Please, rethink your decision to build “a strategic plan that is centered on social justice”. You provide a wonderful service to our community, there is no need to politicize that work by pursuing “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”. These are simply inoffensive words used to divert attention from what it really is, Critical Race Theory. As the old saying goes, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig”. This focus will divert resources and attention away from the real needs that you have been having an impact on: alleviating poverty and fostering self-sufficiency through comprehensive and holistic client-centered services.
Thank you for all you do and keep up the good work!
Dan Maskin, Chief Executive Officer of Opportunities for Otsego, Inc.
This year, Opportunities for Otsego (OFO) committed to building a strategic plan that is centered on social justice. The process with any strategic plan involves analyzing data, setting measurable goals and putting those goals into action. Setting goals to impact conditions of society is more challenging.
“We begin by looking inside our own house with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion assessments for the board of directors, management and all 140 employees. Then, based on assessment results, OFO can begin to identify and analyze potential biases within the organization and get everyone involved in ongoing opportunities to craft the definition, and delivery, of a true social justice strategic plan,” Dan Maskin said, Chief Executive Officer at OFO.
This will be done by identifying opportunities to bring diversity and inclusion into the organization.
Cooperstown Central School 1994 graduate Lucy Schaeffer’s first book, “School Lunch-Unpacking Our Shared Stories,” released Tuesday, Aug. 3.
The book pairs Schaeffer’s photographs with 70 different lunch stories “from people age six to 93; hailing from 25 different countries and all across the United States,” Schaeffer said in the book’s introduction.
Schaeffer’s subjects include family members, friends, celebrities and strangers. Schaeffer said all of the stories are written in first-person narrative to highlight the storytellers’ voices over her own.
Although it is the first book as author for Schaeffer, she said her photographs have appeared in more than 50 books and cookbooks.
The project started in August 2016, when Schaeffer said she was brainstorming about what to make her daughters, Annie and Georgia, now 12 and 8, respectively, for lunches for their upcoming school year.
“I was sort of daydreaming and thinking it was so much easier for my parents. They just did peanut butter and jelly,” Schaeffer said. “It wasn’t like now, all these schools are nut-free and you can’t do peanut butter anymore.”
BOAT PARADE – 3 p.m. Get out for the annual decorated boat parade. This years theme ‘Here Comes The Sun’ song by the beatles. All boats welcome from human powered to motor powered and all in between, decorated or undecorated. Covid protocols will be in effect. Parade assembles at 3 Mile Point and proceeds on West Side of the Lake to Lakefront Park, Cooperstown. Rain or Shine. 518-542-6630 or visit otsegolakeassociation.org for info.
VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP – 1 p.m. Learn about Cultural Diversity in the ‘National Pastime’ and how the game changes around the world. Includes Q&A session. Free, registration for Zoom meeting required. Presented by The Baseball Hall of Fame. 607-547-7200 or visit baseballhall.org/events/virtual-ask-the-expert-curatorial?date=0
ANGEL TREE PROGRAM – Give the Gift of Christmas this holiday season. Adopt a family in need. Visit www.allotsego.com/angel-tree-program/ to learn how.
CONSERVATION TRAINING – Noon-3 p.m. Learn to map stands of Eastern Hemlock to volunteer with conservation services in the effort to counter the spread of the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. Free, registration required. Mohican Farm, 7195 State Route 80, Cooperstown. Info, occainfo.org/calendar/hemlock-woolly-adelgid-finding-hemlock-stands/ or call (607) 282-4087
OPERA – 12:55 p.m. “Rusalka.” The Met streaming live in HD. Foothills Performing Arts & Civic Center, 24 Market St., Oneonta. Cost $18/seniors, $20/adults, 10/students. Season pass $200. Box Office: (607)431-2080, foothillspac.org/index.php/shows/metropolitan-opera-in-hd/
PLAY READING – 6:30 p.m. Reading of “Memorial Night” by local playwright Jonathon Ward. Fenimore Art Museum Auditorium, 5798 NY-80, Cooperstown. Info, www.fenimoreartmuseum.org
