Message from the Director

Emily Flynn, the Director of Health and Wellness for the City of Kingston.

Live Well Kingston is in a dynamic place in its 13th year*. We just went through a strategic reflection exercise that has clarified our mission, vision, and goals and we are as motivated as ever to create a community where everyone has access to local and nourishing foods, safe active transportation systems, welcoming public spaces, and community connection.

We conduct this work through subcommittees known as focus teams. There are five active groups: Age Well, Eat Well, Grow Well, Play Well, and Travel Well. With clarified goals, each group will be working on strategies to increase access to healthy options.

We are gaining momentum with engaged and committed Commissioners. We will be testing out a new structure in 2026. Each Commissioner will lead a specific role. Five of the seats will be connected to the subcommittees, which we refer to as focus teams. Six of the seats will play specific board roles, including chair, vice-chair, secretary, assessment, engagement, and development. With this new structure, our hope is that members will provide leadership and guidance with a specific need in mind.

We have seen some staffing changes in the last few years and it’s with joy that we wish Marsha Sebro and Kristin Kessler success on their journeys with other organizations.

We have accomplished a variety of projects in the past few years and are laying the foundation for new projects. Continue reading to learn more about all that we have accomplished in 2025 and a bit of preview of our plans for 2026.

*The Live Well Kingston Coalition started in June 2013 and was led by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County. It became a City Commission in February of 2017.

Our Team

The Live Well Kingston Commission is an advisory board to the City of Kingston’s Mayor and Common Council. In addition, the Commission advances its goals with subcommittees called focus teams. Almost everyone that supports this work is volunteering their time or able to use their paid work to collaborate. The Department of Health and Wellness coordinates the program. We wouldn’t be able to do this work without you all and we are deeply thankful.

2025 Achievements

Live Well Kingston Commission

The Live Well Kingston Commission completed a strategic reflection that revised the mission, vision, and goals. We envision a city where everyone has access to local and nourishing foods, safe active transportation systems, welcoming public spaces, and community connection. We do this by bringing partners and residents together in focus teams to facilitate programming, communications, policy and systems changes that increase access to healthy opportunities.

In addition to these specialized conversations, the Commission reviewed health data and communications and signed 10 letters of support or advocacy in 2025.

In 2026 we hope to update the rules of procedure, improve our welcoming process, and increase our communications.

AGE WELL

Age Well focused on recruiting volunteers for the Office for Aging transportation programs Neighbor to Neighbor Program and Go Go Grandparent at 17 community events! Next year, we’re going to work on increasing communications about healthy opportunities.

Meeting Times

Every other month, Third Tuesdays, 2pm

EAT WELL

Eat Well had a fantastic year thanks to leadership from Ninette Warner and Kristin Kessler. The Kingston Eats and Kingston Cooks programs continued with the Harvest of the Month awareness campaign and six cooking workshops. Three presentations about school nutrition, Hudson Valley farming, and the Hudson Valley Social Care Network were hosted. Those recordings can be viewed here. Kristin authored two food policy newsletters and created a resource hub. In addition, the Food Systems Plan wrapped up. We’ll use this plan to inspire work for 2025.

GROW WELL

Grow Well supports community garden stewards with meetings and supportive projects. They met 19 times at nine different gardens and via Zoom in 2025. They hosted the third annual garden tour, delivered compost, fixed a garden fence, hosted a co-meeting and cooking workshop with Eat Well, tabled at the Earth Fair, and Cindy hosted a seedling workshop at the Library. See the Grow Well Garden map here!

Meeting Times

Met first Tuesdays and third Mondays during the 2025 growing season. This may change in 2026.

PLAY WELL

Play Well increased access to parks and nature by meeting 8 times, working with Trust Up to create a list of physical activity opportunities and reviewing their “The Alternatives” app, supported the Nature Everywhere project hosted by Wild Earth, and supported a tree tour with the Urban Forestry Department. The Health and Wellness Department finished managing the construction of the new Post Office Park and held a ribbon cutting on June 27th. In 2026, Play Well will be conducting a survey of nature access in Kingston parks and facilities.

Meeting Times

Fourth Fridays, 11am

TRAVEL WELL

A bicycle rack installed on Hurley Ave.

Although Travel Well only met once in 2025, lots of great work increased access to walking and bicycling. The Kingston Parks and Recreation Department led seven Thursday evening community bicycle rides and installed 15 bicycle racks in 2025 (38 total for the program started in 2023). The Complete Streets Advisory Council met 12 times. The Health and Wellness Department co-led, with the Ulster County Planning Department, the Greenline Leadership Team and is developing a trail stewardship program. Thanks to NYSERDA, a Clean Mobility Plan was created that envisioned how a rentable bicycle system could be implemented in Kingston and a demonstration grant was applied for. In addition, a request for proposals for a sidewalk funding plan was published. Much of this work will continue in 2026!

Meeting Times

No standing meeting at this time