We Make Our Future would not be possible without the focused and dedicated efforts of local nonprofit leaders and citizen volunteers. The vision, teamwork, and community networking of the Finger Lakes Bioneers Steering Committee and our community partners has resulted in an impressive array of speakers, events, and community gatherings for our inaugural year.

If you are interested in joining the team to bring next year's conference to our region, please contact Gay Nicholson (gay@sustainabletompkins.org) or Matt Riis (info@wemakeourfuture.org).

Not long after Sustainable Tompkins was invited to bring Bioneers to upstate New York, we reached out to the local community for help in co-creating this new venue for connecting people around social justice and sustainability.  The following organizations provided staff and volunteer support to create Finger Lakes Bioneers:

Cayuga Lake Watershed Network:  Executive Director Hilary Lambert served as Program Leader for the Natural Systems track.

Cornell University:  Dan Roth, Sustainability Coordinator, developed our organizational structure, recruited community and university collaborators, and served on the Health and Well-being track.

Creative Communications Cooperative:   Judy Barbash served on the Marketing Committee and designed the logo and accompanying marketing materials.

Green Resource Hub: Board officers Bob Rossi, Evan Wray and Scott Hamilton recruited businesses to participate in the Sustainabiity Marketplace.

Interfaith Action for Healing the Earth:  Rev. Darcey Laine served as Chair of the Program Committee, Program Leader for the Health and Well-being track, and organizer of the Dance Electronika.

Ithaca Biodiesel:  Tycho Dan served on the Program Committee.

Ithaca College:  Marian Brown, Special Assistant to the Provost for Sustainability, arranged for use of the Campus Center for the entire three-days of the We Make Our Future conference, and assisted with greening of the conference.

Ithaca Health Alliance:  Outreach Coordinator Betsey Caughey worked on the Marketing and Logistics teams.

Level Green Institute:  Executive Director Patricia Haines served as Program Leader for the Arts and Sustainability track, and on the Marketing Committee.

Sew Green:  Founder Wendy Skinner helped with the Marketing Committee.

Sustainable Tompkins:  President Gay Nicholson served as chair of the Steering and Fundraising Committees, and Program Leader for the Sustainable Economy track.  She also assisted with the Energy Track and Marketing Committee, and supervised the Conference Coordinator, Matt Riis.  Michelle Wright served as Logistics Coordinator, and Miranda Phillips served as Volunteer Coordinator.  Nick Vaczek served as Program Leader for the Fortifying our Foodsheds track, organized the Bioneers Salon, and helped with advertising and promotions.  Flisa Stevenson chaired the Marketing Committee and developed the name of the conference, before she moved to Texas this past summer.

Teachers for a Sustainable Future: Dan Flerlage led the Youth track programming, and helped bring Jonathan Todd to Ithaca.

Tompkins County Workers Center:  Nikki Sayward served on the Sustainable Economy committee.

Tompkins County Renewable Energy Education Alliance:  Nancy Jacobson served as Program Leader for the Energy track.

We are also grateful to our many community partners helping to make this inaugural conference an exciting and stimulating event for our entire community:

350.org of Ithaca

7th Art Cinema

Cornell Cinema

Cornell University: American Indian Program

Deep Beatz Collective

Downtown Ithaca Alliance

Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival

Greater Ithaca Activities Center

Groundswell Center for Local Food and Farming

Ithaca/Tompkins County Convention and Visitors Bureau

Multicultural Resource Center

Share Tompkins

Village at Ithaca

Downtown Ithaca Alliance:  Vicki Taylor served as liaison for the downtown conference events.

Ithaca/Tompkins County Visitors Bureau:  Don't forget to check out all the local travel and tourism info available at visitithaca.com prior to planning your trip to the Finger Lakes Bioneers Conference.

Cornell University: American Indian Program.  Our friends at the Cornell University American Indian Program will be hosting an Autumn Eco-Forum on October 23rd and 24th.  To learn more about this exciting opportunity please click here.

Special thanks to the team at Data Momentum for the fabulous website!

Members of the Finger Lakes Bioneers Steering Committee were hosted by Sew Green for another round of planning the conference.