awarded a USDA Community Forestry Grant on September 14. The $338,000 grant will be used over five years to improve Frederick T. Proctor Park. This constitutes a major enhancement to Olmsted City’s ability to realize the five-year Master Plan it developed in consultation with the City of Utica for the park.

This program directs federal investments to disadvantaged communities that have been overburdened by pollution, declining tree cover, and environmental hazards and seeks to expand community access to natural resources. To accomplish these goals, Olmsted City will do the following over the next five years with this grant:

• Expand the park’s tree canopy and improve care for its existing trees.
• Reduce the encroachment of destructive invasive species.
• Revitalize old trails and build new ones.
• Repair historic stone staircases.
• Add directional and educational signage.
• Commission a feasibility study to create a water catch basin in the park’s lower level.
• Conduct programming to intensify community engagement at the park, notably a Bioblitz, an event where volunteers inventory the plants and wildlife in the park.

To qualify, grant applicants needed to propose a project within a part of the city designated by the federal government as a zone of high need. However, due to the ways that census tracts are designed, the park was literally across the street from neighborhoods that qualified, but it was not within that zone. We appealed for an exception, and our application was successful.

We send our warmest thanks to the Bosnian American Community Association (BACA), The Center (formerly the Refugee Center), the City of Utica, Integrated Community Alternatives Network (ICAN), Senator Chuck Schumer, and the Wild Ones of the Mohawk Valley (an environmental group) for letters supporting our application. And kudos to Olmsted City board members Amy Funkhouser and Diane Hartig for drafting such a strong proposal!

Olmsted City is proud to have been chosen, as a still very new organization, for one of these grants. We consider it a vote of confidence by the USDA and the community that has so generously supported our efforts to advance the cause of this beautiful historic park, one of Utica’s most important and distinctive local quality-of-life amenities.

Reflections on Our First Two Years

Taking Stock and Looking Forward

Olmsted City was founded in August 2021 and effectively began operations in the spring of 2022. In the past year and a half—over two operational seasons covering only 14 months—Olmsted City has accomplished the following at Frederick T. Proctor Park:

• Reconstructed the beloved Lily Pond—and dedicated it on September 16.
• Planted over 2900 shrubs, decorative grasses, and other perennial plants, including 34 trees.
• Coordinated nearly 2000 volunteer work hours.
• Installed over one dozen new benches.
• Recreated the North Side Circle, an original feature of the 1913 Olmsted blueprint.
• Created the Peace Garden around a restored stone “cistern” dating to 1913.
• Began landscaping the “triangle,” on the upper level, at the head of the park’s beautiful ravine.
• Removed weedy undergrowth to open views to the ravine and other scenic spots around the park.
• Repaired the base of a historic stone staircase from the 1930s.
• Reconstructed a second, largely collapsed stone staircase from 1912-14.
• Built a footbridge over a stream, and in the process, reactivated a dysfunctional pathway.
• Improved the management of runoff water from the upper to the lower levels.
• Developed a routine maintenance plan to keep the park tidy with our growing Volunteer Corps
• Developed a 5-year Management Plan to create a vision for F.T. Proctor Park and prioritize improvements.
• Combated invasive species like Japanese knotweed that threaten the park’s ecology and beauty.

 

All in all, we invested $270,000 in private donations and nearly 2000 hours of volunteer time in the last two seasons.

The impressive grant we are humbled to have been awarded recently by the USDA will advance our mission, but it will not defray the cost of maintaining what we have already accomplished these last two brief but intense seasons.

For that, we still need your support.

Again, this is a predominantly volunteer-driven organization; only about seven cents from each dollar goes into overhead. We have no paid staff or office. In addition to volunteers, we need tools and materials, and these cost money. Please give us the means—we have proven we will do the job!

In addition, we are in the final stages of a $25,000 match challenge to help defray the $60,000 cost of the Bathhouse Nature Trail, a project currently underway that complements the work done on the Lily Pond Plateau. It entails: rebuilding a stone staircase and building a footbridge (mentioned above); rehabilitating old paths leading from the Lily Pond Plateau to the upper and lower levels of the park; planting native wildflowers; opening views into and out of this area by removing invasive species.

For every dollar we get between now and December 31, up to a total of $25,000 in donations, our donor will match it with another dollar, which will fulfill our goal for defraying the cost of completing this project.

We have shown what we, as a community, can do when we pull together. Please join us in this mission!

 

 

Our Principles

What We Stand For

Olmsted City was formally established under New York State law this summer as a nonprofit corporation. We are now an independent entity dedicated to the well-being of Utica and its rich Olmsted heritage, most especially, at the present time, Frederick T. Proctor Park. Until our petition to the IRS for 501(c)3 status is approved, all donations to us will go directly into a fund managed and supervised by the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties; all donations to Olmsted City are, therefore, tax-deductible.

We think it would be helpful to clarify not only what this organization has done and what it intends to accomplish but also our guiding principles so that everyone knows what we stand for and why:

• We believe in taking care of the assets this community already has, our inheritance from wise and generous past community leaders. Our first commitment is, therefore, to advocate for and advance the interests of our Olmsted heritage, notably our Olmsted parks.
• We strive to ensure that everything we do is sustainable in the sense that it can be maintained into the future.
• We are committed to maximizing the use of perennial plants native to the Northeast that support the health of our local ecology.
• We are committed to restoration and beautification as a means of improving the local quality of life.
• We are inspired by public health research demonstrating that people gain significant physical and mental health benefits from spending time in urban public parks.
• We are committed to promoting better public health in this community, which has more than its fair share of lifestyle illnesses (notably hypertension and diabetes) and people who experience trauma, for whom time spent in a park like this can have therapeutic impact.
• We believe that the people of Utica—all the people of Utica—deserve and need beautiful, well-maintained, functional parks.
• We are committed to promoting the economic development of Utica by underscoring our unusually extensive Olmsted heritage as something that gives Utica a distinctive quality of life that is unusual for such a small community.
• Because we are committed to telling true stories that will elevate the perception of Utica both locally and well beyond this community, and we know that the Olmsted name is recognized and respected across this nation, we are committed to promoting Utica as an “Olmsted city.”

Support Olmsted City’s Mission Today!

We invite you to join us in nurturing and preserving the beauty of Frederick T. Proctor Park, in addition to advancing the Olmsted cause more generally. Olmsted City is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in our community, and your support is crucial to our mission’s success.

Your contribution matters. Here’s how you can make an impact:

• Donate: Every dollar counts! Your financial support helps us maintain and improve this precious green space.  No contribution is too small—it all adds up.
• Volunteer: Join our dedicated Volunteer Corps to make a hands-on difference. Your time and effort are invaluable.
• Spread the Word: Share our story and mission with your friends, family, and colleagues. The more people who know about our cause, the greater our impact.

Olmsted City is a volunteer-driven organization, and we pride ourselves on putting your support to work efficiently. Together, we can create a healthier, more vibrant community and ensure that F.T. Proctor Park remains a cherished asset for generations to come.

Your commitment is the key to our success. Act today and be a part of Olmsted City’s journey towards a better, more beautiful Utica!

You can also send a check to:

Olmsted City of Utica
P.O. Box 8597
Utica, NY 13505

All donations are tax-deductible and will be acknowledged with a formal letter of thanks that can be used for tax purposes.