S2,E2 - Dan Kolinski

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This is Talk CNY, presented by NBT Bank,
a semimonthly podcast

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 by CenterState CEO,

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Central New York's premier leadership
and economic development organization.

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Join us as we meet the people
and explore the projects

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driving the regional economy forward.

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Thanks for joining us for Talk
CNY, presented by NBT Bank.

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I'm Katie Zilcosky,
director of communications, here

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at CenterState CEO
and your new host of Talk CNY.

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Today we're talking about the 2023
strategic plan

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from the Central New York
Regional Economic Development Council.

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Since 2011, New York State's Regional
Economic Development Council Initiative

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has been empowering local stakeholders
to make strategies and plans

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for their community prosperity.

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So, Central New York has changed a lot

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since the first strategic plan
was done in 2011.

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This 2023 plan includes strategies around
creating a future ready workforce,

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connecting industry
ecosystems and much, much more.

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So to break it all down with me
and to tell you why it matters here

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with me today is Empire
State Development's Regional Director

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for Central New York, Dan Kolinski.

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So, the Regional Economic Development
Council Initiative,

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for those who might not be familiar with
it or need a little bit of a refresher,

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we want to take a step back,
give a little history in context.

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So can you tell me a little bit about what
this initiative tries to accomplish?

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So can you tell me a little bit about what
this initiative tries to accomplish?

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Yeah.

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So, you know, as you mentioned, (it)
began back in 2011 and really

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at the time was a unique way
to do economic development.

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New York State
was really kind of leading the nation

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in this type of regional approach
that was empowering the local

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stakeholders, business leaders,
not for profits, academia,

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local elected leaders and economic
government organizations to come together

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and create strategies that were specific
to the challenges that their region faced.

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So, as you know, you know,

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Syracuse, Central New York,
the challenges that we face

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are vastly different
than what New York City is facing

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what the Capital region's facing,
what Buffalo's facing.

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And as a result,
it allowed us to come together

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and bring the experts in each of these
different areas around the table

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to create a strategic plan
that was specific to Central New York

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and then allow us to go back to Albany
and say,

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we want to make investments

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in these certain strategies
because that's what we feel

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like is going to be the best way
to move our region forward.

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like is going to be the best way
to move our region forward.

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And as we mentioned, 2023
is not the first year that we have done

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a strategic plan.

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So, can you tell me some of the projects
or initiatives that have resulted

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from past strategic plans
in 2011 and 2015?

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Yeah, absolutely.

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You know, one of the key
things that came out of that 2015

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plan was taking a look
at some of our industry clusters

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and where do we see the region
moving in the next 5 to 10 years.

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And so a prime example would be
the Uncrewed Aerial Systems - UAS.

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We were able to make
significant investments.

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And now New York State really

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is leading the nation in our efforts
to invest in and create the technologies

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that will eventually allow us
to move products via drone

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or even eventually people were a lot
closer, people think, to moving products,

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things like the GENIUS
New York competition

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or the Grow NY competition, these
these accelerator business accelerators

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that allowed us to invest
in our innovative ecosystem.

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Before 2015,
we really didn't have a strong

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of an innovation ecosystem
as we as we used to.

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And as people know,
Central New York, Syracuse,

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we were known for creating things.

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That's back in the early 1900s.
That's what we did.

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We were the Silicon Valley of the nation
back in the early 1900s.

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And we're getting back to those roots.

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We're able to create companies that are
coming out of our higher ed institutions.

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We are able to attract innovative
companies from across the world.

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And these these business competitions
were a strong reason for why we did that.

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Things like investing in our workforce,
Erie 21, LeMoyne College is investing

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in the future workforce,
that's going to take a lot of these jobs

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and technicians for Micron and engineers,
and they're getting kids ready

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from a young age, middle school on up,
and so that they can move into careers

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that are going to give them opportunities

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that perhaps their parents
and their grandparents didn't have.

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Agriculture, manufacturing...

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a lot of our key industry sectors, Green
Empire farms out in Madison County,

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a large greenhouse under

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glass
that's growing strawberries and lettuce.

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Those types of innovative projects
came out of that 2015 plan have laid

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the groundwork for a lot of the work
that's happening today.

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So it's really powerful
to have those local stakeholders

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and those local voices kind of determining
what will make this region prosper.

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And it's seemed successful so far. 100%.

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I mean, I think and granted,
I've only been here

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for the last six years, so I was not here
during, you know, during the 2015 plan.

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But I think, you know,
we don't see ourselves

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as separate counties
or separate cities anymore.

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We see ourselves as Central New York

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and bringing those stakeholders together,
bringing the elected leaders

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and the economic development organizations
and the businesses and the entrepreneurs

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into one room to discuss
not what's just good for Syracuse

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or what's good for Auburn or Oswego
or Madison County,

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but what's good for Central New York
as a whole really has led to some of

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the most collaborative and creative
solutions that I think I've seen

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working amongst separate municipalities
in different counties.

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I really think we believe
that is a rising tide raises all boats

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mentality here in Central New York
and across all of Upstate New York.

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I think what started

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as a regional approach is almost turning
into a super regional approach, where now

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you're seeing collaboration
between even the regions.

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So working with the north country
as they're transitioning veterans from at

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Fort Drum.

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How do we get them into some of the jobs

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that are here available in Central
New York?

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Working with the Mohawk Valley,
we created a 50 mile UAS corridor

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so that you can fly drones
beyond visual line of sight.

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The first in the nation
where you can fly 50 miles across

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multiple regions so that you can do
testing of that type of technology.

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Those types of collaborations 
beyond just what's happening in Central

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New York is something I think you're
going to see moving forward.

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So the 2023 plan is titled CNY Ascent,

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which is an evolution
kind of of the past plan, CNY Rising.

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So how did the CNY Rising plan
kind of lay the foundation

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for not only the CNY Ascent plan,
but also just

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the amount of growth that we're seeing
in the region at the moment?

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Yeah, I think what was great about
the 2015 plan is it helped us envision

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industries that don't even exist
today, semiconductors.

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If you go back to the 2015 plan,

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we don't mention semiconductors
in that plan at all.

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Who could have thought that Micron
would be coming to Central New York?

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And what an opportunity
that would present ourselves.

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But what the plan did do
is, as you mentioned, laid the foundation

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by making significant investments,
key investments

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that made us an attractive place
for a Micron to want to come.

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An example being, you know, we made
a lot of efforts in investing in place,

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so investing in our downtowns
and ensuring that there are places

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that people want to work,
they want to live, they want that

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they have amenities
that they can do outside of work.

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So making significant investments
in our downtowns,

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and we continue that through the Downtown
Revitalization

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Initiative, New York Forward
making investments in our businesses

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so that there are opportunities for people
to work,

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making investments in our workforce
development efforts.

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So all those things laid a key groundwork

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so that when we moved into 2023,
we had a strong foundation to build on.

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So the CNY Ascent,

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you know,

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CNY Rising,

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that's still our overarching strategy
for the region,

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something we're going to continue
to build on.

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But the CNY Ascent

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is really taking us from the ground up,
and now we're ascending into new heights.

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And so we're excited
to begin implementing.

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You're going to see a lot of work
going into 2024

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as as the council kind of rolls up
their sleeves to begin implementing

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a lot of the strategies
that came out of that plan.

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And we're excited to see see a lot of
progress as we move into the new year.

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Yeah, I mean, it is very exciting,
very exciting time in Central New York.

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I mean, I can't be overstated.

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And I mean, it's really great timing
to have this strategic plan come out

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at the same time
as Micron coming here and TTM Technology's

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expanding and great records
with the GENIUS (NY) program.

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I mean, there's a lot of momentum
right now.

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So how are all of these major projects
and investments

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working with some of these strategic goals
that are outlined in CNY Ascent?

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Yeah.

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So, for example, one of the biggest goals,

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one of the main goals that came out of
the 2023 plan is is workforce.

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How do we create a ready workforce
for all the jobs that are going to come?

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And it's not just Micron.

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We have 50,000 job openings

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across the region today

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that are ready to hire if if and when
people walk through their door.

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So we don't just have to prepare
for the Micron jobs.

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We have to prepare
for the legacy companies

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and our existing businesses
that are already looking to hire.

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But it also presents a great opportunity.

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For so many years, Central New York
was kind of a brain drain.

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People would come here,
they'd get an education

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and they'd move to New York
City, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C.

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and as a result,
we would lose a lot of that,

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that institutional knowledge
that we had here.

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Now, with the opportunities
that are presenting yourselves,

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I really think you're going to start
to see that kind of the script flipped.

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And we are seeing it.

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The data shows that we saw over from 2017
an increase in 1% in the region.

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Onondaga County saw an increase of 3.6%
since 2017 in our population.

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So those types of numbers
are going to continue to grow,

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which is going to allow us to have a ready
workforce for some of these future jobs.

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On top of that,
continuing to make investments in place.

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While we've done
a lot of good work in our downtowns,

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there's still a lot of work to do.

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We're continuing to partner,
you know, through Empire State Development

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and a lot of the programs that they offer
the Restore

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New York program,
as I mentioned, the Downtown

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Revitalization Initiative, making sure
that people have places to live,

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making sure that they have places
where they can

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they can walk to and feel safe, places
where there's amenities available to them.

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That's going to be crucial.

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And housing, obviously
is going to be one of the main things

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that we need to accomplish
over the next ten years as we as

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we begin to see that increase
in population

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because of new jobs
that are becoming available,

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ensuring that our innovation ecosystem
is continuing to thrive.

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So how do we continue to invest
in those business accelerator

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competitions and so that the ideas
that are coming out of our high rate

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institutions are staying here.

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They're creating companies here
that are thriving here,

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and we're on the cutting edge
of a lot of the new technologies

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that are going to be needed to be deployed

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to do things like drone technology,
to do things in the biomedical space.

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Lotte Biologics is making an extremely
large investment at the old Bristol-Myers

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Squibb facility up in up in DeWitt and

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that is going to be super exciting
because they're going to

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on the cutting edge
of a lot of the biologics, R&D

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that's going to happen
over the next 10 to 20 years.

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So how do we continue
to not only build companies

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who are doing innovative things here,
but how do we also attract

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innovative companies
to come here and call this call this home?

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And lastly,
I think it's a matter of we really focused

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on the natural resources
that our community offers.

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You know,

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if you ask a Micron or any other company
that was interested in coming here, water

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resources, the green parks

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and the green space that we have
available, quality of life that we get

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from having those amenities
available to us, were major components

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to why they chose Central New York
and why other companies look to come here.

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And I think being sure that we're

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being good stewards of those resources,
ensuring that we're we're valuing them

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and we're protecting
them is going to be extremely important

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in the continued success of the region

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and something that we made sure
we highlighted in this 2023 plan.

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I mean, there's a lot in the 2023 plan
and I mean, just all of the projects

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and initiatives
that you and sort of strategies

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that you have just listed off
is evidence of that.

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But in the plan,
you are able to kind of boil it down

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to five strategic goals for the region,
and that includes

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workforce, industry ecosystems, equitable
growth, place and collaboration.

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You did hit on a number of those
just when we were talking before as well.

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So can you tell me how the council came up
with these five areas,

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and what these areas say about
Central New York's future?

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Yeah, I mean, these plans
do not just appear out of nowhere.

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They take a lot of dedication.

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And, you know, the council members,
they're not paid to do this.

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This is above and beyond their day jobs.

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They really offer a lot of their time
and energy to make sure that the work

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that we do is successful in this region.

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And that was the case for this plan.

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So, we were able to host
numerous one-on-one interviews,

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those focus groups with with industry
stakeholders and community leaders.

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We held a survey
and we were able to receive

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feedback from from different business
leaders in a survey response.

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All of that tied into a lot of the data
that's available to us

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as we talked about population changes
and who's in the workforce looking at

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what are the trends
in terms of retirements,

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what are the trends in terms of available

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workforce
to fill some of those open slots?

00:12:01:05 - 00:12:03:05
What are some of the key industry clusters
that we

00:12:03:05 - 00:12:04:20
we anticipate
are going to continue to grow.

00:12:04:20 - 00:12:09:01
And so combining the data
with the outreach

00:12:09:01 - 00:12:11:07
and the work of the Council,
we were able to come together

00:12:11:07 - 00:12:14:03
to create these five strategies
that we thought were going to be essential

00:12:14:03 - 00:12:17:06
to ensuring the success of the region
and continuing the momentum,

00:12:17:06 - 00:12:19:22
as we mentioned,
that was built upon in the 2015 plan.

00:12:19:22 - 00:12:20:12
Yeah.

00:12:20:12 - 00:12:23:00
During those interviews
and sort of meetings, were there any

00:12:23:00 - 00:12:24:15
was there
anything that really stuck out to you

00:12:24:15 - 00:12:27:01
when you were hearing from members
of the business community and broader

00:12:27:01 - 00:12:31:02
community
as you know, themes or just something

00:12:31:02 - 00:12:34:09
that maybe was just something particular
that stuck out to you?

00:12:34:15 - 00:12:35:10
Yeah, You know,

00:12:35:10 - 00:12:38:01
one of the big things that we hear a lot
is we're not going to be able

00:12:38:01 - 00:12:41:14
to attract enough people
to fill every job that is there today.

00:12:41:14 - 00:12:45:02
So trying to identify
where are those pockets of of individuals

00:12:45:02 - 00:12:47:02
that already live in this community,

00:12:47:02 - 00:12:49:02
and how do we get them back
into the workforce.

00:12:49:02 - 00:12:49:13
As we know,

00:12:49:13 - 00:12:51:17
there's a lot of barriers that exist today

00:12:51:17 - 00:12:53:07
for why
people can't get into the workforce.

00:12:53:07 - 00:12:56:08
Childcare,
obviously a major issue for for why

00:12:56:08 - 00:12:58:19
people tend to leave the workforce,
maybe not come back into the workforce.

00:12:58:19 - 00:13:00:00
It's just it's so expensive.

00:13:00:00 - 00:13:03:10
I have an eight-month-old
daughter myself, so we know

00:13:03:10 - 00:13:06:12
and we made tough decisions on my wife
going back to work or not.

00:13:06:12 - 00:13:09:11
So a lot of parents are struggling
with those decisions today.

00:13:09:11 - 00:13:14:09
Transportation, maybe people don't think
about this, but if you don't have a car

00:13:14:11 - 00:13:17:23
and your work is not on a bus line
or that bus line doesn't run

00:13:17:23 - 00:13:20:23
during the shift that you're working, 
you can't get to that job.

00:13:21:00 - 00:13:22:07
So how do we come up with strategies

00:13:22:07 - 00:13:25:10
to get people to and from work 
or get them into a vehicle?

00:13:25:14 - 00:13:27:04
Or perhaps it is there.

00:13:27:04 - 00:13:31:09
They had some legal fees and as a result,
their their license was suspended.

00:13:31:09 - 00:13:33:06
So how do you get them passes, legal fees?

00:13:33:06 - 00:13:35:23
We actually have a lot of organizations
doing a lot of good work right now

00:13:35:23 - 00:13:36:13
that that

00:13:36:13 - 00:13:40:08
with further funding could could continue
to do a lot more of that work today.

00:13:40:12 - 00:13:41:09
And you'll notice if you

00:13:41:09 - 00:13:45:02
if you look at the plan this year,
what was unique and I give a lot of credit

00:13:45:07 - 00:13:46:08
to Governor Hochul.

00:13:46:08 - 00:13:48:03
She really came up
with a creative solution

00:13:48:03 - 00:13:51:23
to to to engage the councils in a way that
they hadn't been engaged in a long time.

00:13:52:04 - 00:13:53:12
And they create a challenge competition.

00:13:53:12 - 00:13:56:18
So each of the ten regions
across the state competed for $10 million

00:13:56:18 - 00:14:00:16
to try to implement a way
to overcome certain challenges

00:14:00:16 - 00:14:01:12
that exist in your region.

00:14:01:12 - 00:14:06:13
And one what we focused on was those
those barriers to to work for a century.

00:14:06:15 - 00:14:10:01
So these strategies, like you said,
did not just come out of nowhere.

00:14:10:01 - 00:14:11:23
They weren't just like already
given to us.

00:14:11:23 - 00:14:15:08
There's definitely examples
of these strategies

00:14:15:08 - 00:14:16:14
already in action in our region.

00:14:16:14 - 00:14:17:16
So what are some of those

00:14:17:16 - 00:14:21:12
that people can kind of point to or look
to as examples of these strategies?

00:14:21:14 - 00:14:23:11
Yeah, I think just looking at workforce,

00:14:23:11 - 00:14:25:14
and I know we mentioned a lot,
but it's obviously one of the key issues.

00:14:25:14 - 00:14:28:20
You know, MACNY has a very successful
pre-apprenticeship program.

00:14:28:20 - 00:14:32:15
Syracuse Builds,
which is taking individuals

00:14:32:15 - 00:14:34:07
in the city of Syracuse
and getting them ready

00:14:34:07 - 00:14:36:09
for the construction jobs
are going to be coming down the pipeline.

00:14:36:09 - 00:14:40:06
A lot of people want to talk about the,
you know, the technicians

00:14:40:06 - 00:14:41:08
and the engineers
who are going to be needed.

00:14:41:08 - 00:14:44:00
But first and foremost,
we need to build it.

00:14:44:00 - 00:14:45:20
And we also have
this big thing called I-81

00:14:45:20 - 00:14:48:04
that's about to be
a major construction project.

00:14:48:04 - 00:14:51:19
So having the construction workers
ready to fill those positions

00:14:51:19 - 00:14:54:19
is going to be crucial to the success
of everything that comes after it.

00:14:54:21 - 00:14:56:17
So Syracuse Builds is doing a lot of that
good work.

00:14:56:17 - 00:14:59:11
You know, in terms of our
in our industry ecosystems.

00:14:59:11 - 00:15:04:09
Cayuga Milk Ingredients in Cayuga County,
one of the largest dairy processors

00:15:04:09 - 00:15:07:21
in the state, they're doing
an extremely large expansion right now

00:15:07:21 - 00:15:10:21
and are going to be able to to,
you know, offer

00:15:10:22 - 00:15:14:20
new new lines with packaging and they're
going to be able to offer new products.

00:15:14:20 - 00:15:18:15
So so they're doing large investments
in the agribusiness space.

00:15:18:17 - 00:15:20:20
I mentioned Lotte Biologics
in the biotech.

00:15:20:20 - 00:15:24:01
JMA Wireless just built a brand new 5G
wireless manufacturing

00:15:24:01 - 00:15:25:10
campus on the south side of Syracuse,

00:15:25:10 - 00:15:29:17
talking about marrying, marrying your your
industry focus with your sense of place

00:15:29:17 - 00:15:32:01
and where are we building things,
are we building them in places

00:15:32:01 - 00:15:35:09
that are accessible to those folks
who we want to work out on those lines?

00:15:35:09 - 00:15:38:14
That was an extremely exciting
opportunity to to see that.

00:15:38:14 - 00:15:40:18
And, you know,
we know they're going to continue

00:15:40:18 - 00:15:43:16
to do more
great things on that side of the campus.

00:15:43:16 - 00:15:46:23
So a lot of good things
that are already happening

00:15:46:23 - 00:15:49:18
again, that allowed us
to not have to recreate the wheel.

00:15:49:18 - 00:15:50:21
And we came up with this strategy.

00:15:50:21 - 00:15:54:06
We really were just building on the strong
foundation that was laid back in 2015.

00:15:54:08 - 00:15:57:01
And a lot of the work that happened,
you know, through

00:15:57:01 - 00:16:00:09
through the efforts of the council
and through the efforts of the state.

00:16:00:11 - 00:16:01:23
Now, for someone listening to this

00:16:01:23 - 00:16:04:03
and maybe they're like,
that sounds really cool.

00:16:04:03 - 00:16:08:16
I would like to either engage in that
or be a part of that initiative.

00:16:08:16 - 00:16:11:07
Is there a way
for people in the community,

00:16:11:07 - 00:16:15:04
whether it be the business community
or community at large, to engage

00:16:15:04 - 00:16:18:04
in these strategies
and kind of be a part of this moment?

00:16:18:09 - 00:16:19:13
Yeah, I think there's a few ways.

00:16:19:13 - 00:16:21:22
One is just, you know,
attending regional council meetings.

00:16:21:22 - 00:16:22:22
They're open to the public.

00:16:22:22 - 00:16:26:22
We hold them about quarterly,
give or take, depending on

00:16:26:22 - 00:16:28:01
what the needs are of the council.

00:16:28:01 - 00:16:32:13
So you can find all that information
on our website: regionalcouncils.ny.gov.

00:16:32:13 - 00:16:33:21
And if you go to the Central New York tab,

00:16:33:21 - 00:16:35:20
you'll find the stuff
that's specific to Central New York.

00:16:35:20 - 00:16:37:12
And we’ll
put that in our show notes as well.

00:16:37:12 - 00:16:41:19
so for anyone who's interested, easy link,
you can also follow us on Twitter or X,

00:16:41:19 - 00:16:42:15
if that's what we're calling it.

00:16:42:15 - 00:16:46:15
We're at CNY Rising,
and we'll we post updates to to that

00:16:46:15 - 00:16:49:13
as well for people to follow and some of
the things that we're gonna be doing.

00:16:49:13 - 00:16:52:12
But as a whole, I would say,
you know businesses if you're not familiar

00:16:52:12 - 00:16:55:05
with the Empire State Development
or the regional councils, reach out to us.

00:16:55:05 - 00:16:58:16
We are we want to be on
the community, want to be meeting with

00:16:58:16 - 00:17:00:18
you, want to be listening to you
and what your needs are.

00:17:00:18 - 00:17:05:22
My team and the team at the REDC
is really focused on getting out

00:17:05:22 - 00:17:10:16
into the community this year in a very 
large way, so that will be very visible.

00:17:10:16 - 00:17:12:07
You'll be seeing us,
you'll be hearing from us.

00:17:12:07 - 00:17:14:02
We want to hear from you.

00:17:14:02 - 00:17:15:07
We want to tour your facilities.

00:17:15:07 - 00:17:17:12
We want to help you access
a lot of the resources

00:17:17:12 - 00:17:18:19
that are available through the state.

00:17:18:19 - 00:17:20:20
So reach out to us.

00:17:20:20 - 00:17:21:17
Also, connect

00:17:21:17 - 00:17:24:18
with your local economic development
organization, whether it's the county IDA

00:17:24:19 - 00:17:25:15
or the county's economic

00:17:25:15 - 00:17:28:15
development organization,
or if it's CenterState CEO or MACNY

00:17:28:19 - 00:17:31:00
or your Chamber of Commerce,
reach out to them

00:17:31:00 - 00:17:34:12
and let them know that you're interested
in a larger collaborative effort.

00:17:34:12 - 00:17:38:03
Because at the end of the day,
we don't know what we don't know.

00:17:38:03 - 00:17:42:09
And if if you have needs
and you don't let us know if

00:17:42:10 - 00:17:44:16
if you're not doing some of the outreach
or if we're not able to to

00:17:44:16 - 00:17:47:07
discuss with you, then, you know,
we're not going be able to help you.

00:17:47:07 - 00:17:50:01
We want to help as many businesses
as possible.

00:17:50:01 - 00:17:51:01
That's what we do every day.

00:17:51:01 - 00:17:54:08
It's what makes me excited to
come into work every day is that I get to,

00:17:54:13 - 00:17:57:17
you know, help real people who are doing
great things in this community.

00:17:57:17 - 00:18:02:13
So reach out to us, attend meetings,
reach out to your local elected officials,

00:18:02:15 - 00:18:04:07
because the end of the day
and one of the strategies

00:18:04:07 - 00:18:06:17
that we you'll notice in
our report is collaboration.

00:18:06:17 - 00:18:09:20
Yeah, arguably
that is one of the most important

00:18:09:20 - 00:18:12:09
strategies
that we laid out in that in that plan.

00:18:12:09 - 00:18:15:01
So the more we collaborate,
the more we listen to one another, more

00:18:15:01 - 00:18:18:06
that we work together
towards a common goal,

00:18:18:06 - 00:18:20:16
the more good we're going to be able to do
for the community.

00:18:20:16 - 00:18:21:01
We're going to take

00:18:21:01 - 00:18:25:00
a quick break here and hear a word
from our presenting sponsor, NBT Bank.

00:18:25:00 - 00:18:26:23
We'll be back in just a moment.

00:18:26:23 - 00:18:33:01
I would recommend
NBT Bank to any business.

00:18:33:03 - 00:18:36:03
My name is Chris Polimino
and I'm the president of Atlas Fence.

00:18:36:04 - 00:18:39:10
Chris decided to purchase Atlas Fence
from the previous owner.

00:18:39:11 - 00:18:41:07
He had previous connections at NBT Bank.

00:18:41:07 - 00:18:42:19
NBT Bank

00:18:42:19 - 00:18:47:06
provided me equipment financing,
doubling our entire production workforce.

00:18:47:09 - 00:18:51:11
It's important to me as a business owner
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00:18:51:11 - 00:18:56:12
relationship are made locally.

00:18:56:14 - 00:18:57:03
Welcome back.

00:18:57:03 - 00:19:00:00
You're listening to Talk CNY,
presented by NBT Bank.

00:19:00:00 - 00:19:03:10
I'm Katie Zilcosky, director of
communications, here at CenterState CEO.

00:19:03:10 - 00:19:06:10
Joining me today is the regional director
for Central New York

00:19:06:10 - 00:19:08:14
from Empire State Development,
Dan Kolinski.

00:19:08:14 - 00:19:10:15
Dan, thanks for being with us here today.
Thank you.

00:19:10:15 - 00:19:13:15
So we've been talking about the 2023 REDC

00:19:13:16 - 00:19:17:03
strategic plan, Central New York's
strategic plan.

00:19:17:05 - 00:19:19:08
And there's a lot in it.

00:19:19:08 - 00:19:22:23
Economic development can be scary
and lofty for people

00:19:22:23 - 00:19:25:08
who aren't kind of looking it in the face
every day.

00:19:25:08 - 00:19:29:12
So how do you make this more tangible?

00:19:29:12 - 00:19:33:06
How do you kind of talk to people
about these strategies?

00:19:33:06 - 00:19:35:14
Because they're really important
and they're helping us grow.

00:19:35:14 - 00:19:41:00
But I also understand sort of the
apprehension of like, this gets big fast.

00:19:41:03 - 00:19:45:22
Yeah, I think at the end of the day
it's ensuring

00:19:45:22 - 00:19:47:06
that we're out in the community

00:19:47:06 - 00:19:50:10
talking to people
because while a lot of the problem,

00:19:50:14 - 00:19:53:20
the challenges
that our community face seem very big,

00:19:53:20 - 00:19:57:01
if you look at it from the thousand
foot level, when we boil it down,

00:19:57:07 - 00:20:01:05
it's really a matter of how do we get
the resources in the right place,

00:20:01:05 - 00:20:05:07
how do we get people connected
to the right supply chains or the right,

00:20:05:07 - 00:20:09:09
you know, the right help that they need,
whether it's through financial, banks,

00:20:09:09 - 00:20:10:09
whatever it might be.

00:20:10:09 - 00:20:13:06
So, you know, just getting it down

00:20:13:06 - 00:20:16:06
to the smallest of levels
and it's about people.

00:20:16:09 - 00:20:20:06
So, you know, our goal
in 2024 is going to be, as I mentioned,

00:20:20:08 - 00:20:21:11
getting out into the community,

00:20:21:11 - 00:20:23:18
talking to them about their needs,
discussing this plan

00:20:23:18 - 00:20:25:12
and what it means for them
and their community.

00:20:25:12 - 00:20:30:00
We'll also be hosting a series of 
workshops and resource seminars

00:20:30:00 - 00:20:31:02
so that people will know

00:20:31:02 - 00:20:33:00
both what's in the plan
and what's available to them

00:20:33:00 - 00:20:34:17
to help them meet their own goals.

00:20:34:17 - 00:20:36:19
And that's bigger
than just our businesses.

00:20:36:19 - 00:20:38:01
It's our municipalities as well.

00:20:38:01 - 00:20:41:13
How do we ensure that the municipalities
are ready for some of the changes

00:20:41:13 - 00:20:42:10
coming down the board?

00:20:42:10 - 00:20:44:16
What are some of the planning grants
and the zoning grants

00:20:44:16 - 00:20:46:07
and the comprehensive planning grants
that are available?

00:20:46:07 - 00:20:48:03
What are some of the infrastructure grants
that are available?

00:20:48:03 - 00:20:51:19
So we'll be doing a lot of that work
and connecting with our various partners

00:20:51:19 - 00:20:55:15
across the region
to ensure that people are aware

00:20:55:15 - 00:20:59:10
and that they're able to access
those those opportunities.

00:20:59:12 - 00:21:03:16
So, what is your personal vision

00:21:03:16 - 00:21:07:00
for the Central New York
Regional Economic Development Council?

00:21:07:00 - 00:21:07:21
How do you see it?

00:21:07:21 - 00:21:09:03
I mean, you've mentioned interacting

00:21:09:03 - 00:21:12:09
with the community being more present
and really listening to people,

00:21:12:15 - 00:21:15:17
but looking to five,
ten years down the line.

00:21:15:17 - 00:21:21:04
How do you see both the REDC playing
a role in the community, but also you

00:21:21:04 - 00:21:26:00
personally growing the strategies
and initiatives that have been laid out?

00:21:26:02 - 00:21:30:10
Yeah, I think, you know,
we've a lot of work to do

00:21:30:10 - 00:21:34:20
and what's great is we have a team
that's ready and excited to get to work.

00:21:34:20 - 00:21:36:15
So I think the first thing
that you're going to see

00:21:36:15 - 00:21:39:16
is as we move into 2024
is some working groups

00:21:39:16 - 00:21:43:20
created around the specific strategies
that are outlined in the strategic plan.

00:21:43:22 - 00:21:47:14
So, you know, for example,
we'll have probably an industry sector

00:21:47:14 - 00:21:49:07
working group
that focuses on some of our key

00:21:49:07 - 00:21:51:10
industry sectors,
like manufacturing in agriculture.

00:21:51:10 - 00:21:56:06
We'll probably have a working group
that focuses on equitable growth.

00:21:56:08 - 00:21:57:20
And what does that mean?

00:21:57:20 - 00:21:59:17
Because that means different things
to different people.

00:21:59:17 - 00:22:02:06
You know, there's growth in urban
environments and rural environments.

00:22:02:06 - 00:22:02:22
There's growth

00:22:02:22 - 00:22:06:16
in, you know, in the cities
and there's growth in the suburban areas.

00:22:06:20 - 00:22:09:08
There's growth
in ensuring that communities

00:22:09:08 - 00:22:11:05
that maybe don't have English
as a first language,

00:22:11:05 - 00:22:13:07
and those that do have English
as a first language.

00:22:13:07 - 00:22:16:08
So how are we creating strategies
to ensure that we're touching on

00:22:16:08 - 00:22:20:04
all those different needs across
different, different communities?

00:22:20:06 - 00:22:24:01
I also think, you know,
one of the things that I hope for

00:22:24:01 - 00:22:25:04
and I think that the Council's

00:22:25:04 - 00:22:28:10
excited about, is just an increased level
of that collaboration.

00:22:28:10 - 00:22:33:22
So both in the Central New York region,
we have a lot of new elected leaders

00:22:33:23 - 00:22:35:19
at that that recently were sworn in

00:22:35:19 - 00:22:39:05
in the new year, bringing them on board
so that they can be a part of this,

00:22:39:05 - 00:22:42:05
this rowing of all the oars
in the same direction,

00:22:42:05 - 00:22:43:19
as I mentioned earlier, rising tide.

00:22:43:19 - 00:22:48:03
And I really think that the more people
that are a part of that rising tide,

00:22:48:05 - 00:22:50:11
the more that people are going
to feel the effects of the work

00:22:50:11 - 00:22:54:06
that we're doing, but also, again,
getting outside of our region,

00:22:54:06 - 00:22:56:13
working more closely
with our colleagues in the North Country,

00:22:56:13 - 00:22:59:02
in the Mohawk Valley, the Southern Tier
of the Finger Lakes, all across the state.

00:22:59:02 - 00:23:04:13
You know, you're almost seeing Upstate
New York become this super region, more

00:23:04:13 - 00:23:07:14
so with the federal tech hubs designation
that we just received

00:23:07:14 - 00:23:11:06
at the end of last year,
truly bringing together Syracuse,

00:23:11:06 - 00:23:15:11
Buffalo, Rochester, Utica in a way that 
you have never seen before.

00:23:15:12 - 00:23:19:13
So I think continuing that
that that large amount of collaboration,

00:23:19:13 - 00:23:23:08
but also just listening at a high level
to the needs of our community.

00:23:23:08 - 00:23:27:09
You know, we mentioned workforce needs,
but what is some of the programing

00:23:27:09 - 00:23:29:07
that's working today
and maybe what some of the program

00:23:29:07 - 00:23:31:16
that could be done
a little more efficiently,

00:23:31:16 - 00:23:34:12
bringing that feedback back to the state
and seeing if there's ways

00:23:34:12 - 00:23:36:11
that we can make improvements
to the way that we do things.

00:23:36:11 - 00:23:42:12
I won't say that we are the fastest of
of change agents and that's out there,

00:23:42:12 - 00:23:46:11
but at the end of the day, we do listen
and as a result we make changes to the way

00:23:46:11 - 00:23:47:22
that we do things that best meet

00:23:47:22 - 00:23:50:01
the needs of the people
who need our resources the most.

00:23:50:01 - 00:23:50:02
It really sounds like collaboration
and listening are a huge foundation

00:23:50:02 - 00:23:50:03
Dan, thank you for joining us here today.
Thank you.

00:23:50:03 - 00:23:52:03
Dan, thank you for joining us here today.
Thank you.

00:23:52:03 - 00:23:54:15
It was great to talk to you. Yeah,
you as well.

00:23:54:15 - 00:23:58:01
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