‘My inspiration’ dies at 90

Margaret Mead once wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

The story I’m about to tell you truly exemplifies Mead’s words.

Once upon a time, back in the late 1960s, a visionary woman was just finishing her term as PTA Council president. She went to Albany to attend a conference about a growing problem among adolescents — substance abuse. She returned to Baldwin with an idea that sparked the founding of a community-based agency to offer a place for the youth of Baldwin and their parents to seek help if they needed it. In 1970, she wrote up a funding proposal that she presented to Nassau County, and the Baldwin Council Against Drug Abuse was born.

At first, the group met with opposition. Some community members thought that having a “drug place” in town would “put the wrong ideas in kids’ heads” and bring the “wrong kinds of people” into Baldwin. But Ellen Silberman stood her ground (as only Ellen could), maintained her beliefs and showed them they were wrong. BCADA expanded over the next 40 years, reaching out to all facets of the community.

In the early days, in addition to the counseling that she did at BCADA’s Community House, Ellen came up with the idea for a summer recreation program that still exists to this day. She also originated the Saturday Night Alive program at the high school and a Saturday afternoon youth activities program at the junior high, both of which were adopted by the school district when the BCADA could no longer fund them. (A variation of the youth activities program still operates today.)

Ellen was one of the first to identify the middle school-aged child as the most at risk, and, consequently, she birthed Rap Groups for seventh- and eighth-graders and facilitated them for 20 years. Parent communication skills workshops were another incredibly insightful idea that Ellen implemented. All of these programs were light years ahead of what other agencies were doing, and became models that others duplicated.