Four local organizations will share Cornell University's 2001 Tompkins Trust Co. – Robert S. Smith Award for community progress and innovation. This is the eighth year for the award.

The Ithaca Downtown Partnership was awarded $3,500 to employ a Cornell student to help plan and organize the beautification of the Ithaca Commons area.

One-to-One Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ithaca and Tompkins County was awarded $3,000 to employ a Cornell student to help develop a "High School Bigs" program for the Newfield Central School District. The Bigs program is designed to enlist students at Newfield High School to be friends and role models for Newfield Elementary schoolchildren.

On-Site Volunteer Services, Ithaca, was given $1,250 to employ a Cornell student to manage summer events and volunteer services program.

The Cornell Forensics Society, based in Kennedy Hall on campus, was awarded $1,000 to employ a Cornell student to work with interested youth on public speaking, presentation and critical-thinking skills.

Awards were based on the programs' potential to stimulate tangible progress in areas such as health, nutrition, community housing, small-business enterprise, youth development, arts, agriculture and the environment. Sponsoring programs can be for-profit or not-for-profit community organizations, agencies or businesses in Tompkins County, or a Cornell department, center, institute or unit.

Established in 1994 through a grant by the Tompkins Trust Co., the award is named for Robert S. Smith, former chairman of the bank who is the W.I. Myers Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Finance at Cornell. The award is jointly administered by Cornell Cooperative Extension and by the university's Community and Rural Development Institute.