Resources

All-gender restrooms benefit all people

In the past few years public restrooms have gotten a lot of attention. To many people this may seem like a silly thing to be up in arms about; it’s just a restroom, isn’t it? The thing is, though, that restrooms are a key factor in determining how we interact with our community. If you can’t access public restrooms, you can’t access public spaces. For some this has never been an issue, but for many different groups of people this is a daily struggle. All-gender restrooms benefit all people.

Creating friendly spaces for those with Sensory Processing Disorder

People with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) can have a hard time processing sensory information if their sense of sight, sound, taste, touch, or smell is overwhelmed, according to the STAR Institute. When overwhelmed, people with SPD can succumb to sensory overload, causing them to feel a great amount of stress, anxiousness, and physical pain. In order to make the Ithaca community more accessible for people with SPD, we need to consider sensory needs when designing businesses and public facilities.

Food Insecurity in Ithaca and Tompkins County

Food insecurity is an immense problem, and it is estimated that over 2 billion people worldwide don’t have access to sufficient food, over 25% of the world’s population. According to the USDA, food insecurity affects nearly 17.4 million U.S. households at some time during the year.

Have extra food? Share it with your neighbors

What are food sharing cabinets? According to Mutual Aid Tompkins, food sharing cabinets are “outdoor food cabinets across the county that have been set up by community members. These cabinets are regularly stocked with non-perishable food and are open to anyone.” Cabinets are open 24/7 and anyone can drop off items as well as pick them up.

Join the Now & Later Gift Card Challenge: Support Small Businesses During Social Distancing

It’s critically important at this time for our community’s well-being to minimize in-person interactions, but this policy has harsh financial implications for small business owners. Please help our friends, family, and neighbors keep their shops open by buying gift cards or donating to help cover bills.

CommUNITY through Coronavirus

While we love to come together with other Ithacans for a good cause, we have decided to cancel our Helpy Hour to Benefit The Advocacy Center this Saturday, due to growing concerns about the Coronavirus.

Strengthening Ithaca’s Business Community For All

Here at Ithaca.Community we love highlighting local businesses. And when one of those local institutions buoys other small businesses in the community it’s the icing on the cake. Business Leaders of Colors (BLOC) offers varying levels of support for Ithaca’s entrepreneurs, with a special emphasis on owners of color. 

Bite-Sized Accessibility Moves for Small Businesses

Striving to make our businesses more accessible to all is the right thing to do and, by the numbers, it’s also good business. The more people who can access your business, the more potential customers you have. Unfortunately, without systems to help small business owners who are barely scraping by to implement accessibility standards, the cost can seem prohibitive, and businesses often give up. Even if you can’t afford big renovations today, there are many free and low-cost efforts you can make that have a large impact. Read below for a few suggestions to affordably boost your business’s accessibility.

Celebrating Indigenous People

October brings with it Indigenous Peoples’ Day (10/14). Throughout the month of October, Ithaca.Community will be featuring content that celebrates the work of local indigenous people and promotes resources that support these communities in the region. While no single blog post could encompass the full range of diverse communities represented in the area, we hope you find the list below helpful in connecting with a few local and national communities/organizations.

Labor Intensive: Top recommendations for pregnancy, birth, and parenting resources in Ithaca

Ithaca is a land of constant change – people moving to and away from town, buildings going up and coming down, and even the landscape is in flux, with waterfalls subtly changing our scenery as we go about our day-to-day lives.

I spent my first year as an Ithaca resident in flux as well, traveling to and from my job in New York City every other week. By the time I stood still and looked down, I was 7 months pregnant with no local OBGYN, friends in town, or mama mentors to help point me toward resources.