The quest for thriving Long Island communities

Following a 20-year career in the corporate world, Dr. Ann Golob came to the Long Island Index seven years ago looking for a change of venue. With a Ph.D. in Anthropology from City University of New York Graduate Center and years of management experience at companies including Chase Manhattan Bank, AXA Client Solutions and Guardian Life Insurance Company, Golob turned to the non-profit sector, now serving both as the Long Island Index’s director and an enthusiastic player in the challenge to better Long Islanders’ knowledge of their region.

“I was very drawn to the type of research that the Index carries out every year and felt strongly that this was an effective way to begin to educate Long Islanders about our region,” she said.

Now in its tenth year, the Long Island Index works to collect and present information to make positive changes in the area. Developed in 2002 as a project of the Rauch Foundation, the organization was created with the aim of providing information that could make Long Island a sustainable area.

The Rauch Foundation, which was founded in 1961 and provides grants for programs that aid children and families in need, is the financial underwriter of the Index. Nancy Rauch Douzinas, president of the foundation, decided to start the Index after discovering that projects on Long Island were not growing in the same way that they were in other areas.

According to Golob, the foundation supports an early childhood program called the Parent-Child Home Program, which promotes the social and cognitive development of disadvantaged children. It began on Long Island and has now spread across the country, being particularly successful in Massachusetts. However, its growth on Long Island has been disappointing due to fragmentation in the region, including independent school districts and a lack of centralized authority, Golob said.

“[Douzinas] wanted people to understand what was happening on a wider scale across the two counties,” Golob said. “Nancy really is a visionary.”

Earlier this year, Douzinas was named to the Long Island Press’s Power List Hall of Fame for her leadership position in the two organizations.