LEAF provides grants for programs, activities and facilities that offer direct benefits to North Elba communities, while improving the quality of place for both residents and visitors.

Proposed projects must positively impact the community, its residents and its visitors by addressing a significant need in North Elba, being completed within a defined timeline and managed by an organization dedicated to sound management. Considered projects must also be sustainable, independent of ongoing LEAF funding.

According to Derek Doty, supervisor of the town of North Elba, there have been more than 80 projects funded by the LEAF grants.

“There have been some really significant projects, all of which have had a positive impact on the community, residents and visitors to the area,” he said. “We are thrilled with the continued success of this program.”

LEAF grants are funded by revenue generated by Essex County’s 5% occupancy tax — a tax collected from visitors on all hotel, motel, bed-and-breakfast and short-term vacation rental stays. From this 5% tax, about 3% goes to the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism and 2% goes into a fund that directs money to each of Essex County’s 18 towns. The county also keeps some of the revenue to pay for administrative costs.

“We are pleased to support the economic and community development of all 18 Essex County towns and honored to have a role in improving the lives of North Elba residents through the LEAF process,” ROOST CEO Dan Kelleher said. “We’re excited that so many local organizations have benefited from CTEF and LEAF funding.”

“We are thrilled that organizations serving North Elba and the region have benefited from this grant funding, through projects that impact residents and visitors alike,” added ROOST Chief Operating Officer Mary Jane Lawrence. “A healthy community is a sustainable community and a great place to visit.”

Latest round

In April, the North Elba Town Council unanimously approved six grant recommendations from its LEAF Committee, divvying out more than $164,000 to local nonprofit organizations.

The largest grant in the spring, totaling $100,000, was given to the Helping Hands Community Hub, which is now called Lake Placid Thrive and Thrift, a combined food pantry and thrift shop set to go up next Shipman Youth Center.

Two grants were given to local first responders: one to the Lake Placid Volunteer Ambulance Service and one to the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department.

The LPVAS requested $4,706 for a $5,700 HoverJack purchase. A HoverJack is a device that helps first responders and caregivers lift patients onto stretchers, making transfers easier and faster. The town council granted the request in full.

The LPVFD requested $8,500 for a $17,139 battery-powered rescue cutter purchase. These tools are often more compact and efficient than their older counterparts. The committee recommended that the request be granted in full on the contingency that the LPVFD produce the other half of the payment before the grant is made. The town council approved the committee’s recommendations.

A $25,000 grant was given to the Adirondack Watershed Institute at Paul Smith’s College. The AWI is expanding its lab and initially requested $50,000 for new microscopes. With the new equipment, the AWI will be able to identify harmful algal blooms faster — they currently need to send samples out to be tested — and keep people and animals away from confirmed HABs, protecting local bodies of water.

Northern Lights School in Saranac Lake requested $19,999 toward its $500,000 heating system overhaul as it moves away from a kerosene heating system. The town council approved the full amount.

John Brown Lives!, the nonprofit organization that runs programming at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site, requested a $5,800 grant for a $37,000 project. The project brought a statue of abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman to the site from July to September this year.

Some projects that received LEAF grants in the past include the Lake Placid Film Festival, Barkeater Trails Alliance’s improvements to the Jackrabbit Ski Trail and the Lake Placid Central School District’s community schools program. LEAF grant funding is awarded after a review of applications by the LEAF committee, which subsequently presents its recommendations to the North Elba Town Council for final approval. Awards will be announced in November.

The LEAF committee has representatives from both the town of North Elba and the village of Lake Placid, as well as different cross-sections of the community.

Learn more at www.roostadk.com/leaf and apply online at www.roostadk.com/leaf-apply.