Age Group: 25-34
Purpose of Travel: Visiting Friends/Family
What were the main factors that influenced your decision to use Ithaca Tompkins International Airport (ITH) for your travel? (e.g., convenience, direct flights, cost, proximity)" convenience
How often do you fly from ITH? First-time
How would you rate the overall cleanliness of the airport? Excellent
How satisfied were you with the check-in process? Very Satisfied
How do you rate the efficiency of the security check process? Very Efficient
What facilities/services did you use at the airport? (Select all that apply)
Restrooms
How would you rate the quality of food and beverage options available?
Excellent
How would you rate the friendliness and helpfulness of the airport staff? Excellent
Did you encounter any problems during your visit? No
If yes, were they resolved to your satisfaction? Yes
Overall, how satisfied are you with your experience at ITH?
Very Satisfied
Would you choose ITH for your future travel needs?
Definitely

I am currently a participant in a program to help individuals such as myself (someone who suffered a major motor vehicle accident 5 years ago that has completely changed my life.)
I am working with Tompkins County Workforce specialists that have enrolled me in a career retraining program and are standing by me as I accomplish a very serious goal for myself; becoming an asset to an employment field again.
Without programs and the people to coordinate folks in need such as myself with activities that help us get back some skills we have lost and acquire new ones that fit our abilities at this moment in time in order to be a competitive person for hire in an ever changing environment is not an area funding or employees should be getting cut. Investments should be made in our Communities Workforce not opportunities taken from it.
Without this program I do not feel I have the skills or confidence to acquire a successful position in the employment field and become self-sufficient again.
Folks Need Opportunities not Defunding.

I am forever grateful to all the staff at Tompkins County Workforce Development. It is thanks to their guidance and assistance that I received a certificate in Human Resources while working. After I finished their programs, I was hired on as an Administrative Assistant and 1 year later was promoted to Development Coordinator at a local nonprofit. I would not have a rewarding career, stability and the opportunity to take care of my family without the dedication of all the staff at Tompkins County Workforce Development. It is thanks to these programs that I have found my purpose.

Greetings,

Trusting that this message finds its recipient(s) in optimal health and spirits. As a Tompkins County resident, employee of a critical non-profit organization, and serving on the Board of Directors for several organizations within the county, I am very concerned about the proposed 5% budget cut for 2025. This loss of funding will greatly affect the available funding for worksites and trainings that are geared towards the most vulnerable and marginalized populations of our community. I am absolutely certain that the authors of this proposed cut would never pull a stunt like this for any programs that would affect the residents of Cayuga Heights. Hmmm... I wonder why that is? I encourage you all to take a long, hard look at the decisions that you make and do better.

I highly support the Tompkins County Workforce Development office and the Career Center and the work that they do.

My name is Dr. Elizabeth Grant; I am a Humanities Professor Emerita from SUNY-Morrisville. In late September 2017, I started volunteering two or three days a week at Tompkins County SPCA, working primarily with canines, but also at the front desk. At the start of September 2018, Director Jim Beauderau fired me for objecting to the euthanasia of Austin, a sweet canine. My suggestion that volunteers be consulted about their knowledge of and experience with dogs under consideration for euthanasia was dismissed.

When a letter-writing campaign was initiated last February, I wrote a letter to the SPCA Board, detailing my firing and expressing my concern that volunteers don't have a voice. After the Ithaca Times article, the Board's Vice President, Pamela Bleiwas, contacted me. We spoke on the phone for more than an hour about my experiences as a volunteer and my firing for wanting to have a voice. I was no anonymous whistleblower, and my claims were not baseless.

Ms. Bleiwas then contacted Sonia Gonzalez, a former 3-year excellent employee, valued by her co-workers and loved by the animals. Sonia explained to the Board VP that she had questioned some of Director Beauderau's policies and consequently became the object of a bullying and intimidation campaign until she was forced to quit. Sonia, also not an anonymous whistle blower, had a lengthy conversation with the Board VP. Sonia’s claims of abuse were hardly “baseless.”

Subsequent to my conversation and email exchanges with Ms. Bleiwas, I contacted Dr. Sucheta Sarndarajan, also on the TCSPCA Board, to share with her my experiences, but also a letter I had written (but did not send) to then-Mayor Myrick, not asking for him to take action, but for him to be aware of an unfortunate situation. In the letter, I detailed Ms. Gonzalez' mistreatment as a woman of brown complexion. (One of the staff persons actually referred to Ms. Gonzalez as the N-word.) Basically, Mr. Beauderau and Heather Marsella, then-Shelter Operations Manager, waged a campaign of bullying and intimidation forcing Ms. Gonzalez to quit, which was more favorable than than firing her because it would cost the SPCA money for Unemployment Insurance. I had told Ms. Bleiwas about the letter, but she had no interest in seeing it.

Given that SPCA Board members do not work or volunteer at the shelter, it is appalling that, after their investigation into charges of mismanagement, they concluded that the claims, coming from both volunteers and staff are "baseless". The director’s leadership model is that of a hierarchy with him at the top and with little to no room for discussion or questions. I both want the animals to get funding for their care and hope that the County can in some way get changes made to this organization that is run contrary to all of Tompkins County’s list of values and principles. I realize this is the job of the Board of Directors, but they are clearly not doing their job. I will end with a quote from an email correspondence I had with Ms. Bleiwas. I am quoting myself: "There is something wrong with an organization where so many people are afraid to speak up and tell their truth."

I strongly support the Workforce development’s request to keep funding from the 5 percent cut and have another staff member at the career center. At this time, we desperately need to help connect residents from our county with good paying jobs. These jobs matter for at-risk residents throughout our county and Ithaca, and this office helps citizens get jobs that every American deserves to have.

Historic Ithaca supports the WorkForce Development Board and Career Center department request for an OTR for a Transition Workforce Specialist and to restore the 5% cuts as a 2nd OTR in the 2025 Proposed Budget. This request is a great way for the County to support workforce development but most importantly, to continue on the quest to eradicate structural poverty in our community.

At Historic Ithaca, Work Preserve is a job training program at our store, Significant Elements. One of main partners is the Tompkins County Workforce Development and Career Center. Our work is dependent on that office. The county’s department sends us the trainees and we train them; the County provides the wages and case management oversight. From past experiences and to the present day, we have seen HUGE improvements from that department in communication, placement, work with County staff, and had true successes with the participants. We’re now working better than ever and the lines of communication are open with new work–for example, creating a Map of Opportunities to better connect all partners and as a tool for emerging workers. We have developed what we’ve been asked to do on every level together and independently and now asking you, as Tompkins County, to continue that great momentum forward by allowing the OTR for another staff person in Workforce Development and to restore the 5% cut.

Historic Ithaca does not rely upon Tompkins County for funding. We leverage other outside investments from the US Dept of HUD through Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency, Park Foundation, Significant Elements’ revenues and donations. It’s an interweb of recruitment, partners and a safety net for these trainees.

Therefore, the investment in the OTR will help our most vulnerable and historically underrepresented, emerging and continuing workers. With a small County investment, we will all work together to eradicate structural poverty, give people independence, employment, careers and the means to be fiscally independent, and to be part of the change we want to see and be. Your help and support is tremendously appreciated.

I am asking for the funding not to be cut for the Tompkins County Workforce Development's training funding program. I found it personally helpful for my own career journey, but I see people that I work with benefiting from it as well.

I’m 58, widowed, unemployed, and find myself lacking professional skills relative to today’s job market. I’ve been in sales and marketing for 30 years but I feel like that world belongs to a more technologically advanced generation now.

The specific funded training program I’m about to start (yay, manufacturing!) has been the most promising opportunity I’ve had in years…. To learn about an industry I find fascinating, and to grow within a career (as opposed to just find another job to pay bills) is so exciting to me…. to gain ground toward a stable future, both professionally and personally, is everything I could’ve asked for. And the people behind the paperwork are amazing… patient, supportive, and genuine in their efforts to help people like me, who’ve just had a rough time trying to find sustainable, honest, important work. I’m so excited to finally start looking forward again. What an amazing opportunity. Thank you.