No progressive opinion from me this month, but rather the announcement of a progressive fund established this year, based on an idea I had while in public office more than a decade ago. Don’t you love when good ideas finally come to fruition? I sure do, particularly when they’re mine!
As most folks hereabouts know, the Big Apple to our south drinks, bathes and boils its pasta in water which — about 90% of it — originates in the Catskills. The Catskills Campaign for the Future (CCFF), opened in February with a seed donation of $1 million, and launched publicly in June, is raising additional funds in New York City to fully capitalize to our goal of $20 million or more.
From that point, steering and advisory committee members will recommend unrestricted, multi-year grants to vetted non-profits and service organizations that operate inside the watershed’s sizable footprint.
For more than a century, in order to protect the New York City water supply, agents of the city — after flooding numerous hamlets, farms and businesses — have continued to buy upstate land while also regulating upstate activities. These actions, and the policy decisions supporting them, have severely limited our area’s ability to grow and develop, impacting business, transportation options, multiple generations of local families and more; in every sector we have been outspent, out-represented, out-maneuvered and outflanked by those who work in the interest of preserving water quality for our downstate neighbors.
Watershed residents want New York City’s access to the pristine water from our springs, creeks and streams to continue, as we want safe, clean water available to every human on this planet; we are in this together, after all. Yet we can’t fix what we don’t acknowledge, and we in the Catskills won’t get the more prosperous futures we want for those who will follow us, or future support (financial or otherwise) if we don’t ask and advocate for ourselves in every conceivable way we can.
I and my fellow CCFF steering committee members are asking for that help, going directly to metro-area residents, letting them know that clean, unfiltered water originating in the Catskill Mountains fuels the vitality of what is arguably the world’s greatest city, that it is our water quenching their thirst and that of more than 9 million people across the entire metro region, creating a partnership in which the communities and residents of the Catskill Mountains have been a mostly silent, secondary partner.
In the more than two decades I lived in New York City, it was clear to me that most of my neighbors had no idea where their water came from; that’s not their fault, or ours, but let’s change that, shall we?
The CCFF was begun with a generous gift from a donor born and raised — and raising her own kids — in New York City; she’s been visiting me in the Catskills for decades and loves it here: the people, the small towns, the views, the quiet, the natural beauty in every season. During her visits, she has also come to recognize why — as a New Yorker — it is crucial to rally awareness and support in the city for the rural communities, institutions, and future prospects of the Catskills’ watershed region as a strategy guaranteeing New York City’s pristine water supply; she also understands what a fully capitalized CCFF will be able to achieve.
Our advisory committee will determine how and where the funds we raise will be spent, and is made up of local leaders with longstanding knowledge of local needs. Our intention is to fund those organizations that help maintain and support food security, wellness, connectivity, the environment, animal welfare and more within our vast, sparsely populated area, while preserving and celebrating upstate communities and history.
To that end we will be supporting rural libraries, food banks, recreation centers and trail associations, historical societies and museums, humane societies and more — those institutions and entities that serve the whole community — local, non-local, native, transplant, visitor, you name it — adding value to the region for everyone living, working or tourist-ing here.
CCFF will start with a pilot program making unrestricted grants in early 2026 in Delaware County, adding the other four counties of the watershed — Schoharie, Greene, Ulster and Sullivan — as we grow the fund and our capacity to identify, address and serve the wider watershed communities’ needs.
The Catskills Campaign for the Future is held and administered by the Community Foundation for South Central New York, with whom many local residents including myself have had a relationship for many years. Its partnership in this endeavor, its expertise and knowledge, are an essential tool for our efforts. I could not be happier about the foundation’s participation, and what the fund is going to do. Hey, tell your friends in the city, would you? For more information, the email below works. Or go to www.nycdrinksthecatskills.org with my thanks!