About Ithaca & Tompkins CountyIn May 2006, Ithaca was ranked among the top ten "50 Smart Cities" by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. This recognition is only the latest honor for a city that has been racking up accolades in the national media. In the past decade, Ithaca has been designated by USA Today as one of the four best small cities in America, the country's "most enlightened city" by the Utne Reader, the top "emerging city" by Cities Ranked and Rated, the #1 metro area for college educated workers by Expansion Management (March 2006), and a superb destination or relocation or retirement.
The city of Ithaca, the seat of Tompkins County, is located at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake in the middle of the Finger Lakes region of New York. With its great natural beauty and cosmopolitan, well-educated workforce, the Ithaca area is an attractive and exciting place to work and live. Our community boasts a near-perfect combination of urban cultural amenities, international influence, engaged citizenry, low crime rate, good schools, all in a setting of stunning natural beauty.
K-12 SchoolingTompkins County has 7 school districts with nearly 15,700 students enrolled in preschool, and grades K through 12. The Ithaca City School District (ICSD) includes 8 elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and Ithaca High School, as well as the Lehman Alternative Community School (LACS), founded in 1974, which includes grades 7 through 12. The county also has a Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) and special education programs.
Many excellent private schools further enrich the educational options available:
The Cascadilla School is a co-ed, independent, not-for-profit high school founded in 1876 as a prep school for Cornell University.
Schools with a religious affiliation include the Immaculate Conception School (Catholic, pre-K through grade 8) and the Covenant Love Community School (Christ-centered, grades K-8).
The Ithaca area has three Montessori schools accepting children from preschool through age 14. The Stone Circle School is a Waldorf-inspired elementary school located east of town.
The Franziska Racker Centers offer a wide range of programs and support services to people with disabilities and their families. Children's services include day care, evaluation, counseling, and physical therapies; special education is provided by school-based teams in partnership with the public school system.
A small, dedicated group of parents and children who have chosen home schooling organize themselves through the Fingerlakes Unschooling Network.
Higher EducationIthaca is the premier university town in a region with a higher-than-average proportion of colleges and universities. During the academic year, the city population nearly doubles in size as some of the brightest students in the U.S. and the world take up residence here. The influx of students lends a youthful, vibrant, and intellectual air to the town, and supports a lively commercial and cultural scene.
Cornell University was founded in 1865 and is the youngest of the eight Ivy League universities. It is the land-grant institution for New York state, and four of its seven undergraduate colleges are state-supported units known as statutory or contract colleges. State residents who enroll in the contract colleges pay a lower tuition rate than students in the private, endowed colleges and schools. The student body at Cornell includes roughly 13,500 undergraduates and 6,000 graduate students.
Ithaca College was founded in 1892 as a music conservatory. Originally located downtown, its campus was relocated to South Hill in the 1960s. Enrollment is approximately 6,000 undergraduates and 300 graduate students in five schools.
Tompkins-Cortland Community College (TC3), located in the town of Dryden, offers nearly 40 academic degree programs leading to an associate degree and has an average enrollment of 3,000 students, 30% of whom transfer to four-year colleges and universities. TC3 also offers part-time study and evening classes, many of which are held in the Extension Center located on the Ithaca Commons.
Empire State College, founded in 1971, is a multi-site "college without walls" offering individual study in a variety of disciplines. Empire State students design a personalized, targeted program of study in consultation with an appropriate mentor. The college's flexible programs are ideal for adult learners whose home and work schedules are not easily accommodated in more traditional institutions.
Health CareIthaca has access to superb medical care facilities. Cayuga Medical Center is the region's emergency care facility and is the only regional hospital to have earned Accreditation with Commendation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. It is also the fifth largest employer in Tompkins County. New facilities, cutting-edge technology, and dedicated, caring medical specialists are the foundation of Cayuga medical center's ongoing transformation from a community hospital to a state-of-the-at regional medical facility.
The center's East Campus, located near the airport and several business parks, includes the Convenient Care Center, which offers walk-in emergency care and outpatient services by appointment seven days a week; the Imaging Center, which provides full radiology services and specialized technology for women's care; and Surgicare, which provides outpatient surgical services.
In 2004, Cayuga medical Center initiated a premier affiliation with Roswell Park Cancer Institute, one of the most esteemed cancer and research treatment centers in the world.
On the Cornell campus, the Gannett Health Center provides healthcare for the university's students, faculty and staff and their families. Its services include basic medical, vision and dental care, counseling, immunizations, physical therapy, patient advocacy, and an on-site pharmacy.
Hospicare and Palliative Care Services provide end-of-life care for those coping with terminal illness, and offer information about advanced illness, bereavement, and dying. Hospicare Center, located on 11 beautifully landscape acres on South Hill, provides residence care for patients who do not have a suitable caregiver and/or who no longer have a home in which to live.
Child CareIthaca is a great place to be a kid! A number of high-quality day care centers and nursery schools, and after school centers meet the needs of working families in convenient in-town locations or beautiful suburban and rural settings. For more information, speak with a phone counselor at the Day Care & Child Development Council of Tompkins County, 607-273-0259.
Senior Living & EldercareOlder adults and their families have come to recognize the quality of life offered by small, university towns, and recent trends show alumni returning to their locations of their alma maters as they approach retirement. Senior residential communities include Kendal at Ithaca, Longview, Alterr.
Titus Towers, McGraw House, and Old Hundred. For more information, contact the Tompkins County Office for the Aging at 607-274-5482.
WorshipTompkins County residents cultivate a life of the spirit at over 40 religious institutions and houses of worship in all major faiths. Conservative, Reform and Humanistic Judaism Congregations; Christian denominations represented include Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal, Evangelical, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Unitarian. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) meet monthly at a house overlooking Fall Creek gorge. Meditation, teachings and rituals from four Buddhist lineages are offered by Tibetan monks at the Namgyal Monastery. Muslims meet in Anabel Taylor Hall, home of Cornell United Religious Work (CURW) on the Cornell campus. Alternative and earth-based spiritual groups occasionally offer classes and observances at the Foundation of Light and at Wisdom's Goldenrod Center for Philosophic Studies.
Animal CareHigh-quality care is available for pets and companion animals. The Tompkins County SPCA operates a state-of-the-art facility that is the first animal shelter to be registered as a "green" building by the U.S. Green Building Council. The facility has a no-kill policy, and places dogs and cats in foster homes until permanent homes can be found; it also holds the contracts for animal control with the city, the county, and surrounding townships.
Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine operates a Companion Animal Hospital for cats, dogs, and exotic pets, an Equine and Farm Animal Hospital, a Feline Health Center for research on cat diseases, and an emergency clinic.
Nearly 20 private practitioners offer veterinary services throughout the county. Obedience training, grooming, kennels, and pet-sitting are offered by a number of retailers and independent service providers.
Ithaca Grain and Pet Supply and the Sun Dog "bakery and day spa" are popular destinations for pet owner, as is the local dog park near the Allan H. Treman Marina.
