The Philosophy That Guides

We’ve been reflecting quite a bit as we endeavor to develop this communications platform centered on our Synchronicity Network Newsletter. Our mission, as currently understood, is this:

“The mission of Synchronicity Planning & Communications is to serve and celebrate folks who care for art, science and the common good, improving the quantity and quality of community engagement on Long Island via a networking and communications platform centered on the Synchronicity Network and its Flagship Newsletter.”

Digging deeper, we ask ourselves WHY? For her part, Katie has offered the following:

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Synchronicity Open Doors Reception Featuring Dr. Jeff Reynolds

Flyer for Open Doors Reception

Join us for our next “Open Doors Reception”

This will be an evening of networking, light refreshments and music, focused on celebrating health and humans services professionals. We will also offer a taste of the healing power of art. It will be held at The Firefly Artists Gallery in the beautiful historic village of Northport, home of the Engeman Theater, excellent restaurants, lovely shops and a gorgeous park and harbor.

The shops mostly close around 6pm but a few of us, like our neighbors at Artisan House, like to stay open.

 

What: Synchronicity Open Doors Reception
Honoring: Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds of The Family & Children’s Association
When: Tuesday, April 18th at 6pm
Where: The Firefly Artists, 90 Main St., Northport
Please RSVP: to katelaible@gmail.com Space is limited!
 

A Little Bit About Jeff


“I’ve got more than 30 years worth of public service experience and currently serve as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Family and Children’s Association, based in Garden City, NY. Since it began as an orphanage 139 years ago, Family and Children’s Association (FCA) has been committed to caring for Long Island’s vulnerable children, youth and families while helping them prepare for successful futures. We offer community-based programs for struggling families, at-risk adolescents, vulnerable seniors, and adults challenged by substance abuse. Today, FCA is one of Long Island’s largest health and human organizations with an annual budget of $25 million, 360 staff, 200 volunteers and 40+ programs. FCA has consistently been named one of Long Island’s top places to work.”

His full bio on the Family and Children’s Association reads thus:

“An experienced, dynamic and committed public health professional, Dr. Jeffrey L. Reynolds is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Family and Children’s Association (FCA), based in Garden City, NY. Since it began as an orphanage in 1884, Family and Children’s Association (FCA) has been committed to caring for Long Island’s vulnerable children, youth, seniors and families while helping them prepare for successful futures. The organization offers community-based programs for struggling families, at-risk adolescents, vulnerable seniors, and adults with substance use disorders. Today, FCA is one of Long Island’s largest health and human services organizations with an annual budget of $24 million, 360 staff, 200 volunteers and 40+ programs. Since arriving at FCA, Dr. Reynolds has helped secure more than $18 million in new funding and launched several innovative services, including three new recovery centers. He also re-branded and modernized the agency’s identity and during COVID, spearheaded a move to a new 30,000 square foot headquarters.

From 2009-2014, Dr. Reynolds served as Executive Director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (LICADD), an organization that provides substance abuse screenings, brief interventions and referrals to addiction treatment, as well as professionally-facilitated family interventions and anger management services to adults and adolescents. Under Dr. Reynolds’ leadership, LICADD pioneered evidence-based K-12 substance abuse prevention programs in several Long Island schools, initiated a new mentoring program for children of incarcerated parents and expanded LICADD’s Employee Assistance Program. During his tenure, LICADD’s revenues tripled, and the number of families served per month increased nine-fold.

Prior to joining LICADD, Dr. Reynolds worked for the Long Island Association for AIDS Care for 19 years, where he started out doing case management and finished his tenure as Vice President for Public Affairs, responsible for government relations, resource development, strategic marketing, and communications. In 1997, he co-founded BiasHELP of Long Island, an organization dedicated to assisting victims of hate crimes and their families. As BiasHELP’s Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Reynolds secured federal, state and local grants and launched a wide array of crime victim assistance services and school-based violence prevention
programs.

Dr. Reynolds currently serves on New York’s Heroin and Opioid Task Force, the Executive Committee of the Nassau County Heroin Prevention Task Force, Suffolk County’s Heroin/Opiate Epidemic Advisory Panel, the board of the New York State Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, Nassau’s Family Violence Task Force, Suffolk County’s Welfare-to-Work Commission and he co-chairs the Huntington Town Opioid Task Force. He serves as a board member and treasurer of Lightning Warriors, a youth
triathlon team, and serves on the board of the Long Island Association (LIA).

Dr. Reynolds is Vice Chair and remains the longest serving member of the NYS AIDS Advisory Council, first appointed by the NYS Senate Majority Leader in 1994 and reappointed five times since then. Dr. Reynolds has also served on the NYS Governor’s Recreational Marijuana Task Force, been chair of Nassau County’s Youth Board, co-chaired Nassau County Comptroller’s Non-Profit Steering Committee and served on the transition teams for County Executives Laura Curran (D) and Bruce Blakeman (R).

Dr. Reynolds has served as a consultant and grant reviewer for the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services  Administration (SAMHSA) and is a frequent presenter and keynote speaker at statewide and national health and human service conferences. He has authored more than 250 news and op-ed articles that have appeared in a wide variety of publications and is consistently used as an expert source for substance use, addiction, HIV/AIDS and human/civil rights information by local and national radio, television, online and print outlets. Dr. Reynolds has received numerous awards for his community service and leadership and was named one of the “most influential Long Islanders” each year 2010-2022 by the Long Island Press. Dr. Reynolds has received leadership awards and honors from the Simple Hope Foundation, Caron Treatment Centers, Strong Youth, Inc., the Long Island Recovery Association, Mainstream House, LICADD, Long Island Business News (Long Island Business Hall of Fame, 2021) and Herald Newspapers (Top Business Leaders in Nassau County, 2021). Dr. Reynolds is also a graduate of Energeia, a regional stewardship program spearheaded by Molloy College. In 2022, he received a Long Island Excellence in Healthcare Award from Herald Newspapers and a “Hero of Hope” award from CN Guidance and Counseling Services. 

Dr. Reynolds holds a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Dowling College (1988), a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) with a specialization in health administration from Long Island University (1997) and a doctorate from Stony Brook University’s School of Social Welfare (2007). Dr. Reynolds’ doctoral dissertation was on “Using the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change to Explore Substance Use Patterns and HIV Risk Behaviors in a Suburban Sample.” He has been a Certified Employee Assistance Professional since 2011.

A lifelong Long Islander and cancer survivor, Dr. Reynolds is an avid marathon runner having completed 15 marathons and is also an Ironman triathlete, a passion he’s used to raise much-needed funds for FCA, LICADD, United Way of Long Island and other local/national charities.”

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Basically, we’re lucky to have this guy.

Synchronicity Open Doors Reception Featuring Lionel Chitty

Invitation information available in body text

Join us for our first ever “Open Doors Reception”

This will be an evening of networking, light refreshments and good fun. It will be held at The Firefly Artists Gallery in the beautiful historic village of Northport, home of the Engeman Theater, excellent restaurants, lovely shops and a gorgeous park and harbor.

The shops mostly close around 6pm but a few of us, like our neighbors at Artisan House, like to stay open.

 

What: Synchronicity Open Doors Reception
Honoring: Lionel Chitty as nominated by Lois Howes
When: Thursday, May 26th at 6pm
Where: The Firefly Artists, 162 Main St., Northport
Please RSVP: to katelaible@gmail.com Space is limited!
 
 

A Little Bit About Lionel

Here, we will celebrate community and make good connections with a special focus on our friend Lionel Chitty.

Lionel is now the Executive Director of the Nassau County Office of Minority Affairs and, by the way, just found out he’s also about to receive a much cooler honor than this. Stay tuned!!!

When I met Lionel, He lived out east, worked out west and was deeply involved in the Hicksville Chamber of Commerce. I met him through Vision Long Island, who reaches out to and builds community with local business folk across Long Island.

One of the very first things Lionel Chitty ever told me was that he was about to prepare me to never forget his name.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Go for it,” I chuckled dubiously.

“Lionel Richie.

Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang.”

…and that sums up a good little bit of what I love about this guy.

Lois Howes

Vision may have been where Lionel met Lois, whom I just call “The Queen of Freeport” to keep things simple. She’s a wonderful local travel agent who was involved with the Chamber…and the Arts Council…and a few other things here and there…She perhaps got most deeply involved with Vision as a champion of the “Friends of Freeport,” a community organization that, a decade later, is still gathering neighbors to assist neighbors in recovering from Superstorm Sandy.

We’re looking forward to this being a first of many lovely evenings bringing people together at a beautiful place in the name of human connection.

Hope you can pop in! Please RSVP ASAP as space is limited. Have a wonderful day!

Image of event invitation. Details are in the body of the text.

Book Review: Small List Big Results by Robbie Samuels

Photo of Small List Big Results with a pencil and a cup of tea.

I recently made a good time investment reading “Small List Big Results” by Robbie Samuels. Here, he shows how it’s not the size of our network, but how we work it that makes the difference, offering “step-by-step guidance on how to wake up your network, discover likely prospects and likely referral partners, co-create the offer, and run a pilot.”

I met Robbie over 20 years ago when he was still figuring out who he was. At that time, he already had it more together than I suspect I ever will. At the same time, he was already helping more people more deeply and more profoundly than I can fathom. What he did for me was probably just day to day being for him. For me it was lifelong priceless…on a multitude of levels.

Robbie is one of the best teachers I have ever experienced. He is exceptionally patient, gracious and empathetic, while at the same time incredibly straight forward, organized and practical. A life-long learner, he is committed to continually improving himself at least as much as anyone else around him. All the while, he shares as he grows.

This latest book, “Small List Big Results” captures all of that. It is honest, open and intensely useful. Here, he brings an incredible wealth of experience, study and personal reflection together to gently yet firmly guide you to reach out to others and determine your best plan of action.

The major thrust is clear, and the strategy clearly articulated at a level of detail that most would gloss over. The golden nuggets he drops in passing are deeply valuable. One might think all this might result in something mildly unwieldy, but it’s a quick read that gets you immediately into action.

I recommend it, and everything else he offers highly.

Robbie was mentioned here before when he leapt out in 2020 to help people create better Zoom experiences. That program has evolved and now has a waiting list. I have also long appreciated his thoughts on Croissants vs. Bagels. Here’s a Tedx Talk on that. You can also follow him on Facebook. His On the Schmooze”  podcast is really good!

Girls Inc. of Long Island: Strong. Smart. Bold.

Kaylin St. Victor, "Girl of the Year" with Girls Inc Executive Director Renee Flagler

It was a privilege to witness Girl’s Inc of Long Island produce their Annual Gala. As an organizational wonk and a human being, I instantly fell in love with these strong, smart, empowering women, the folks they draw into their fold, and their skilled passion for the girls it is their job to nurture.

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Welcome Sponsor! UNI Communications!

We have stories to tell about the wonderful experience we’re having with this organization’s founder, Brandon Palanker. For now, let’s just say we are grateful for his support!!!

UNI (You & I) provides businesses of all shapes and sizes – from start-ups and small businesses to established firms seeking a new direction and enhanced growth – the same quality web design and strategic marketing services previously available only to much larger organizations.

UNI taps its founder’s 20+ years marketing experience with expertise across a full array of industries and business typologies including real estate, municipal governance, technology, small business, restaurant and hospitality, and not-for-profit.

Utilizing a customer-centric, personal approach, UNI matches technology and graphic design capabilities with full service agency experience and professionalism. This grants clients access to industry knowledge and insights rarely available to start-ups, small, and mid-sized businesses. The result is the highest quality web design, branding, and marketing services, all within a budget you can afford. Simply put, websites and branding good enough for the Fortune 500, at a budget you can afford!

Ready to tell YOUR STORY? UNI : Let’s do this together! 

(Let them know we sent you!!!)