Long Island has long stood as an epicenter for leadership and progress. Home to changemakers from its earliest chapters, our island, like the rest of the United States, has systems of inequity embedded in its history. This complex network of multi-dimensional issues has only emboldened agents of change to imagine new possibilities for future generations of Long Island and their quality of life.
We understand Long Island’s history as a coexistence between inspiring progress and the reality of injustice. Our leaders are ever-evolving and actively changing the course of history through education and action.
A Complicated History
The hamlet of Levittown, coined as the first suburb in the United States of America, was a seemingly radical idea. The standardized design, rapid construction methods, and emphasis on affordable single-family homeownership fundamentally reshaped postwar American life. Thus, in 1947, mass-affordable housing was created to service the American dream.
Concurrent with the first American suburbs lies a dark history of racist housing policies. Redlining and the Federal Housing Administration’s discriminatory housing practices also began in Levittown and spread throughout the United States. The remainder of the country would follow suit, both in the proliferation of American suburbs and the systemic disinvestment of minority communities. The impacts of redlining have kept neighborhoods racially segregated and minority neighborhoods underfunded to this very day.
Through this paradox of progress and oppression, Long Islanders have long participated in advocacy. The earliest suburban fair housing organizations to achieve major environmental, civil rights, and community-based reforms through sustained grassroots organizing occurred on Long Island.
“Energeia”
This paradox is Long Island’s history. Working through these systemic issues that linger to this day through collaboration, debate, dialogue, education, and advocacy is at the nucleus of the Energeia Partnership.
Energeia means “A Greek word used by Aristotle to describe the demonstration of inner character in deeds. It embodies goodness plus efficiency, focused, purposeful, meaningful, effective, and energetic action.”
For Long Island’s environment, this looks like championing modern groundwater protection, early coastal and wetlands protection, offshore wind advocacy, community solar, and some of the earliest and largest studies on epidemiology.
Led by the Honorable Paul Tonna, the Energeia Partnership captures this complexity of Long Island’s history and actively fosters a community of leaders who demonstrate character through good deeds, actively changing and bettering Long Island for future generations.
The Energeia Partnership serves to identify, address, and work through these issues that our diverse, densely populated island faces. When resources and structure accompany the idea of progress for Long Islanders, that is when the change comes. Since 2006, the Energeia partnership has led this change. Every year, community members across industries: medical professionals, environmentalists, scholars, educators, business owners, government leaders, advocates, artists, and more set aside time out of their busy schedules to get inducted into the Energeia Partnership. Their participation in the Energeia Partnership means sharing their vast experiences, educating one another, and working together to enact change.
This induction isn’t simply a title; it signifies momentum around enacting justice and addressing inequities that have affected Long Island since our inception as a cultural hub in the United States. These topics include social equality, housing, advancing sustainability and combating climate change, helping small businesses, advancing education, and more.
These leaders of their disparate fields are interconnected by the same guiding question, “What can I do?” Committed to learning from one another about their respective industries and strengths, the Energeia Partnership represents the progress that Long Island has always been capable of.
Just Talk About It
The Energeia Partnership fosters meaningful conversations and connections over some of the most pressing issues. These issues are often painful to discuss. Sex trafficking, for example, is a devastating reality that is pervasive on our Island. At the Energeia Partnership, this reality is met with urgency, expertise, and coordinated responses among industry leaders and community members.
An uptick in reporting on the elaborate trafficking network paints a picture of a phenomenon that affects youth on Long Island and preys on young women, people in poverty, and immigrants. Still, sex trafficking can affect anyone. This reporting, along with meaningful advocacy and industry leaders joining forces, has facilitated meaningful dialogue, followed by action on this issue.
For 21 years, Energeia’s transformative leaders have led with purpose. To effectively address our island’s issues, the Energeia Partnership brings seemingly disjointed industries together, establishing common ground, so these leaders can turn shared purpose into lasting, island-wide impact.
FAQ
What is the Energeia Partnership?
The Energeia Partnership is a Long Island–based leadership network that brings together cross-sector leaders to address complex social, environmental, and economic issues through collaboration and action.
What issues does Energeia focus on?
Energeia addresses social equity, housing justice, environmental sustainability, climate change, public health, education, and community advocacy on Long Island.
Who participates in Energeia?
Participants include business leaders, educators, environmentalists, medical professionals, government officials, advocates, and artists committed to positive change on Long Island.