Lakes to Locks Passage Newsletter

The interconnected waterway of the upper Hudson River, Champlain Canal, Lake George, and Lake Champlain served as North America’s first “super-highway,” linking upstate New York to Quebec, Canada. Today, the communities along this waterway have joined together as Lakes to Locks Passage, a New York State Byway, to rise above the complex jurisdictions and political barriers of the region, for community revitalization and economic development. Through the initiatives administered by Lakes to Locks Passage, Inc., the region’s municipal leaders, non-profit organizations and public agencies have established a partnership for the stewardship of the historic, cultural, natural and recreational resources of the region -- creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Our purchase of Creative Suite 3 from Tech Soup has allowed us to strengthen the grassroots initiative in three ways: fostering pride in the communities, building commitment to the program from multiple sectors, and expanding capacity in the community organizations. Our small organization, with only two staff members, has been able to develop a communication network through Adobe Dreamweaver (see attached e-newsletter) that allows us to share information about our activities, and the accomplishments of our partners, in a professional and attractive format. Most significantly, it allows us to provide increased communication between many local organizations, without the cost of contracting additional services.

The Adobe software for simple what-you-see-is-what-you-get HTML design allows us to incorporate our graphic design standards, reinforcing the “brand” of the organization and providing unification of the region. The e-newsletter is easily transmitted, hyperlinks permit us to direct readers to websites for additional information, and recipients can easily contact us with their feedback. In the future, Lakes to Locks Passage will be using the e-newsletter to collect news from organizations throughout the corridor and deliver them to media contacts. We have coded mailto: commands to allow recipients to let us know if they have friends or colleagues that may also be interested in learning about news. News blurbs with “read more” links will build greater traffic to our website, solidify our brand identity, and build greater communication between organizations.

By sharing information about trainings, projects and community success stories to the elected officials, public agencies, and the media we are able to reinforce the “can-do attitude” that is essential to a grassroots community revitalization program. Through effective communication tools we are able to develop stronger non-profit organizations that are essential to maintaining community culture, and an authentic tourism experience – fulfilling our goal of creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.