For Immediate Release Media Contacts: Collin Nash, Sid Nathan, and Jason Elan
July 21, 2011 (516) 869-7794
Kaiman Visits Nation's Capital to Seek Funding and Attend White House Suburban Summit
North Hempstead, NY— Supervisor Jon Kaiman recently returned from one of his occasional trips to the nation’s capital where he visited a number of federal legislators to shed light on some of his flagship programs and projects in hopes of acquiring funding for them.
Supervisor Kaiman’s mission to lobby for federal dollars to help fund programs such as North Hempstead’s groundbreaking “aging in place” initiative, Project Independence, included visits to the offices of Representatives Steve Israel, Gary Ackerman and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
“I am encouraged about the foresight of our leaders in Washington DC who saw the need to reach out to suburban leaders throughout the country in an effort to mobilize a grassroots movement to find solutions on some of our most complex issues,” said Supervisor Kaiman.
On this occasion, Supervisor Kaiman returned with hopes on securing dollars for the town but as well as with invaluable information on dealing with issues—such as unemployment, affordable housing, decaying infrastructure and traffic congestion—facing suburban communities across the nation.
During the trip, Supervisor Kaiman attended a first-time White House summit, First Suburbs, Sustainability, Inclusion and Economic Growth, as an invited guest. He was accompanied by Lawrence Levy, Executive Dean of the Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.
The meeting was organized, at the request of the White House, by Building One America, a national network of statewide and metropolitan organizations seeking to reinvigorate local economies and promote regional opportunity through leadership development, and direct engagement of policy-makers at the state and federal levels.
Levy said after the White House visit that “the problems of aging suburbs like Nassau County are deep and will require new thinking from Washington and Albany if they are going to help local officials continue to find new ways to serve their constituents.”
Supervisor Jon Kaiman, Town of Hempstead Councilwoman Dorothy Goosby and Executive Dean of the Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University Larry Levy pose for a picture outside the Old Executive Office Building in Washington, DC.