The FA’s Local Action Project (LAP) showcase was a popular destination in Lake George during our final year presentation. Above, on the right side of the table, LAP Coordinator Joan Cook and FA Executive Vice President Courtney Brewer share information about our program initiatives with members of other NYSUT locals. (photo by Cynthia Eaton)

I hope you all are staying cool with the hot summer.

Speaking of a hot summer, it has been unbearably hot in a number of buildings on the Ammerman campus. This has continued to be a challenge for the last few years, due to the aging infrastructure of the campus as well as the college’s current budget situation.

Ammerman Campus Executive Dean Irene Rios and the administration have been working to provide alternative workspaces and other solutions until these systems are fixed, and I really appreciate their efforts. This has been a continued frustration for all members of the college community. As HVAC issues arise, the FA will continue to be responsive to the needs of our members.

The officers beat the heat by heading to a conference in Lake George for our final year of participation in NYSUT’s Local Action Project (LAP). This three-year grant program brings together teams of union activists to develop strategies to increase member engagement, identify key challenges and solutions to address them, build community support and achieve results in contracts and budget votes.

Our LAP team, along with about a dozen other (mostly K-12) locals from across the state met for a week full of workshops, thinking strategically about how to meet the challenges facing the college and using our team time to plan for the future.

Since we started our LAP journey, we have developed professional development workshops in collaboration with the college, created our New Deal for Students campaign to focus on hiring full-time faculty, purchased items for our members, provided retirement workshops, strengthened our new member program, participated in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk and held seminars on the need to Fix Tier 6.

	FA President Dante Morelli responds to a question about our LAP initiatives during a conference workshop. (photo by NYSUT's El-Wise Noisette)

Based on member feedback and our work upstate during the LAP conference, here are some highlighted activities we are planning for our third and final year of LAP:

• EC101 —  A leadership development program focused on our Executive Council members to be held on Thursday, September 12
• FA office hours — FA officers will hold a series of in-person and Zoom meetings during which members can connect with us to just touch base or ask questions
• Professional development workshops — Continuing our union-administration collaborations, we will host a workshop on managing controversial topics on campus in the fall and on distance education and/or artificial intelligence issues in the spring
• Retirement workshop —  This popular workshop will be hosted again this fall on Friday, October 4
• Health, wellness and benefits fair — Representatives will be present from the Benefit Fund, NYSUT, EMHP and contracted companies that offer 403(b) retirement plans on Wednesday, October 9
• VOTE-COPE —  This critical political action drive will take place on Tuesday, February 11.
  

We will communicate all dates, times and locations for all of these events in the September issue of The WORD as well as by email. Plus, you will see them in our annual FA/Guild wall calendar that is published and distributed in mid-August.

I want to thank our LAP team for their time and devotion. They have given up a full week of time away from their work, family and friends for a full week for the last three summers. I truly appreciate their commitment to our LAP projects and to our union. Many thanks go to our tireless LAP Coordinator Joan Cook, Courtney Brewer, Cynthia Eaton, Kevin McCoy and Kim Ng Southard.

Stay cool, my friends!

The FA's Local Action Project (LAP) team is coordinated by librarian Joan Cook and we are deeply grateful for her good work on this three-year grant project. From left are Cynthia Eaton, Kim Ng Southard, Joan Cook, Dante Morelli, Courtney Brewer and Kevin McCoy. (photo by NYSUT's El-Wise Noisette)