Democratic mayoral candidate John Tonello believes the future of Elmira and its growth is strongly linked to the quality of city schools and renewed city-schools collaboration. This proposal, developed with consultation with local educators, business people, and residents, seeks to outline a specific plan of action within a larger framework of communication and openness.

The "Great City, Great Schools Collaborative" has seven key elements, described below.

1. Elmira Reads program
   1. Summary: A citywide youth and adult literacy effort that brings together public and private literacy efforts, including Literacy Volunteers, Steele Memorial Library, EOP, Red Bookshelf, and the Elmira City School District.
   2. Goal: To promote lifelong reading through annual book-reading projects that become the focus of yearlong events, discussions, and literacy efforts.
   3. Cost: Nominal.
   4. Benefits: Strong community focus on literacy and education that's attractive to relocating families, businesses and investors; ties to Elmira's literary roots.

2. Teacher Tax Breaks
   1. Summary: Encourage neighborhood redevelopment and home renovation by providing financial incentives to teachers who purchase homes near their schools.
   2. Goal: To help restore the balance of the city's neighborhoods; build a stronger sense of community between teachers, students, and parents; and show Elmira as a city that's serious about education.
   3. Cost: Up to $15,000 annually. Up to 30 individual homebuyers receiving a $500 tax break on each of the first two years of owner-occupancy, paid for by unrestricted city money diverted from the current $250,000 demolition budget.
   4. Benefits: Improve the sense of community, encourage middle-class home buying, and encourage neighborhood and housing restoration.

3. Renewed efforts to "dedensify" neighborhoods
   1. Summary: High-density neighborhoods contribute to quality of life issues (parking, noise, police calls, etc.) without providing tax revenue to adequately cover city and school costs. We need to provide new incentives to landlords and property owners to convert multi-family homes to single-family or lower-occupancy homes to stabilize neighborhoods and restore greater equilibrium to the tax base per the 1998 "Comprehensive Master Plan Update."
   2. Goal: To encourage neighborhood redevelopment while reducing the number of residents per unit in areas targeted by the Master Plan.
   3. Cost: Up to $100,000 annually to start, paid for by Community Development Block Grant money, and money pooled from other programs, such as the First-Time Homebuyer program.
   4. Benefits: Neighborhood stability, upgraded housing, and a better tax-to-resident ratio.

4. A zero-tolerance policy for truancy
   1. Summary: When Elmira City School students skip school, they're more likely to get into trouble with local city and county authorities, and they're more likely to drop out. A broad effort to crack down on truancy will help keep kids in school.
   2. Goal: To boost Elmira City Schools graduation rates and reduce nuisance crime.
   3. Cost: Nominal. Refocus existing police and public safety resources to work with the District Attorney and Family Courts to target truant teens and their parents.
   4. Benefits: A show of strong city support for its schools and its children; reduced nuisance crime.

5. Strong support for the Elmira Police Department's Youth Services Division
   1. Summary: Publicize the efforts of the Elmira Police Department's Youth Services division to help make students, parents, and the community better aware of its importance and utility.
   2. Goal: To continue the division's stated goal "… to provide a coordinated and comprehensive approach of enforcing laws relative to juveniles and intervening for youths at risk of becoming an abused or neglected child."
   3. Cost: Nominal.
   4. Benefits: A show of strong city support for its schools and its children.

6. Youth summer job, volunteer and mentoring opportunities program
   1. Summary: Restore summer job, volunteer, and mentoring opportunities to teens and youths through new public-private partnerships. It's getting hard for teens to find jobs and positive things to do, and the city should set an example by employing teens, and making it easier for public and private organizations to do the same.
   2. Goal: To help city youth get involved, and tap into an underutilized resource.
   3. Cost: Initial cost: $10,000 a year for a coordinator to work with schools, local agencies, businesses and teens to identify job and volunteer opportunities, and initiate city-directed work efforts. Seek grant funding to cover the cost.
   4. Benefits: Provide a clear and effective path for Elmira youth to work, volunteer, and learn new skills that help them, the city, and their schools.

7. A new "Hire an Elmiran" program
   1. Summary: A public campaign between the city and the schools that reinforces literacy, education, and skills training, and promotes to potential employers the high-quality skills and knowledge of Elmira workers.
   2. Goal: To show a comprehensive tie between education and growth that will encourage business development and relocation, and help grow the local economy.
   3. Cost: Nominal.
   4. Benefits: A show of strong city support for growth, city schools, children and the city's vital future.