NEW YORK -- To help display Cornell University's ongoing involvement with New York City and its residents, Cornell President Jeffrey S. Lehman, City Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer (D--Sixth District), city parks officials and other dignitaries will take part in a ceremony at

531 Amsterdam Ave. (at 86th St.), Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 2 p.m.

At the site, Lehman and Brewer will be joined in a ceremonial tree planting by Cornell undergraduate student Jennifer Hoos, who was instrumental in establishing a neighborhood tree preservation and replacement project in the district.

Lehman will speak about the importance of Cornell's connection to the city and will discuss the project as an example of the university's efforts to help neighborhoods renew themselves and improve quality of life through community outreach, teaching and research.

This past summer, Hoos, a Cornell senior from Woodbridge, Conn., majoring in urban and regional studies, was an intern in Brewer's office through her participation in Cornell's Urban Scholars Program. Hoos organized a tree survey of the councilwoman's district, in response to constituent concerns about empty tree pits and dead and dying trees in the area. Hoos and other interns compiled a list of the district's tree types and locations, learned which trees were missing, dead or dying and mapped the data.

Councilwoman Brewer, with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, is working to replace the trees. Cornell Cooperative Extension educators will be instructing residents on how to care for newly planted trees.

"In our study, we found that many of the trees that were dying were newly planted ones. While the parks department will plant trees, it is also important to teach residents how to care for the new trees to help ensure their vitality," said Hoos, who will use her summer research as the foundation for her senior thesis. "Tending to the young trees is something that residents want to do since urban trees add tremendously to a community's quality of life," she added.

Cornell, the land-grant university for the state of New York, maintains Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) offices in each New York City borough and provides programs that assist the city's youth, senior citizens and low-income residents. The CCE New York City office was established in 1948 to provide food marketing information to urban consumers and others concerned with the food system in the metropolitan area. Over the past 55 years, the mission has been expanded to focus on community and economic development, environmental revitalization and management, nutrition and health, and workforce development. Among its many programs in the city is an Urban Silviculture project in two South Bronx neighborhoods, involving the use of Cornell research and extension education to improve the urban environment.

Other highly visible manifestations of Cornell's connection with the city, which Lehman will point out, include the world renowned NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center on York Avenue, the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations and CCE Extension Center on 34th Street and the Cornell Theory Center branch on Broad Street.

Each summer, through the university's Urban Scholars Program, about 25 Cornell students live in New York City for eight weeks and work with nonprofit organizations and municipal government agencies serving low-income children, families and neighborhoods, working on issues from teenage substance abuse to nutrition education and homelessness. More Cornell students are involved in community service and education in the city each year through the university's Urban Semester, Alternative Spring Break and Digital Outreach programs.

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EDITORS: You, your reporters and photographers are welcome to cover the Oct. 15 event at 531 Amsterdam Ave. For more information, contact Blaine Friedlander with Cornell News Service at (607) 255-3290 or (607) 351-2610.