Port Chester
Lead agency
Council of Community Services
Contact person
Ann Barringer Spaeth
CFAA Team
Family Services of Westchester; Port Chester Carver Center; Port Chester Council for the Arts; Clay Art Center; Port Chester Public Schools; Port Chester Recreation; Port Chester Library; Port Chester Senior Program; All Souls Presbyterian Church; St. Peter's Episcopal Church; NAAcp pf Port Chester; Human Development Services of Westchester; Chamber of Commerce; Summerfiled Methodist Church; Westchester Co. Senior Programs and Services; Westchester Hispanic Coalition
Stage of development
Implementation-year 1
Community concern(s)/issue(s) addressed thru CFAA initiative
- Need to make Port Chester a more welcoming community for everyone
- Racism and a lack of respect
- Lack of interaction between different faiths and ethnic groups
Key strategies used to address issue(s)
- Establish a Civic Engagement Coalition which will research volunteer opportunities and publish a newsletter at least twice a year to promote voluntarism.
- Facilitate a Farmer's Market for the poor which will promote interfaith understanding while feeding the hungry.
- To create a multicultural Arts Festival in the Spring of 2008
- Begin planning for a ""Community University"" where both young and old can share their expertise.
Major activities planned for this year
- Continuation of God's Green Market which distributes fresh vegetables to the poor every Saturday afternoon.
- "Welcome Wagon"project
- Multicultural Arts Festival
- Civic Engagement Coalition .
What do you hope will be different because of your CFAA work?
We expect to increase collaboration between the churches and synagogues as well as the not for profits and business; an increased knowledge of each other's cultures, and cross cultural collaborations and understanding which will lead to a less racially divided community.