About
Who we are
A small team working so that everyone — resident or visitor — feels a sense of safety, connection and belonging in the Adirondacks.
Our mission
Existing at the intersection of environmental and transformational justice, the Adirondack Diversity Initiative works to make the Adirondacks a welcoming and inclusive place for both residents and visitors, while ensuring a vital and sustainable Adirondack Park for future generations.
Our vision
An Adirondack Park and North Country where ALL people feel a sense of safety, connection and belonging, whether they live here or are visiting. We want everyone to feel that they belong here, as the Adirondacks belong to us all.
How we work
ADI's operating philosophy honors the lived experiences of members of the community in all aspects of our work. This comes from our belief that communities must play a central role as actors and stakeholders in articulating, facilitating, mobilizing and executing efforts that advance justice.
What ADI will, and will not, do
ADI will
- Prioritize initiatives that support historically marginalized communities.
- Collaborate with agencies, towns, communities and residents.
- Equip individuals and organizations with tools and resources to act as change agents in their communities.
- Provide support to enable communities to cultivate and drive their own transformation.
- Assist businesses in creating a more welcoming and belonging environment.
- Engage in difficult and challenging conversations to encourage reflection and action.
- Challenge and disrupt oppressive systems and practices.
ADI will not
- Oversee or police individual behaviors or actions.
- Force our work on communities that are not ready to engage in these efforts.
Design note: ADI's own words from the Communication Booklet, given a page of their own. A visitor who wants to know whether ADI is going to turn up and police their behaviour gets the answer without asking, and a town board deciding whether to invite ADI in can read it in ten seconds.
Our history
ADI came out of a 2014 symposium held at the Adirondack Interpretive Center at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Newcomb. Residents, activists, educators and community leaders gave the organizers two guiding imperatives: that the Adirondack region should be welcoming to and inclusive of everyone, and that it should be relevant to and supported by an increasingly diverse New York State and American population.
ADI began functioning as an entity in 2015 and has been designing and directing outreach ever since. Today it is a program of ANCA, with a core team and an advisory board drawn from organizations across the region.
Our team
Melanie Reding
Tamara Jolly
ADI is also guided by a core team and an advisory board of people from partner organizations, colleges and communities across the Park. Get in touch if you'd like to work with us, or see whether we're hiring.
About ANCA
ADI is a program of the Adirondack North Country Association, a regional nonprofit and economic hub building shared prosperity across northern New York.
ANCA works on small businesses, climate and energy, local food systems, and welcoming and belonging, across 14 counties — helping communities navigate resources, cultivate networks, build shared capacity and shape region-boosting narratives. ANCA is home to the ADI team and works closely with us to keep diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging at the centre of all its program areas.
Practically, that means ADI's donations and mailing list are handled by ANCA, and some ADI programs are run jointly with ANCA's other teams.
Our partners
Partners provide office space, marketing, media, training facilities and more. They include, but are not limited to:
- Adirondack Almanack
- Adirondack Council
- Adirondack Experience
- Adirondack Foundation
- Adirondack Land Trust
- Adirondack Mountain Club
- Adirondack North Country Gender Alliance
- Adirondack Wild
- Camp Dudley & Camp Kiniya
- Camp Sagamore
- Cloudsplitter Foundation
- Common Ground Alliance
- Eagle Island Camp
- Hamlets to Huts
- John Brown Lives!
- North Country Chamber of Commerce
- North Country Community College
- North Country School
- Northern Forest Center
- Northern Lights School
- Paul Smiths College
- Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST)
- Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
- SUNY Canton
- SUNY-ESF Northern Forest Institute
- SUNY Potsdam
- The Nature Conservancy, Adirondack Chapter
- The Wild Center
- Unitarian Universalist of Saranac Lake
Design note: The current site never explains what ANCA is, though its logo sits in the header of every page and its forms handle every donation and sign-up. A visitor who clicks Donate today lands on a form belonging to an organisation the site has not introduced.