Nicole Eversley Bradwell Brings a Focus on Youth

She is director of admission at Ithaca College (IC) and one of our newest board members.  Invited by a friend and board member, Christine Barksdale, to consider joining the board, she spoke with George Ferrari, CEO, and decided it was a good fit for her skills.

" Community Foundation is an essential organization, and the board was seeking someone with a background in communications and someone who had a youth perspective," she said. " Many of the programs supported through Community Foundation focus on youth."

Eversley Bradwell grew up in Johnston, N.Y., a small town outside of Albany, and graduated from SUNY Oswego. Although she initially thought she wanted to become a radio DJ, she ended up majoring in communications and public relations.

Her first job after graduation was an IC admission counselor recruiting students at high schools or college fairs. Over the next two decades, she moved into a variety of positions in the admission office, including 17-years in international recruitment and travelling to Asia, and Central and South American to meet potential applicants.

In 2016, she was appointed director and supervises an office of 40 employees. During her time at IC, she earned a master's degree in organizational communication.  " I really enjoy working with students. It's a powerful and wonderful time to be part of a person's life as they look at higher education," she said. "And I like the field of admission because it's always changing. "

Eversley Bradwell has always believed in serving her community and has concentrated on organizations that serve youth. She was president of the board of Southside Community Center from 2003 to 2013 and was a board member of Tompkins County Youth Services and the Sciencenter.

Eversley Bradwell sees many challenges that youth are facing in Tompkins County. " We are not able to serve all the youth with after-school or summer programming," she said . "All of the programs maintain wait lists, so we need to create programs or support existing programs to meet the needs."

"My goal is to see where I can best support Community Foundation by offering a perspective on where I see youth headed and what their needs are. "Ithaca is my home. In order to make your community the best it can be, it needs full participation of people supporting the community." she said. 

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Bringing Fresh Produce to Single-Parent Families in Tompkins County With A 

New Twist This Summer

Single-parent families from Tompkins County may receive weekly subsidized cartons of fresh produce this summer in a program that offers cut-up vegetables for parents pressed for time to cook.

Healthy Food for All, a nonprofit that makes fresh produce accessible to low-income families, will provide partial and full subsidies for single-parent families who want to participate in a community-supported agriculture program (CSA) at one of ten local farms in Tompkins County. The CSA typically c ost $600 for the season, which runs from June to November.

While this will be the third season the nonprofit has offered CSA shares to single-parent families, the program this year will feature a new service: a trained chef who will help the parents convert their carton of vegetables into nutritious meals by offering cut-up produce as well as free cooking classes, said Liz Karabinakis, director of Healthy Food for All.

"They will have the support of a chef to turn their CSA share of whole fruits and vegetables into healthy meals that are culturally appropriate for their families," Karabinakis said.

Healthy Food for All created this program in 2016, after Karabinakis attended a gathering held the previous November on women and poverty, organized by Community Foundation of Tompkins County Women's Fund. At the convening, Karabinakis said she was struck by the dire needs of single-parent families with young children in Tompkins County.

A Tompkins County Community Health Assessment presented at the meeting showed 100% of single-mother families with children under age 5 live in poverty in the City of Ithaca and in the Town of Groton. The overall poverty rate for single women with children under 5 in Tompkins County is 58%.

"Towards the end of the gathering, I felt compelled to do something," Karabinakis said. "Right there we made a commitment to single-parents with a young child to provide them with a CSA share of fresh local organic produce for whatever price they could afford, and we would not turn away anyone from access to fresh produce."

The CSA program for single-parent families was launched with about 20 parents signing up. Last year, the number grew to 50 and Karabinakis said she expects more participants to register for a CSA share in 2018.

Karabinakis said she would not have created the program if she had not attended Community Foundation's gathering on women and poverty. "Community Foundation's support extends well beyond their financial programs and grants," she said. "They play a much greater role in supporting our community, and this is one example."

Amy LeViere, philanthropic services officer for Community Foundation, said  the program reflects the conversations that occur at Community Foundation convenings. "We truly are an intersection of cross-cultural and cross-sector engagement that attracts community members, philanthropists, civic leaders, businesses and elected officials all to advance equity and opportunity through multi-layered connections to community resources," she said.

Steph Bailey, chair of Community Foundation Women's Fund Advisory Committee, added, "Empowering women changes lives and changes our community. Connections through Women's Fund grants, resources, gatherings and events help make that happen."