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What do you love about Chatham?
What do you want to see preserved?
Chatham Voices is a community project that seeks to determine what makes Chatham special and what residents value most when it comes to nature, rural living and our community. This project stems from the simple idea: regular people should have more of a say over the decisions that impact their lives. This non-partisan initiative was designed to give people the opportunity to say what they care about most and identify shared priorities through a community vote.
This platform is your opportunity to propose local solutions and speak out on issues related to nature, hunting, conservation, forests, farming, outdoor recreation, climate, and any other environmental quality-of-life issues.
After we have gathered everyone's opinions and ideas we will create a ballot and invite Chatham residents to vote on their favorite local project idea. When the vote is in, we will get started on facilitating the project that receives the most votes!
Click Here to propose a project idea for the community.
Can't think of a project? Take the Survey and share your thoughts
The Chatham Voices Process
Public forums: Every resident has the opportunity to share their thoughts and propose a local project. Projects must be “actionable” and local.
Propose: Projects can be submitted online here
If you can't think of a community project please take the Survey and share your views. https://forms.gle/yWqdjASstm8VH3wJ8
The Ballot: All proposed projects will be placed on a community ballot and mailed to every home in Chatham.
The Community vote: Any Chatham resident 10 years or older will be eligible to vote. Residents can vote by mailing their ballots, or voting online.
Take action: We will publicize the results of the Vote and work with volunteers to implement the projects that receive the most votes!
THE WHY- The area around us is undergoing significant change. Decisions affecting our community and town's landscape will be made over the next decade, shaping our future, and we want to ensure that the people who live here are heard first. Otherwise, developers, utilities, and investors will get to decide what happens to our town.
Have questions? Want to learn more volunteer or get involved? send us an e-mail: chathamvoices03@gmail.com
Coming January 1 - List of Proposed Projects by Chatham Residents
Conversation Recap- Highlights from our first community conversation
Where is the center of Chatham?
Discussion around Community and the need for more community centers. - where is the place for everybody where everybody could meet ?
Food security and envisioning what it would take to be food secure or independent and feed ourselves in Chatham.
Dissuasion around how to better accelerate getting food growers looking for land connected to land and
figure out how to bring back or encourage more farming and have the farmers be very happy with their situation.
Renewable Energy
Changing the messaging around climate change-Focusing more on community enrichment and climate resiliency, as the better way to address climate change and environmental issues.
The inaccessibility of some “Climate solutions” or the perception that climate solutions -seem out of reach for some individuals.
Vented Frustrations about the state spraying herbicides along Route 66, and the lack of local control. The frustration for individuals who are trying to do everything they can to avoid herbicides , grow gardens to promote pollinators and promote pollinator habitat only to have the state spay aggressively right by their house. We discussed that the application of herbicides was especially aggressive this year. A desire to address this issue so that we don’t have our state roads sprayed.
Being more connected and involved in helping the local school systems.
Discussion how it takes a willingness on the part of old timers and new comers and people with different ways or ideas to listen to each other and be heard.
It was noted that Civic institutions in North Chatham like the library, the historical society and the post office help to better integrate new residents into the community.
A need to foster entrepreneurship.
Talked about how some of the shops and the restaurants that we have in the village are not accessible or don’t serve everyone-tend to cater to a very specific market/demographic.-Which doesn't mean they are not open to everybody, but there was an acknowledgment that a whole sector in the community doesn't even feel comfortable or doesn't go to the village.
About
RELEASE: July 22, 2025
CONTACT: Paige Ruane paige@climateactionhv.org, 917-548-5135
Co-Founder, Partners for Climate Action
Partners for Climate Action Announces Six “Funding Futures Fellows”
HUDSON, NY: Partners for Climate Action (PCA), a local nonprofit, has announced six accepted applications to a new training and grant program, “Funding Futures: Together We Decide:”
Kate Butler of Chatham, Anya Bonanno of Philmont/Claverack, Chris Wilson of Millbrook/Washington, Olga Anderson of Highlands, Heather Eckardt of Rochester, and LisaMarie Hintze of Woodbury.
Funding Futures will provide technical assistance and funding for selected applicants to facilitate environmentally-focused community listening campaigns in their towns. The process will result in each community coming to a consensus on priorities and establishing reliable funding streams to safeguard their natural features, which provide the foundation for economic prosperity and quality of life in these Hudson Valley towns. The goal is to keep communities and ecosystems healthy and build resiliency. The six communities will receive grants of up to $22,000 each to conduct outreach and host events over a 1- year period.
“We love that this grant is coming just at the time that The Town of Highlands is rebuilding after a devastating flood in 2023,” explained Olga Anderson.” We are committed to hearing from everyone who lives here and has a stake in the future of this community as to the best way to build a more resilient and sustainable future.”
PCA supports ecological health and climate action across six counties in the Hudson River bioregion: Columbia, Greene, Dutchess, Ulster, Putnam, or Orange county. Paige Ruane and Vanessa Bertozzi, co- leaders of the Funding Futures project at PCA, explained that the idea for the grant sprang from a desire to accelerate environmental protection efforts in Hudson Valley towns through community building. “Technology, the pandemic, and a lack of traditional gathering spaces have eroded the social fabric. Our society has lost muscle memory for how to have community conversations. People feel disconnected from each other and from nature,” said Bertozzi. Noting the divisiveness of national politics, Ruane emphasized, “We want this program to focus on local needs, the power of knowing our neighbors, and understanding what we commonly value about our shared places.”
The selected applications each demonstrated a thoughtful approach to engaging with their communities in a nonpartisan way, with an emphasis on listening. The six Funding Futures Fellows will act as point people, leading the process in each of their own towns. “These are exceptional folks, each with a deep dedication to their communities and a sense of curiosity and concern for what the futures of their places hold,” said Bertozzi. “We look forward to supporting them with expert speakers, 1-on-1 consulting, and a peer cohort to lean on.”
Interested parties are encouraged to sign up for PCA’s newsletter at www.climateactionhv.org. Some of the expert guest speaker Zooms will be open to the public.
About Partners for Climate Action
Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley is dedicated to cultivating and supporting ecological leadership within the bioregion of the Hudson River watershed. We strategically place resources that help to repair our natural systems, address the climate crisis, and usher in a more cooperative and resilient future.
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