Long Island Index to become nextLI, an online project run by Newsday

The Long Island Index, a research report published annually to help local leaders devise solutions to regional problems, is becoming a website and online forum called nextLI that will be a project of the Newsday editorial pages, officials said Thursday.

The Rauch Foundation in Garden City, which has published the index since 2004, said its final report will be released April 19.

Rauch has been seeking a local institution to continue the index’s data collection and policy work since 2016. Officials said Newsday was among more than 10 entities vying for the work and $1.5 million in funding over three years from Rauch.

Foundation president Nancy Rauch Douzinas, who conceived of the index, said it had galvanized support for high-profile projects, such as a third track for the Long Island Rail Road between Floral Park and Hicksville, redevelopment of village downtowns with housing and shops near train stations, and combating inequities in public school funding.

However, she said her family's foundation “is a grant-making philanthropy and is, therefore, ready to pass the ongoing operation of a regional index” to Newsday. The foundation, formed in 1961, primarily provides grants for early childhood education and environment programs.

Newsday editorial page editor Rita Ciolli said on Thursday that the newspaper “is thrilled to take over the index’s pioneering effort of providing our region with the data and information required to make better decisions about our future.” She will serve as director of nextLI.

Like the index, nextLI will have an advisory board of community leaders. Newsday’s newsgathering operations will not be involved in the project.

NextLI will produce and publish research and analysis about the region’s pressing issues on its website, next.newsday.com. The site also will promote community dialogue through town halls and other special events aimed at “reaching informed consensus on the best path forward,” officials said.

Access to the nextLI site will not require a Newsday subscription. Past index data and reports will continue to be available at longislandindex.org.

Ciolli said nextLI was an extension of Newsday’s role in the community. “Our mission for over 77 years has been to connect Long Islanders, and soon we will debut a digital forum for those conversations to continue,” she said.