ITHACA, N.Y. -- Local nonprofits and small businesses in Ithaca and surrounding counties and the Cornell University community are the immediate beneficiaries of this year's Park Service Leadership projects.

MBA students selected as Park fellows at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management have been working on the service projects for the past two years. Their aim: to leave something of lasting value in the community, learn leadership skills in the process and make community service a lifelong habit.

A group of students who are graduating Park fellows at the Johnson School shared the results of 14 service leadership projects at an April 29 presentation styled like a science fair in Sage Hall's Dyson Atrium on campus. The projects ranged from support for a business that will help local growers raise pesticide-free vegetables year-round to a plan to offer more assisted-living choices to low-income elderly residents to a way to instill values of corporate social responsibility in future business leaders. Some of the students continued work on projects initiated several years ago by Park fellows who have since graduated.

The Park projects serve as a capstone to two years of leadership training at the Johnson School, offering students an opportunity to integrate the lessons learned as well as to gain an enduring sense of the importance of helping others. Summaries of the projects completed this year, the students who undertook them and the agencies they served follow.

• Assist the Alternatives Venture Fund Growth Opportunity (GO) Fund, an alternatives venture fund that promotes economic growth in the region through investments in small- to mid-sized local businesses in Tompkins and six surrounding counties. Identify investors and grant opportunities, refine the fund's business plan and create a presentation to potential investors (David Bobruff, Renee Sutton; for the Alternatives Federal Credit Union).
• Help the Cayuga Nature Center (CNC), a community-based organization dedicated to environmental education, achieve financial stability and develop a long-range strategic plan. The project included financial analysis of CNC activities and programs, a fund-raising plan and identifying leaders for potential board membership (Paola Meta, Lori Glick, Jim Walden, Bennett Thomas, Morgan Soutter).
• Launch the Community Consulting Group (CCG), which links local nonprofits with Johnson School students who have business skills (Donna Lin Weiss, Armen Vartanian; for United Way of Tompkins County).
• Assist Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA Systems) in building its business. The startup, which is based on technology developed at Cornell, offers growers the use of greenhouses with hydroponic growth ponds, a seedling growth chamber and an advanced software system that controls light, humidity, temperature and nutrient flow year-round for higher-crop yields of such vegetables as romaine lettuce. Provide production assessments, marketing evaluation, strategic planning, financial and operational computer modeling and help formulate a business plan (Erin McMahon, Ralph Marcello, Brian Hittle, Kenneth Caron).
• Aid Dewitt Middle School leadership development and mentoring programs. Help create a series of leadership development workshops, including lessons in teamwork, group decision making and creative problem solving. Serve as mentors to middle school students in the successful running of a school store, improving their confidence and exposing them to basic business concepts (Anne Bechert, Kelly Horrocks).
• Develop more enriched housing options for Tompkins County's elderly. Explore ways to offer assisted-living services for low- and moderate-income elderly residents at Titus Towers, an independent-living facility in downtown Ithaca, to help them remain in the residence, rather than be shifted to nursing homes. The model may be used in similar facilities (Bryan Preston; for Tompkins County Office for the Aging and Titus Towers).
• Document the current pressing need for transportation to out-of-county medical facilities for low-income elderly Tompkins County residents, whose medical needs often go unmet because of the lack of such services. Develop a plan for a long-distance medical transportation service (Roland Springer; for Tompkins County Office for the Aging).
• Assess the feasibility of developing Ithaca Wine Center, a multi-use wine and cultural center in Ithaca that includes a restaurant, theater and brew pub as a way to attract more visitors to the region. Study models of other successful wine centers, examine costs and possible locations (Susan Heher; for the Ithaca Downtown Partnership and Ithaca Convention and Visitors' Bureau).
• Develop programs for Leadership Tompkins, a community leadership development program that prepares current and future leaders in the complex challenges facing Tompkins County. Assess the current program, benchmark it against other, similar programs and recommend improvements, such as using program alumni as resources (Laura Chulak).
• Develop, implement and refine an outreach strategy for the Namgyal Monastery. The nonprofit monastery in downtown Ithaca provides a place for community members to learn about and practice Tibetan Buddhism through classes, courses and retreats (Sharad Daswani).
• Help the Youth Entrepreneurship Club (YEC) educate, motivate and empower teenagers to be owners, not just workers, in the business world, through structured weekly lessons in business concepts and general life skills (Heather Henyon, Leslie Burrell, Maura Cowan; for the Greater Ithaca Activities Center).
• Help Johnson School students acquire corporate social responsibility (CSR) values. Identify materials on CSR issues for inclusion in the core curriculum and other courses; develop links with useful CSR Web sites for the school's Community Impact Web site; and survey Johnson School students on their attitudes toward and knowledge of CSR issues (Shannon Ross).
• Design Johnson School Balanced Scorecard, a quantitative tool to monitor the performance of the school over time relative to its goals in student credentials, educational excellence and career success (Adam Fitzner, Aaron Seyuin, Caroline Co, Shannan Harding, Lindsay Whitman).
• Assist Cornell Tradition Fellowship Program in developing tools to work more efficiently in the face of reduced resources and grant cutbacks. The Cornell program rewards 600 undergraduates annually for achieving academic excellence while working and doing community service. Develop a process for area organizations to tap into the pool of fellows eager to serve (Dan Shur).

The Ithaca-based Park Foundation underwrites the Park Leadership Fellows Program at the Johnson School, which covers tuition and fees for 60 exemplary MBA students a year who demonstrate a commitment to service through projects such as those listed. A $5.9 million gift from the foundation helped inaugurate the program in 1997.

For information on the projects, contact Clint Sidle, (607) 255-4104, ccs7@cornell.edu or visit this Web site: http://www.Johnson.Cornell.edu/Park .