Garden City/Adelphi Partnership To Benefit Both Students and Village

Garden City and Adelphi University are ironing out details of a partnership intended to benefit both students and the village.

The Adelphi/Garden City Strategic Core Operations Planning Endeavor (S.C.O.P.E.) will create research and planning activities that will benefit the village in several areas while also affording students the opportunity to experience government operations on a real time basis, according to Trustee Dennis Donnelly, who made the announcement at the April 5 village board meeting.

"The village and the university will be working in a partnership, which will utilize the strengths of Adelphi as one of the leading educational institutions in the northeast and the village, which offers a spectrum of functions comprising of government operations," Donnelly said.

The joint effort includes partnerships in several areas, including accounting, computer sciences, marketing, environmental studies and business.

Accounting: Through internships, Adelphi graduate students will work on case management projects in conjunction with Garden City Auditor Jim Olivo and his team.

Computer Sciences: This university division will lend the village students to work on systems analysis, web site development, billing systems and more.

Marketing: Adelphi students will put together marketing plans for Community Park's village pool, tennis program and mini golf on a project basis.

Environmental Studies: Students from the university's School of Environmental Studies will work with the village on solar and wind projects and other "green" technologies.

Business: Adelphi graduate students will put together a business case scenario for Garden City's sanitation department, visiting other departments across Long Island, Westchester and New York City "with an eye toward benchmarking" aspects like how they're paid, how much they collect and how many routes the departments are responsible for. Students will report back to the village their findings.

Donnelly said the partnership is being formally announced in the coming month with a detailed plan of action and timing for the coming school year.

"Stay tuned," he said.