Community leaders, entrepreneurs and Adirondack citizens will gather in Long Lake on Wednesday, July 15 to discuss constructive ways to enhance the quality of life in communities across the region.

The Common Ground Alliance Forum assembles engaged residents from across the Adirondack Park and the North Country for one day each year to talk about strategies and actions that aim to create a viable future for the region.

In recent years, the forum has produced the Adirondack Futures scenario work led by Jim Herman and Dave Mason, as well as last year’s updated Blueprint for the Blue Line, a set of legislative priorities for the Adirondack Park for 2015 and beyond.

This year’s theme is “Building Vibrant Communities.” The forum will kick off with remarks by New York State Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, followed by a panel of young Adirondack professionals who will discuss the opportunities and challenges of living and working in the Park.

The bulk of the agenda is dedicated to work-group sessions that feature a variety of topics:

• recipes for attractive and livable hamlets
• creating a regional trail-town initiative
• using the Park’s assets to attract investment
• working families within the Blue Line
• schools as centers of community
• cultivating communities through local food
• the Adirondack response to climate change
• funding community drinking water and wastewater infrastructure
• terrestrial invasive species

The forum will conclude with comments by state lawmakers.

The 2015 Common Ground Alliance Forum will take place at the Sabattis Pavilion in Long Lake. Registration is $30, and $20 for students; cost includes coffee and lunch.

To register, visit Adirondack North Country Association’s website at www.adirondack.org. For more information about registration, contact Jake Vennie-Volrath at (518) 891-6200 or jvennie-vollrath@adirondack.org.

Photo of 2014 participants provided.