A Challenge Industries Inc. project and another project that combines the talents of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) and the Dilmun Hill Cornell University Student Farm have won 1998 Tompkins County Trust Co.'s Robert S. Smith Awards for community progress and innovation. This is the fifth year the awards have been given.

Challenge Industries Inc. will use its award to plan, promote and coordinate a six-month pilot unit of Small Business Enterprise Support Services. This project is a new level of service for individuals with disabilities or related barriers to community employment. Judi Hilman from Challenge Industries is the project's supervisor, and she will manage Cornell student Erin Deegan.

The GIAC/Dilmun Hill Cornell Student Farm project is part of Cornell's Department of Fruit and Vegetable Science. The project involves educating inner-city youth and adults about the importance of agriculture and nutrition. It is creating employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for youth of downtown Ithaca, providing practical experience and skills. In addition to increasing interaction between Cornell students and downtown Ithaca residents, the farm makes more fresh organic produce available in the downtown community. Ian Merwin, Cornell associate professor of fruit and vegetable science, and Cassandra Nelson of GIAC will supervise Cornell students Erica Frenay and Jess Rubin.

Established in 1994 through a grant of $100,000 by the Tompkins County Trust Co., the Robert S. Smith Award is named for the bank's former board of directors chairman, who is the W.I. Myers Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Finance at Cornell. The annual award is intended to promote community- outreach efforts directed toward solutions of social and economic problems and to stimulate innovative and creative student projects that will generate program partnerships between community organizations and Cornell University students.